A couple of spidey face shell questions

1. why a face shell, doesn't ones face make a face shape so I'm not sure exactly why its needed, and does anyone just go without one.

2. has anyone made a shell out of foamies?

Spidey? Never heard of that guy. Is he a villain in New 52?

Yes, seems you accidentally clicked the DC forum instead of the Marvel forum. That having been said:

As a general rule, a person's nose sticks out from their face. When you stretch a Spider-Man mask over your face without a face shell, the nose is going to appear much more prominent than it does in the films or on the comic pages because the elastic gets stretched over that one point on your face. Not only does this look a little off, but if the mask is tight at all (which it is in nearly all of the costumes) then it is probably putting some pressure by scrunching your nose toward your face, which becomes quite uncomfortable after a while.

The face shell not only provides you with the comic/screen accurate silhouette, but it also diffuses the pressure from the tight mask across the shell which, in turn, is not putting too much pressure on any one area of your face. So the purpose is two-fold: appearance and comfort.

As for whether or not people have made them out of foam, I believe I have seen one or two here and there (can't remember specifically), but they tend not to last as long since the foam can end up absorbing the moisture and oil from your face and go bad.

Oops, this is what I get for posting right before bed time, sorry. Thanks for the answers though.

Wow, this is perfect. I have a question about face shells as well, and I was hesitant to make an entire thread about it. Maybe I can get some input here.

I made my own face shell, and added a good amount of holes for ventilation. But, I tried wearing it for an hour in-costume, and I got very warm. To be fair, it was a little humid that evening, but even so... How much ventilation do you guys feel you get from your shells? Is it possible I don't have adequate ventilation, or will a face shell always heat you up if the conditions aren't perfect?

I tried to make my own shell from a generic black face mask (think theater), but it didn't turn out very well. I ended up buying a $20 toy mask from Target, removing the rubber webbing and eyes, and using a dremel to remove extra plastic and smooth out the inside (including shrinking the inside nose piece).

http://shop.marvel.com/the-amazing-spider-man-spider-vision-mask/mp/13781/1000244/

As an added bonus, I used the eye pieces on my mask, and it turned out fantastic.

I can post pics if you'd like.

please do

The first two are the modified toy mask from my link above. I painted the lines on the fabric mask on a dummy head that I padded to my proportions, then used a razor blade to remove the web lines and cut off the eyes. The inside contained electronics for an LED light near the eyes that I removed, and I removed the plastic tabs and screw mounts. After removing the single piece lens (that spanned both eyes) I cut the nose piece off and Super Glued a cut down nose pad back in the mask.

I cut the plastic eye pieces (with a honeycomb pattern painted on) to fit the rubber shape, and stretched and glued white Lycra/Spandex to to the outside of they eye. I super glued the new lens into the rubber shape and dug out pits for the magnets to be super glued. They didn't all stick over the 4 days, so I'll need to get stronger glue.

I cut small holes into the mask for my eyes and added a few nylon snaps to the neck to attach to the suit.

I'll be adding more nylon snaps to the neck, and I'd like to find a white metal mesh for the lens. I had very low visibility, and I saw a few metal mesh eyes that I really liked at the con.

Cost:
$20 - Toy Mask
$10 - Lycra Mask
$1-2 - White Lens Lycra
$3 - Magnets (found in a magnet set at a Japanese dollar store (Diaso). I had to break the plastic housing to extract the STRONG magnets)

Total $35-40

I used a single 4oz bottle of Puffy paint for my entire suit, and the white Lycra was probably a dollar.

I couldn't be happier with the shell, for a fraction of the cost of what I've seen on here. The ones sold by RPF members look great, but I feel fantastic for making the mask (and the whole suit) myself.

thejoeba said:

The first two are the modified toy mask from my link above. I painted the lines on the fabric mask on a dummy head that I padded to my proportions, then used a razor blade to remove the web lines and cut off the eyes. The inside contained electronics for an LED light near the eyes that I removed, and I removed the plastic tabs and screw mounts. After removing the single piece lens (that spanned both eyes) I cut the nose piece off and Super Glued a cut down nose pad back in the mask.

I cut the plastic eye pieces (with a honeycomb pattern painted on) to fit the rubber shape, and stretched and glued white Lycra/Spandex to to the outside of they eye. I super glued the new lens into the rubber shape and dug out pits for the magnets to be super glued. They didn't all stick over the 4 days, so I'll need to get stronger glue.

I cut small holes into the mask for my eyes and added a few nylon snaps to the neck to attach to the suit.

I'll be adding more nylon snaps to the neck, and I'd like to find a white metal mesh for the lens. I had very low visibility, and I saw a few metal mesh eyes that I really liked at the con.

Cost:
$20 - Toy Mask
$10 - Lycra Mask
$1-2 - White Lens Lycra
$3 - Magnets (found in a magnet set at a Japanese dollar store (Diaso). I had to break the plastic housing to extract the STRONG magnets)

Total $35-40

I used a single 4oz bottle of Puffy paint for my entire suit, and the white Lycra was probably a dollar.

I couldn't be happier with the shell, for a fraction of the cost of what I've seen on here. The ones sold by RPF members look great, but I feel fantastic for making the mask (and the whole suit) myself.

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Great job, i'm always envious when i see this method turn out well... i bought a couple of these masks, but unfortunately my bottom lip/jaw doesn't fit under