What is the best fabric to use for white eyes on superhero masks?

[Remy]

Greetings, RPF. I am attempting to make my own Deadpool costume, and I was wondering what the best fabric for the white eyes of his mask would be. I have heard a couple of different things (chiffon, cheesecloth, etc.) But I haven't been able to find out firsthand what isn't see through from far away, but can be seen through easily close-up. Being a complete noob in the fantastical art of costume making, I originally ordered a Deadpool lycra zentai costume from one of those chinese wholesalers facepalm) The costume itself wasn't terrible, in fact I still plan to use it for my final finished product, but the mask was just awful. Next to the black design being blocky and ugly, the white eyes were completely 100% opaque. In fact they were less see through than the red part of the mask. So I ended up having to cut holes in it, which looked absolutely terrible and didn't improve my visibility as much. What I am planning to do is order this mask (eLucha - Custom Wrestling Gear - Masks - Baggy Shorts - Baggy Pants - Long Tignts - Hoodies, Jackets, Tops - Vest - Bicker Shorts - Full Sets - Custom work - Deadpool Pull up Wrestling Mask)
Which I actually discovered on a thread on this site (Which also led to my discovery of this amazing website and forum, cheers to all of you for being cool as hell) and combine it with the previously mentioned lycra suit to make a half decent Deadpool. I'm also trying to think up a design for his belts, etc. that could be accoplished by someone with such little experience as myself. So thoughts and ideas on that (or anything else that would help make this costume better) would be HUGELY appreciated.
Thanks in advance guys, here's to a long, happy friendship between us.
Cheers!

 

[sjorsjo91]

You could look at jinsaotome's costum action figures site. He did multiple deadpool action figures in different styles.
Some pics would be awesome as well. What was the name of the chinese lycra seller? Saw one on ebay and i am still debating on whether i should purchase it.

Greets Sjors

 

[G33k]

If u don't mind it being rigid, aquaplast or simmilar heat-shapable plastics are good for lenses. Paint it white on the outside, and black on the inside. The result looks good, and allows decent vision. It's not exact to the graphic image (the plastic is covered in holes...) but some concessions to reality are necessary.

 

[BAK55]

Most Halloween masks made that are meant to hide the face, as a hooded, faceless character, or eyes use scrim fabric. It's very transparent to see out of, but like a two way mirror, if light is present on the observer's side, he can be seen by the one being observed.

 

[Snowmageddon]

One way to get the desired look that I'm sure has been used before is this: Put white paint around your eyes the way you'd usually put black, and then use white contact lenses. Then your vision is unobstructed and you still get the general look you want.

 

[Psicorp7]

Check out the gallery here for a great looking Deadpool!

Customer Gallery

One of the best I have ever seen.

The scrim fabric works good for the eyes.
You can also try silver/white sunglasses lenses for something on the cheap.
Just glue them to the inside of the fabric mask.
This is best to do on a head dummy and not yourself...unless you want to leave your eyebrows on the inside of the mask as well!

 

[Deakin Droon]

It may seem strange, but the fabric that those "booksock" things are made of are perfect for this, if you can find a white one. I recently had the same problem when making my own Scarlet Spider suit and one day it hit me. Now I couldn't find a white one at any stores nearby so I basically just bought white fabrc with the same blend, which i think was about 5% spandex, and I don't actually remember the other materials, though I believe it was some percentage lycra as well. Now the downside to it, if you plan on wearing it at night, like I tried on halloween, it is still insanely difficult to see through, but possible. In the light though I don't have any problems seeing.
Hopefully thats helps you out somewhat,
-Deaks

 

[Deakin Droon]

I tried posting last night and for some reason it never went through, I was saying that as strange as it sounds, the material that those little "booksock" things you use to cover your books with in high school, are a perfect material for something like this. If you can find a white one, which I couldn't find one near me and refused to purchase one online haha, so instead I just bought similar fabric from a fabric store near me, it was 5% spandex and a can't remember the rest of the blend. Now unfortunately it is not 100% see through, but in the light I can see perfectally fine, at night on the otherhand, It is very very hard to see, but still somewhat possible haha.
Hopefully this is somewhat helpful!

 

[CadetTK2386]

For my Spider-man, I made the eye pieces myself. The eye is two layers of “modeler’s mesh”
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It’s a metal screening like material that is normally used to build up armatures for sculpting/modeling. The two layers were placed at ninety degrees from each other, to offer the maximum coverage to hide the eye/face. On top of the mesh, on the outside, I made a frame out of Foamie Craft foam.

The eyes were then glued onto the mask with E-6000.
You can paint the exterior of the mesh white, or you can leave it unpainted. If left unpainted it will still appear white in pictures taken with a flash.

 

[returnhangar]

for my scarlet spider i bought chiffon fabric off ebay and i had good visibility but you couldn see my eyes from the outside

 

[GammaGreen]

There are several really good choices for this often-lamented part of the eyes.

1. Hobby Lobby has "active wire mesh" that is either copper or aluminum that you can use in one layer or two, spray-painting one side white and the back white. Believe it or not, legend has it that this was what one of the prototypes for the first eyes were made from.

2. Curtain fabric. Read this on a forum board a long time ago and it works, if you double it up.

3. Buckram. Used a lot in the mascot trade for people who need to see out but not show their faces.

4. Metal kitchen funnel with tiny perforations. I picked one of these up when I was in a kitchen supply store. To look at it, you'd doubt it had any holes in it...but darn if when you get up close it has thousands of tiny holes and you can see out of it VERY well.

Also, if you have a Party City or costume store, they might sell a mask with white eyes that you might be able to cut out.