- Heat Shaping- make sure jaw is taped on and make sure the head fits and can be taken on and off. Heat shape if you need to.
-Reinforcing joining gaps w epoxy clay ( dont reinforce w epoxy clay until you heat shape!)
-Priming/painting/clear coat
-Install vinyl/ doorstoppers/padding
-Make felt magnet attachments for back piece attachment
-Jaw hinge install
-Eye cap install ( use some anti fog spray!)
-Whisker and TPU flaps install
Assembling
Note: Be sure to flatten out the jaw teeth so that the top teeth can sit over them. You don't want the jaw to scrape the paint off of your top teeth when you open and close the jaw. I used some clear epoxy over the top teeth once I painted them to make a tough protective layer.
I used super glue to do a basic , quick hold on the two head pieces and then went back with clear epoxy glue to make a more permanent bond
Priming ! I primed the assembled head minus the jaw and covered the translucent ears with tape to prevent primer from spraying on to them.
I did an overspray of primer into the top clear part just a bit so that i could hide some of the foam padding i wanted to set into the top! I used mechanicus grey primer
to carefully spritz it so there was a gradient fading into the clear. I then decided to make a texture in the primer since it got scratched in a few places during more assembly. I used a cricut weeding tool to gently scrape contour lines into the primer:
I painted the main colors with various acrylics ( vallejo/citadel/ Golden/Proacryl/etc) and did some glazing layers ( mix glazing medium w acrylic) to make spots stripes and patterns.
I got some really nice transparent stripe effects on the clear dome by using copic style alcohol markers! I use the cheap ones but these can be annoying because some of the more muted colors are not as subtle as the cap color shows! You get what you pay for...
You can layer on some iridescent paint on top too! Be sure to spray it with a clear coat once you are finished...the more glossy the clear, the more see through the dome will be.
PADDING/ TRANSPARENT DOME EFFECTS:
I used transparent door stoppers to make false "eyes" that show through the head while also providing a stabilizing pad that can help hold the head in place while worn.
I glued some iridescent fabric on the back of a clear glass dome aka cabochon similar to my eye tutorial to insert into the concave part of the door stopper. This makes a cool eye effect that will show through when you glue the flat part into the mask. I used super glue to attach the door stoppers but beware super glue can become cloudy once it cures.
Clear padding meant for shoes ended up having cool organic shapes that i super glued into the dome! ( again the glue can become cloudy)
I used this foam for some of the padding and glued it mostly in the part that was oversprayed with the primer. I also cut circles that look a little like eyes for parts that were near the clear part.
I used Worbla clear thermoplastic on two stacked ( super glued) 22mm door stopper pieces to make a part that braces against my cheeks so the head doesnt shift when i open the jaw. I stacked the cut worbla and super glued it in until the pieces touched my cheek comfortably.
WHISKERS:
Most of the whiskers were made with cosclay using this tutorial
I used this
Shapable clear "clay" thermoplastic to make some of the clear whisker parts but it probably would have come in handy for some of the inner bracing/padding for the clear head. I liked it a lot more than the worbla as it was much easier to shape with my fingers. It is slightly flexible when cool so keep that in mind! The clear worbla has a flex too but it is not as smushy.
The flaps are made from a flexible plastic called TPU fabric, used for raincoats and waterproof stuff. The flaps can help blend in/hide seams and add a fun movement to the mask!
I found that applying heat to the inside of these smaller plastic domes helps smooth the tooth created by the vaccuforming process and clears up the dome a bit. Do this very carefully and hit with heat only for a second or two at a time as you may distort the lens!
EYE TUTORIAL 2 : The larger domes used for this tutorial are much clearer than the smaller ones and could be trimmed to fit inside this mask. The drawback is that they don't have the same "pop out" cute shape as the smaller ones and are more flat.
I recommend using some anti fog spray in the domes and lenses. It seems like sealing the dark lens into the dome helps it not fog as much but I'm also considering trying black makeup around my eyes with black sclera lenses since the darkened lenses can make vision just a bit more difficult.
You can also install a tiny fan to help with fogging though the noise can be irritating and then you have to hide the battery pack...
I used a piece of heat shaped acrylic to make a "bridge" that goes across the head that is glued into the large door stopper "eyes" inside the head. You could also use
Worbla clear thermoplastic though you may need to double or triple the thickness. I made this inside piece about 7" long.
This is also the shape I used to make the chin/neck and lower fin piece magnet covers out of felt.
The lowest back fin piece is meant to be taken off when putting the head on and off. I used these magnets ,
glued 3 into the cast fin piece and sandwiched the corresponding 3 between felt pieces that were attached into the back of the head. The annoying part is that the felt will get caught inside the mask when you slide the head down when putting it on but it's the best I've come up with so far.
I used Kryolan aquacolor to make my face a dark turquoise with contrasting white eyebrows so that my expressions can still be read. I also painted the area around my mouth to hide it a bit when i open the jaw. I could just do a balaclava but shouting through the material to be heard is annoying . You could I sealed the makeup with ELF sealer but it still smeared when i need to take the head off and on so I'm going to try out Ben Nye sealer.
I'm also going to try out a hijab head covering and airbrush it with stripes since it looks like this will conceal my neck and hair while leaving my eyebrows still visible for the makeup trick. It will also be good for keeping sweat out of my eyes!
FINS!
I havent added this to my mask yet but this idea hit me last minute and it totally worked! I got some 2" shag faux fur and combed in a mixture of acrylic color and adhesion promoter though you could use a satin/gloss medium) basically any clear, heavy bodied acrylic medium...i also used Triple Thick. Place it on a slick surface so it will peel off easily when it dries. It was brushed in with a stiff chip brush and straightned with a wire slicker type comb and left overnight to dry. Then it was trimmed with scissors and....it makes a pretty convincing gill-like fringe. I will probably use this to hide some of the felt that shows through the back part seam and maybe by the jaws.
