itBurns Halloween Costume Contest 2015 Entry

itBurns

New Member
Ok so I am new to this site (posting wise) but have been reading all the great tips and tricks from from everyone and decided to join the community. I think its time I start my thread so people can see what I have been working on.

I am in the process of building a replica Deadmau5 head! I have seen so many variations of this costume and took what I thought were the best tips and processes from all the different ones I have seen and tried my own.

The head is made out of a 14 inch acrylic globe that i reinforced with fiberglass matte. I build a vacuum former in my garage to form the eye pucks and the ears. I will be making two sets of ears. One set will be a basic solid ear made from insulation foam covered in a light coat of bondo, while the other set are something I have yet to see on a deadmau5 head. I will be making infinity mirror ears to give the illusion of the ears going inwards endlessly with color changing RGB LED strips.

Im excited to show of this project since it is my first one and It has been coming along quite nicely!

Hope you all enjoy!
 
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Re: Deadmau5 head build with infinity mirror ears!

Looking forward to seeing your build, it sounds pretty interesting and original! :D
 
Re: Deadmau5 head build with infinity mirror ears!

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New acrylic globes and ear template. Made measurements on the head using the ones posted by "2StoryProps" as a starting point. ALWAYS MEASURE TWICE!! Even triple check if you have to, you don't want to make any cuts until you are happy with the angles and dimensions of your lines. after marking the globe with a pencil i laid down some masking tape.

Once The masking tape was on, I cut out the mouth.

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I took some of the spare pieces of hard foam sheets I used to make the ears to form the inner lip of the mouth that i would later cover in bondo.

**note**
A dremel is one of the most versatile tools in this build. Its good for cutting the globe, trimming edges, and even shaping the foam pieces. Highly recommend using one.

For added reinforcement I fiberglassed the inside.
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Re: Deadmau5 head build with infinity mirror ears!

I saw some people use vacuum forming as a technique to make some of the parts of the head...so i decided to build one using some youtube videos as references. This was so I could form the eye pucks used to attach the eyes, and more importantly I could vacuum form plastic covers for the ears in order to make the infinity mirror ears as light weight as i could ( in the end they will still have some more weight than the conventional vacuum formed hollow ears given the mirrors inside.
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measuring and cutting out the foam pieces to make the ears. I made to sets of ears the solid foam ears...and another set that i cut out the center to form just an outter ring to give the LEDs something to attatch to inside the the ear...
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Re: Deadmau5 head build with infinity mirror ears!

I purchased the mouth piece from a great prop maker known as "LegacyProps" he is on etsy and has a FB page as well...He is a great guy that does some really amazing work! I wanted the mouth to be as close to the original as I could get it, and he was the only one I could Find that could get the job done right!
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here is the perforated aluminum sheet bent to size
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A quick look at the mouth in the head to see if it fits.....and whata'ya know...IT DOES!!
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The inner lips shown in these pics ended up being too thick for my liking so i used the dremel to shave them down a bit till they were at a better looking thickness.
 

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Re: Deadmau5 head build with infinity mirror ears!

Next I drilled and fitted the formed eye pucks to the head and test mounted the eyes.
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Then utilizing one of the last nice sunny days Ill have for a while I painted the visor piece. I used black on the inside )which actually helps visibility later on when its mounted inside) and a metalic gold on the outside. ( a light coat of the metallic gold gives it a good look...I feel yellow just wouldn't come out looking right,
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While the visor was drying i cut out the small mirror pieces that would mount inside on the back of the ear. I used actual mirror as the back because when i tried using the mirror tint as the back and the front, the effect just didn't look as good as i had imagined. So although i sacrificed having the ears be more lightweight...they will look much better when completed. Ideally you could find a plastic mirror...but I didn't have the time or the funds to buy one in order to get this done in time.
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So Halloween is in two days and I'm just about done... here is a catch up on the build...since getting the ears together, I have glued in the RGB LED strips inside the ears and used clear PETG polystyrene and covered it in mirrored window tint for the infinity mirror effect. i used small velcro pieces to attatch the window piece so i can get into the LED's if necessary
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Here i test fitted the ears and mouth in the head to see the orientation of it all together...then it was time to un-assemble and paint!

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next post ill have it wired up with the helmet mount installed :)
 

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After painting it was time to install the T-ball helmet and mounts. I ordered the head mount pieces and helmet again from the wonderful Legacy Props. It was a bit tough getting my big hand up inside the head to work once the helmet was inside. I used epoxy to fit the mounts and screws to attach the helmet.

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next was to wire the eyes and set up the battery pack for the LED's...The eyes were wired to a small 12v AA battery pack and linked to an on/off toggle switch installed in the back of the head...The ears were separate and were powered by a 12v 3500mAh portable battery pack. I didn't need an on off switch for the ears because the RGB LED strip comes with a 44 key remote that has a power button on it.
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Before installing the mouth and loosing the biggest hole to work through, I had to get the ears mounted in. Unfortunately these last few steps happened on Halloween morning so I was sort of focused on getting it together and sturdy so im sorry for the lack of photos in this step.

I had epoxied two small L shaped pieces that fit inside the hole for the ear so that I could put a small bolt through it to hold the ears in the head.

After getting them in there, I wasn't satisfied with the level of sturdiness of the ears and decided to run to the hardware store and get some small L brackets and bolt them onto the backside of the ears. This worked wonderfully and the ears were a lot more solid and made for moving around A LOT less stressful lol.

The mouth was one of the hardest things to install. Maybe it was just me being stressed about getting it in properly and on time...doubled with the fact that again there is VERY LITTLE room to get my hands in there and work....I ended up getting it screwed in and up and running.

here are some shots of the final product that ended up winning most original costume at the party I attended.
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hope you guys like it!! :)
 

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[video]https://youtu.be/DIqPofOyx_A[/video]


Here is a short clip from the party after winning the contest! :)
 

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Thank you very much!

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Thank you! I haven't seen anyone ever attempt this style ear before so i thought id give it a go!
 
Here is my verification photo
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I would like this to be me Gallery Photo
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How did you do the eyes? Did you just spray them white?


Yea..I bought two sets of eyes.. one where i sprayed the inside, and another where i sprayed the outside. After trying both of them on the head i liked the matte look of the ones sprayed on the outside better. I think it looks smoother against the gloss of the head itself.
 
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