When I got my mind fixed on building a space helmet for Halloween I figured it would prove difficult to manifest since it doesn't exactly exist in reality so much. Most depictions of fish bowl style helmets are drawings or made by major movie companies with unlimited resources. I scoured
Halloween costume websites, costumer's blogs, vintage scuba crap, and even
astronaut supply websites. Those all proved far to modern in look, expensive, and quite frankly not feminine enough for anything I wanted.
The fishbowl itself was the most difficult task. Once again, I research through costume information, vintage movies, artwork, etc... plotting on how one would interpret something relatively cartoony into something tangible. Most internet information I found were pleas from other folks also seeking ideas on how to create this look. I found some great
collections of examples,
steam punk ideas, and other
how to info but, once again they were not exactly the look I was going for. I brainstormed everything from stretched tight thin plastic around a wire frame to a poly resin of some sort painted thinly and evenly around an inflated balloon (with removal of the balloon after hardening), and from there to building a mold that I could pour something into. I came the conclusion that most/all resins I know of are pretty brittle and would not lend well to any kind of tampering. I even looked into actual fish bowl, I promise. Glass was easier to find yet, would be much too heavy (and pretty spendy). Glass on a curve is also very, very difficult to cut, drill, or work with. I have a lot of glass cutting experience and it wasn't something I really wanted to take on. I decided to start looking into plastic manufacturers to see how much it would be just to get the experts to make this for me. On one companies website it has a listing of different example of molds they can produce for you and one of those examples was replacement lighting fixtures.
Mama Mia, this was the perfect lead. Most regular lighting companies make opaque white and 80's gross smoky gray replacement globes and most of those were not big enough anyhow. Eventually, I stumbled upon street lamp replacement globes up to 24". My guess is you have never seen anyone do a happy dance because they found the
perfect 14" neck-less acrylic globe.
3 weeks later, I was in it to win it.
Next issue was the head opening. ALL globes only have a neck opening of about 5". My hats actually do measure about that across but, asking people all week, "do you think my head will fit through a 5-6" hole" is begging for sass and I knew deep down inside it wasn't going to be enough space. Queue the Dremel. I got myself some diamond saw blade intended for glass (they didn't have a plastic option (disappointing) and very carefully (Safety first for this Danger Ranger) removed and 2.5 inch ring around the neck so that I would go over my head.
(Remember: Safe cats don't need nine lives)
It took about three slow passes to complete that removal. With the acrylic, you can't go to crazy because of the deadly heat issue AND you use up blades like mad because the moment those are no longer super sharp, the plastic will start to get fine little cracks along the incision.
Ok, well now it fits my head but, when I get up in there it's all moist and fogs up like I am in the back seat of a Camero at Lookout Mountain.
I guess we need breathing holes. I didn't want them covering my face.
Not because I am super vain girl but, I'm possitive I would find it distracting inside as well as outside the helmet so, I decided to make little holes evenly around the bottom and a few at the top. Did my best trying to work them into the aesthetic as best I could. This took a whole new level of OCD because remember that since I would much rather go to Japan than spend all my money on a space helmet (though they are pretty close) I am trying to do this as cheaply as possible. I figured special plastic drill bits would be expensive (yeah, $11 is considered expensive to me) and upon researching the best way to go about drilling plastic I found instructions on how to
convert a normal drill bit into one for plastic. It is pretty interesting not to mention fun for the whole family.
I drilled 23 5/8" holes around the bottom. I first did some test runs on some scrap acrylic of the same thickness provided pro-bono from my friends over at
TAP Plastic. I am also going to be consulting with them in making acrylic
staves for large fans but, that is another story for another day. Each hole took about 8 minutes. Patience is virtue in this game. You gots to go slow and reverse the drill a few times before you can go all the way through. Once again because of plastic and heat issues with each other. This part was a lot like the game Operation. Slow, steady, and at any minute you could be fucked all the way back to the beginning. I said, "please don't crack, please don't crack, please don't crack over 1,000 times that day without question. On my very last hole, I started to get some crystallization and cracking so, ummmm... yeah.... that was my last hole.
After holes, I needed a way to support the helmet. I wanted it to be simple, not cover too much of my lady-ness, and look somewhere in between real and "cartoony".
I ended up using some
1" clear vinyl tubing that was only about a buck or two. My theory was that if I could split the tubing down the middle, I could cup it around the neck opening and the curvature of the tubing would naturally hold the tube in place since it was also being placed on a curve. Awww, I dare say like two lovers holding hands.
I used the sharpest utility knife in the world to ever sooooooo carefully
cut straight down the middle.
(Remember: Give safety an inch and it will take a finger)
Honestly, I was secretly shocked that my theory worked out as well as it did.
Still though, with just that tubing in place the helmet still hangs forward. It just rests on the back of your head, fucking up your hair, and space
will
not
tolerate
you looking like shit. To resolve the issue, I added a few more rows of the extra tubing to the bottom. I tapered the ends so that it will rest nice on either side of my shoulders- keeping it in place.
I roughed up the top and bottom of the tube for some grippage but, fast forward through 9 different types of glue before I had any success of getting them to stay
together. Once that dried, I went over the seams with clear silicone caulk. I then went tweaker crazy on cleaning up every drip or uneven line of glue/silicone. I think this is what made one of my corners pop off. I think put a bit too much mineral spirits and it seeped down into it. Foiled again in the quest for somewhere near perfection. I shake my fist at you.
I then covered the glued/caulked seams with a super cute metal ball chain because even after clean up, the glue was still haunting my dreams.
For my breathing tube, I used whatever random plumbing fixture jumped into my basket at Home Depot. I painted it silver to match my space ensemble.
On the inside I added a silver 1/2 ring lined up with the fixture on the outside so you don't see anything ugly on the underbelly.
Since it is much easier to work on the helmet without the tube, for now they are separate beings. Eventually, it will connect with some more random fixtures. The tube is wash machine hose from the Depot, once again painted silver.
The receiving end of the hose is attached to a small hard plastic electrical box that I painted and added some knobs and blinky things. The radio knobs are actually earrings I had made previously that I deemed suitable to sacrifice for the cause. The box was so brittle that I couldn't cut a hole into it without it cracking so, I ended up just drilling a bunch of holes with my modified drill bit until I could just pop it out.
The box will be sewn (hence the need for the screw holes in the corners) to a black corset-esque belt that I will wear and can take on and off if I so please.
Lastly, I used two transistor antennae Justin keeps in his wallet or something and placed them into my drilled holes and then glued them down into some sweet little bolt covers. Precious.
Once again, so that it wasn't ugly on the inside (helmet is clear after all). I also went all out and put washers around the antennae and holes on the outside so that it looked all pretty. You can see where my last hole was starting to have issues (dull blade I think but, I didn't want to press my luck)
Besides some issues with the tubing glue staying stuck at the ends, I am pretty much done. I am also pretty much satisfied. The globe was the most expensive part so, all in all I came in at under $50.
I cleaned it up and used some defogger/cleaner given to me once again from TAP, brushed off my hands, and started working on my space suit.
