The cosplay that started it all for me, deadmau5. Debuted at Phoenix Comicon 2012, my very first con. The Helmet was completely built by me. I used a varied amount of youtube tutorials, but one that stuck out and was mainly referenced was the following:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fYA2kd3cyQ
The base is made of a 14 inch Clear Acrylic Globe. Refer to this amazon link for the exact product I bought:
http://www.amazon.com/14-Clear-Acrylic-Globe-3202-14020-003/dp/B00435MT16?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
The neck hole had to be cut larger to fit my head into the sphere. It's a pretty sturdy plastic globe, one that's used in street lamps, so scissors wont do. If you plan on building one, it's suggested you cushion where you've cut the neck, so your throat isn't sliced every time you put it on. The video I referenced above will show you some detail into how I got the measurements for the mouth and the placement of the eyes. After cutting out the mouth and neck, I used blue felt to cover the whole globe. This is a process that requires patience, because you have to dampen/wet the felt as you cover the globe, so that it fits snug with no folds. You'll want to use about three big pieces of felt in total, so there aren't any cut out lines visible after gluing the felt. I had the cutouts at the corners of the mouth as well as the top center, so it wouldn't be noticeable due to the ears.
The eyes are made of a 6 inch White Acrylic Globe, split in half for two half spheres for eyes. The amazon link here:
http://www.amazon.com/White-Acrylic-Globe-Extruded-3201-50650/dp/B00435J60S?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00
These are pretty heavy duty plastic as well, so the same tool you used for the bigger globe will need to be used here. For a better diffusion of light, I applied one layer of thin white fabric (forgot what kind of fabric). This made it so the plastic finish wasn't apparent. Gluing the fabric to the eyes is quite tricky, because wherever you glue it, the glue shows through to the fabric. I went through the process of super gluing the fabric to the edges of the eyes, waiting for the glue to dry, then pulling tight on the fabric over the rest of the eye to have it glued tight to the other edges. The glued showed through still, but it was only apparent at the edges, so I cut a thin strip of felt to cover it up, and the thin strip appeared as nice eye-lids. Remember to use the same color felt as the base you want (or not if you plan on doing something unique with the eye-lids).
The ears are made of styrofoam, Rigid insulation to be exact. You can purchase this in huge square foot quantities at Lowes or Home Depot. $10 will get you plenty. You can basically use any type of styrofoam, I just went with this because its thickness was just right, to where I can have thin rebars jammed into the bottom. You wont want thin ears either, as there is a possibility you'll run into objects and may break the ears. As mentioned before, I inserted two thin rebars, in the bottom of the styrofoam ears, in a V-formation for stability. To finish the ears, I covered them in black felt.
A construction hard-hat was caulked into the inside of the head globe for proper fitting on my head. These can be purchased at any hardware store.
The ears were attached by using two skinny rebars that run the length of the ear and is screwed into the inside of the base.
Cheap $1 LED lights were placed underneath the eyeballs, and the circuits were run inside the head to switches that would turn them on.
The mouth is a combination of metal mesh with a light layer of silk on the outside. You may use another type of fabric that's thinner, as it was very difficult to see in dark spaces.
As one of my first helmet builds, it was super satisfying to see this come to life. It was my first cosplay, and would've probably been my last if I didn't get the results to my liking. There were some things that needed fixing. The mesh was a bit rough if you had a beard and would pull on hairs every time you take it off. Even with rebar in the ears, a simple bump would destroy it. The head is displayed in my room as of now, and will stay as decoration, as the LED lights have gone and i have no way to replace them do to the build not being modular. I think one of the ears is broken as well, but I do not have the patience to fix it. Instead of fixing the helmet, I've moved onto other ideas.
The display is a nice reminder of where I started, and keeps me going when shit gets frustrating. I'm happy to have continued with cosplay and not be discouraged, and the keepsake of my first build really helps me through the tough times.
