Sweetmau5 Construction log and beginner tutorial!

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Sneak peek of things to come! Lots of work ahead of me! 

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Drilling the holes for the ear position! 

I didn't take any work in progress pictures, only because this is all a matter of personal preference. After looking through hundreds of deadmau5 head pictures, I noticed that the ear positions vary greatly. 

I will say, you do NOT want to drill one or both of the holes on the sideline. I didn't listen to the tutorial I am referencing, and I drilled one of the holes on the side line. As you can see in the pictures, now my ear rests about an inch in front of the sideline, when it should be behind it. 

Anyways! Things you will need for this step:

14" globe. Neck and mouth should already be finished.

Ear pieces. They should be sanded down and ready to go.

Dremel with cutting bit. I used the 561 Multi-purpose cutting bit. It almost looks like a drill bit.

Protective eye gear. AGAIN. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH! 

Four washers and four wingnuts. These should be the correct size to fit the metal rods on your mau5 ears. Mine are 5/16".

This step is pretty easy for the most part. I just held up the ears to the head and figured out how I wanted them to look. I chose an angled position for mine, but you can also fix them on straight. Once you have decided where you want them to sit, take a sharpie marker and mark the spots where the metal rods touch the head. 

Take your dremel and drill out these spots. Of course, my markers were a bit off, so I had to drill extra. As long as the drill holes aren't as big as the washers, you should be good! 

Once you have the holes drilled, check the fit of the ear pieces. Make adjustments as necessary. 

Go ahead and reward yourself by putting that bad boy together! It's finally looking like a mau5head!

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Our first major step in this process! Cutting out the globe! Major patience required!

Things you will need for this step: 14" acrylic globe. Marked in a previous step. 

Dremel with cutting and sanding bits. Everybody prefers something different. I personally used the 545 Diamond Wheel for cutting, and the 431 60-grit sanding band for sanding. 

Protective eye gear! I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST HAVE PROTECTIVE EYE GEAR FOR THIS STEP! DO NOT IGNORE THIS! 

Mask, long sleeved clothing and pants. I personally did not have a mask, but it is definitely going to be something I invest in soon. I was spitting plastic bits out, and got dust in my mouth. It was not fun. I also suggest protective clothing such as long sleeves and pants. As you are cutting, small, sharp, hot bits of plastic will be flying everywhere! 

  Time to get started!

As you can see in the first and second pictures, I tried out a couple of bits on the dremel in the negative space where the neck hole was getting cut out. I suggest you do this as well so you can get a feel for what you like, especially if you're like me and have never used a dremel before! I ultimately decided on the round diamond blade since I was able to control it very easily, and it cut the plastic like a hot knife through butter!

As you can see in the third picture, I cut a good ways away from the line I used to mark the neck hole. I personally did this so that I could just sand the rest of the way down, and make sure not to make anything too big. In hindsight, I could have cut closer to the line, and sanded less. Lesson learned! Honestly, do whatever you are comfortable with! Don't try to cut all the way through all at once. Make several passes over the plastic, and stay steady and patient. You can see the angle the head sits after cutting the neck hole in pictures four and five. 

Once the neck hole is cut out, you can move on to the mouth. This step requires a very delicate hand and PATIENCE (have I ever told you you can't have enough of this? lol). As you may have read in some of the tutorials I referenced, cutting out the mouth creates two structural weak points in the globe, one at each corner of the mouth. Because of this, it is absolutely essential that you DO NOT put any unnecessary pressure on the globe while cutting the mouth. In my experience, it was really frustrating finding a way to hold the globe comfortably, while not putting any pressure on it and keeping my hands out of the way of the dremel.  I cut the mouth the same as the neck hole, leaving extra room for the sanding. You can see this in pictures six and seven.

In pictures eight and nine, you can see the final result of cutting and sanding. I took the rough sanding band and went over the front and back edges and smoothes everything out. Make sure to get all the little sharp bits taken care of! You don't want to snag your fabric! 

Congrats! It's finally starting to look like something! Granted, that something is a Pac-Man head, but still! You've made it this far! Great job! In the following steps, we will be measuring out the placement of the ear holes!

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The sanding of the ears! Not much to this step, so this blog entry will be short, sweet and to the point!

Things you will need for this step:

Your mau5 ears! I let my ears cure over night after gluing them together. 

Coarse sand paper. I used 60 grit. Just some stuff I picked up at walmart. Five sheets for about $3. 

To make sure I didn't sand the ears too much, I pinned the template to each ear as I worked. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture, as I stabbed myself with a pin, bled everywhere and forgot to take a picture while in progress XD 

Make sure to sand your ears so that everything is nice and even. Going through tutorials, I've noticed two different ways you can shape your ear edges. Either you can go flat, with nice, sharp edges on your ears, or you can go with a smooth curve. I chose a smooth, subtle curve, but either way is fine! 

Be patient, and work steady, and this step shouldn't take you too long! 

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First blood has been drawn. From a damn sewing pin. lol

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Alrighty! Time to get the ears a going! 

Things you will need during this step:

Foam ear pieces (cut out in a previous step). Yeeeaaaahhhh booooyyyyy~

Poster board ear template. We're gonna be making some adjustments! 

Four threaded rods, 5/16". I got these at Home Depot. I honestly can't describe to you how to find them. lol I am useless when it comes to that store. They had a tag on them that says this: THREADED ROD USS/COARSE ZINC PLATED 5/16"-18x12" And they are in a bin with a bunch of other sizes of threaded rods. The ones you are looking for have a red tip painted on (or at least they did at my store!)

Electrical tape. This stuff has seriously seen it's use in this project. lol We're gonna use it to hold the ear pieces in place. 

Low temp hot glue gun and about 4 small glue sticks. Gonna be used to secure the rods in place.

Dremel. Hoo boy! We get to break out the big guns for this step! The dremel is gonna be used to cut out the grooves for the metal rods.

Liquid Nails foam adhesive. This is gonna be used to secure the foam pieces together! I bought mine at Walmart. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE ONE THAT WORKS ON FOAM. There are two different kinds! 

First and foremost, we need to take our template that we used to cut out the ear pieces, and make some adjustments to it! We need to cut the bottom to fit the head's curve (so the ears will sit snugly on the head when attached) and we need to cut out the groove markers for the metal rods! I'm sure there is an easier way of going about cutting out the bottom of the template to fit the head, but I just took an extra piece of the foam and cut it until the curve fit the head. I always tend to do things to hard way, but I at least got the curve exactly how I wanted it. I then just took that foam and lined it up on the poster board template and traced the curve onto the bottom. You can see the final result in the first picture. 

Next, secure your template onto an ear piece. Make sure you're cutting the side that has the print on it. Since some fabrics are see through, you want to make sure that the print isn't going to be visible.  Once you get the bottom curve cut out, mark where you're gonna be cutting out the grooves. Remove the template, and get that dremel ready! You can use any attachment that works for you to cut out the grooves.  This step is best done outside, as a ton of dust accumulates and flies everywhere. I did it inside, because AH WASPS ON MY BALCONY. I just made sure to vacuum after every groove that I cut. There's still a ton of dust I need to clean up though >_< Make sure you are testing the fit of the groove and metal rod. Don't wanna make the groove too big! You can see these steps in picture two, three, four and five.  Each ear piece gets two grooves cut out. Make sure to frequently check the fit and placement of the grooves! Once you have two earpieces done, you can sandwich them together and make sure everything sits flush and secure! Make adjustments as necessary. You can see these steps in pictures six, seven and eight. 

Once you have the grooves cut out on all pieces, and everything fits correctly, you can secure the rods in place! Grab your low temp hot glue gun and glue them bad boys in place! I just drew a thin line of glue on the rod, and placed it into the groove. I then just filled the grove with more hot glue. Once it dries, give the whole thing a very gentle jiggle and make sure everything is nice and secure. DO NOT bulk up the hot glue too much! Then the ear pieces won't sit flush together! 

Once the rods are secure, you can glue the foam pieces together. Just take your Liquid Nails foam adhesive and apply around the pieces and sandwich them bad boys together! Once they are glued together, get some of your electrical tape and tape them tightly together. The Liquid Nails takes 8 hours to cure, so go ahead and put your ears aside and let them do their thing. You can see these steps in pictures nine and ten.

As you can see, the ears are still pretty rough. Once the curing process has completed, I will be sanding them down to their proper and final size! 

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This is the first truly time consuming step of the process, but is also arguably the MOST IMPORTANT step of the entire process. Measuring and marking the globe is essential to making a crisp, even mau5head. 

TAKE YOUR TIME DURING THIS STEP. I was going off of a tutorial when I started, but then realized that my globe was slightly different than the one used in the tutorial, so I had to go back and remeasure everything. Because I am an absolute perfectionist, it took me a good half a day (with breaks to keep myself from going insane) to get everything just where it needed to be! Don't get discouraged! You want your own mau5head to look awesome, and to do that you must take your time!

Things you will need during this step: 14" acrylic globe (any color). Obviously, this is the main head piece. I got white because it's what was available, but really any color will do. 

Cloth measuring tape. You especially need something flexible to measure with in this step. I have one of the plasticy measuring tapes, but I honestly think an actual cloth one would work a wee bit better. 

Sharpie/permanent marker. To... mark things with. lol 

Rubbing alcohol. Use this to erase your lines if you mess up, and to clean up any lines that are unnecessary. 

Tape. I used electrical tape since it doesn't leave a sticky residue and is easy to work with, but you can use anything. 

Poster board. There are some templates you're gonna have to make. 

Time to get started!

Your first step is to find the exact top of the head. DO NOT RELY ON THE LITTLE 'NIPPLE' BUMP! These are rarely, if ever, on the exact top of the head. As you can see in the picture, mine was off by almost a half an inch! If you rely on this little bump, your entire mau5head is going to be lopsided, and that is NO BUENO!

The globe I am using differs from the globes in the tutorials I am using. Mine has an opening of 5.25", and the ones in the tutorials have an opening of 5.5". As such, I just took the time and remeasured everything so that I could write it up in detail in my own blog/tutorial! 

To find the exact top of the globe (assuming you are using the same Westinghouse globe that I am, ordered from Home Depot) you need to measure 19.5" from the edge of the opening. Measure starting from several places around the opening, and where all these lines intersect at the top, you'll have the exact top of the globe! As you see in the first picture, my exact top was pretty far away from the little bump. Take your time and make sure to get this first little step right! It's going to make all the difference in the world! Once you have marked the top of your globe, if you want to be extra sure you got everything perfect, measure from the mark down to the edge of the opening. It should be 19.5" in any direction you measure! Yay!

Next, you need to find the equator of your globe. As you may have noticed on the Westinghouse globe, there is a line around the globe from production. DO NOT USE THIS AS THE EQUATOR! It's not even close. lol To find your equator, take your tape measure and measure 9.75" from the top of your globe, going down. As you can see in the second picture, I measured at SSSEEEEEVVVVERAL points, and marked it with little dots going around the equator of the globe. I did this just because I was very determined to get a straight line. lol You might have an easier way.  Once you are comfortable enough with the amount of dots marking your equator, take some electrical tape and tape it around the globe, laying and edge on the dots. Doing this will allow you to draw a very crisp line for your equator. You can see these steps in pictures 3 and 4. 

Now, my pictures are a bit out of order, because I did one step, and then realized I needed to go back and mark my quadrant lines before marking the neck hole. 

I had a heck of a time marking my quadrant lines. After many marks, erases, and remarks, I finally came up with these measurements: three of the quadrants are 10.75", and one of them is 11.25". Honestly, with a little more patience, I could have gotten everything perfect and even. Instead, I stuck the uneven quadrant in the back since nothing it gonna happen back there. lol I know, I know, shame on me! If you want to get all your quadrants perfectly even, they should each be 10.875".

Now, to create the template to mark where your neck hole is gonna be! 

You need to create a poster board template that is 9" in diameter. Obviously, everyone's heads are different sizes, so take the template and make sure you can fit your head through it! Adjust as need be but don't make it too big! It just needs to be big enough to fit your head through comfortably. 

As you can see in pictures 5 and 6, the neck hole is at an angle. Take your template and angle the neck hole up the back of the head. This assures a more natural and comfortable fit on your noggin!

Last but certainly not least, we are gonna mark the mouth!

Make a ring of poster board that is 44" in circumference. As you may have noticed in one of the tutorials I am following, it says to make this ring much earlier in the process and use it to mark your equator and quadrant lines. I personally found it easier to just use electrical tape to help mark my lines, but honestly, to each their own. 

The top of the mouth is slightly above the equator line. Mark a dot 5/8 of an inch above the equator on the front center line. This is the highest point of the mouth.  Now, according to the tutorial I used the most, you need to measure 6 1/2" down from the top of the mouth dot to get the lowest point of the mouth. Me, in my stupidity, measured from the equator line. As such, my mouth is about .5" bigger than the tutorial I referenced. You can see these steps in picture 7. 

The sides of the mouth do not sit on your quadrant lines! Mark a dot on your equator that's 1/2" from each side/quadrant line. You can see this step in picture 8. 

Take your poster board ring, and secure it to the head. It should rest evenly on your mouth side lines, but take your tape measure and measure a couple of places just to make sure! You can see this step in picture 9. I used electrical tape to secure the poster board in place, and very carefully traced the mouth curve on the globe. The poster board template should allow you to create the perfect mouth curve, but again, measure in a few places to make sure everything is working out! You can see this in picture 10.

You are now done marking the globe (for the time being)! Don't worry about marking for the ears yet. We will worry about that once the ears are done! 

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*sighs* If only I could get her to work for me!

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I decided to cut out the ears first. No particular reason other than it's an easy (ish) first step to get me motivated to keep working. 

So! Here's what you need to start on the ears!

4'x8' sheet of insulation foam- 1/2" thickness. I bought mine from Home Depot. A 4'x8' sheet is PLENTY enough to get  set of ears out of. Honestly, I think it's enough to get three sets of ears out of. So if you're feeling especially daring, you could make different sets of ears for your mau5head, and interchange them as you please! http://www.homedepot.com/p/Owens-Corning-FOAMULAR-1-2-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-R-3-Squared-Edge-Insulating-Sheathing-36L/100320356

Poster Board. Dollar tree has it 2 for a $1!

X Acto or utility knife. I just bought a cheap set of three utility knives from Dollar Tree. They are the worst things in the world, but they get the job done with some patience. If you want to save yourself some headache, get a nice X Acto knife. If you wanna save some money and have some patience to spare, just get something cheap to get you by. 

Pencil, Sharpie and scissors. For the obvious reasons. lol You need to draw out your pattern in pencil, and then once you have it perfect, go over it in Sharpie (or some kind of permanent marker) to make the lines crisper. 

A cloth measuring tape. You need a measuring tape that is flexible and easy to work with! Especially for some of the future steps in this process!

Let's get started!

Get you some poster board and your pencil ready! This is the fun part /sarcasm. Seriously though, I had kind of a headache getting this pattern correct. I don't have a printer to print out the pattern I found in one of the tutorials, and the push pin and string method was doing nothing for me (I just couldn't get the size right!).

There are two basic ear shapes for the deadmau5 heads: circle and oval. I decided to go with the oval shape, so keep that in mind while you are working on your own deadmau5 head! 

The oval is 14"x13", so it's pretty subtle. 

As you can see in the pictures, you just need to make a 14"x13" cross. And then, at least for me, it's trial and error until you get the oval shape perfect. It took me a good bit to get it just how I wanted it. I'm sure there is an easier way, but I am apparently just not smart enough to figure it out. lol

Cut out your template and make sure to store it somewhere safe! You can reuse this template, and you WILL be reusing it! 

Once the template is cut out, you can lay out your insulation foam and prepare to cut! The foam is actually very easy to cut, and I imagine it's even easier if you have a decent blade to work with. lol

I found it easy to keep the template in place by just pinning it down with some normal push pins (like you would hang a poster with). When cutting, MAKE SURE to leave extra room around the template! I personally like to cut about a good quarter of an inch away from the template. THIS IS OKAY! We will be sanding and shaping the ears soon! And you want that extra foam to be there so you have room to sand and smooth, and not reduce the final size of the ears from the original 14"x13".

Cut out FOUR pieces from template! Two pieces will make one ear!

Yay! You have the ears cut out! They are going to look SUPER rough and ugly for now, but that's okay! They are gonna look amazing once we get them nice and smooth! 

As you have probably noticed, there is no spot for them to rest on the head yet! Fear not! I am writing this blog as I craft! Once I get to that point with the ears, I will post an entry about it! As it stands right now, you are watching me craft this in real time (more or less. lol) The blog will be updated as each step is completed! I am hoping that by blogging as I go, I can create a comprehensive and easy to follow tutorial for beginners! 

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Resource post!

Tutorials I have referenced during my journey:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-your-own-Deadmau5-mouse-head/ (This one is the tutorial I used the most. VERY detailed, but there are some unclear parts. I also DO NOT recommend the Superior Lighting website they suggest, as I had horrid customer service from them. )

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-your-own-Deadmau5-Mau5head/ (This is one I have barely used, but has some good ideas!)

http://2storyprops.blogspot.com/2011/10/deadmau5-black-and-red-heads.html (This is a tutorial written up by a local cosplayer that is INSANE at props. Great instructions, but lacking some detail.)

http://pripyatbeast.com/blog/?p=224 (I found this tutorial very recently. Love the detailed pictures and instructions and have been referencing them more often.)

Links for materials I bought online:

www.amazon.com

I bought the el wire and hard hat from Amazon.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00638VFUM/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQSYL0/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 

www.homedepot.com

I bought the acrylic globes from Home Depot. They are a bit pricier, but the 14"dome qualifies for free shipping, the customer service is outstanding, AND it shipped SUPER fast.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Westinghouse-14-in-White-Acrylic-Neckless-Globe-8188400/203066103

And

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Westinghouse-6-in-White-Polycarbonate-Globe-8186900/203066170

www.fabric.com

I bought the main fabric from fabric.com. They have a great variety of stretch velvet and velour!

http://www.campingworld.com

I bought the metal mesh for the mouth from this website. I literally could not find a better place to buy it, but with luck, maybe you can!

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping/item/dome-mesh-food-cover/69691

I also bought various materials and supplies from Walmart, Dollar Tree, and Home Depot (in store). I will update this list when need be. 

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The purpose of this blog!

I'll be documenting my journey of making a mau5 head! 

A little background on my virtually non-existent skill!

Have about 4 years of sewing under my belt.... BUT....

I haven't sewn in about 3 years. The last cosplay I made was with the assistance of my friend, who did most of the sewing.

I was always passable at sewing. I could follow very basic patterns, but I was never anything more than merely capable of sewing.

As such, my cosplay history is mediocre at best. 

Never made a prop in my life. Every prop I had was either bought or made by a friend. 

The most I have ever worked with is cloth.

I have never drafted my own patterns. 

So, essentially, I am going into this COMPLETELY green. lol The fact that I haven't laid hands on a sewing machine in 3 years pretty much means I've lost what little skill I had. And my skill with any kind of hard materials (like foam or acrylic) is non existent.