I'm working on tricking out a Zuckuss mask for my eventual costume. I picked up the mask on ebay a couple months ago for only $100, and it's pretty nice.
The mask came with the eyes intact, painted silver. Included were two plastic domes for making "real" eyes. These fit perfectly so I assume similar domes were used in the original sculpt. I understand that the screen accurate method for doing these is with bubble wrap. I tested that out and, frankly, it looked like bubble wrap stuffed into a plastic dome (i.e. ****).
So instead I bought a bunch (six packs) of those little rubber no-skid feet, half sphere shaped, and stuck them all over one of the domes:
(this is after demolding. All the rubber feet came off):
Then I made an RTV mold of the piece:
I also pour some RTV into one of the sphere's so I could make a "positive" shape. I hang this down inside the eye mold to the final piece from being too thick and heavy.
I used Castin' Create clear resin from Michaels. Not the easiest to work with but it did the trick. I painted transparent glass paint called "Hologram Shimmer" to give it some iridescent flecks. Hard to photograph but it looks cool:
You're not going to see anything through these other than where the sun is in the sky, but it looks cool. Here's it test fitted into the mask:
I finished the second eye tonight so as soon as it's done curing I'll paint it up and hot glue these inside the mask.
I added a piece of metal "screen" to the front section. This is a screen accurate place to put something like this. I thought this material look nice. Kind of a honeycomb pattern. This is the only place to get air and vision. OUCH.
Prior to making the eyes, I made the hoses and canister that hang off the side. Thanks to some good RPF advice, I picked up some latex and wrapped a tube roughly with masking tape, so that it would have an organic feel. I added color (just acrylic paint) to the latex first, then paint it up after it dried for variation. It took about three solid coats.
I decided to attach it to the mask with earphone/guitar cord plugs. These hold tight and the inputs look natural in the mask.
Looks a bit like a big poop.
The canister appears a bit transparent in some pics, so I went with that. I used a clear storage tube with rubber end caps from Home Depot. I painted the inside with yellow glass paint and then watered down some brown paint and let it drip down the inside so it looked grungey and organic. I used the same masking tape and latex method to make the poopy parts.
Once enhanced I made was adding a speaker in the bottom, so I could put a voice changer inside the mask and not only be heard, but speak with an alien/bug voice (still looking for a good voice changer. Two cheapo Halloween store voice changers have been junked). I used the same honeycomb metal screen in the bottom and the speaker grill.
Reminds me of a wasp nest. And just like the other tube, it will attach with a 3" plug. This one, though, will also connect the speaker to the electronics in the mask.
Anyway, that's what I've been up to lately!
Scott
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