All the way back! | Furry! | Projects |

Here is my first "helmet head"
I was planning to make a new head for the fox fursuit but was undecided what method to use.  I decided to try using a bicycle helmet for a base and build around that, but first made a prototype to test the concept.  I made this for a friend; he is interested in things African and middle Eastern and likes black.  And so I decided to surprise him with something that was African, middle Eastern and black... an Egyptian Mongoose.  And so I made this head and just gave it to him as a surprise (indeed he was!).  I also supplied him with enough fur to make a complete suit to go with it, which at this time, he is busily working on.  This page shows how I built the basic form of the head.

It all starts with this: a Bell Reflex bicycle helmet... ~$8 at Walmart.

This shot shows the inside of the helmet.

By removing the black tape around the edge, the plastic shell comes off the outside leaving the styrofoam liner.  Notice how it is tapered to a point in the back... That will be fixed.

Here is the back of the helmet after a few minutes with the air grinder.  No more taper, it is nice and rounded.  It can be cut with an electric knife, but you need to hang on, this is tough styrofoam!

The new outline of the back without the taper.  Don't sand so far as to weaken the area around the hole that the straps go through.

Here is the piece that I made to frame the upper jaw.  The metal mesh came from Michael's craft store and is where the roof of the mouth will be.  The frame is made of 3/16 brass wire (steel will work also) and the ends are sharpened.

Here is the upper and lower jaw pieces set into the styrofoam.  You have to drill holes into the styrofoam in order to push the wire into it.  The lower jaw piece has the sides cut and springs inserted to serve as jaw hinges (picture coming up).

A side view.  The teeth that you see here are a coyote jaw set from Van Dyke's Taxidermy supply.  In the end, I left them out of this head.

Here I have started adding more mesh to form the snout.  You can also see the Coyote nose, also from Van Dyke's.  The nostrils have been drilled through so that a ventilation fan can be added later.

More mesh has been added to form the face.

Here is the promised picture showing the springs used as hinges in the lower jaw frame.

The lower jaw frame is off in this picture and I have started to apply auto body putty over the messh.

Now that the putty has added some rigidity to it, I have cut the eye holes.  The head is sitting on a life casting of the friend and so it is easy to see where they need to be.  If working alone, just put the head on and stick pieces of tape to the mesh where the eyes need to be.

More putty has been added to the face and sanded out.  The lower jaw frame has been put back on in this picture as well.

Here the head is strapped down using the straps that came with the helmet.  Notice that the jaws touch at the chin here.  When fur lips have been added, they will be parallel.