Make Your Own Deadmau5 Head

The famous deadmau5 icon has evolved over the years. This tutorial explains how to make a deadmau5 head like the red one worn with a business suit. The illustrations for the steps are a bit funky and are not to scale, but they convey the necessary information. Measurements are indicated by red lines and numbers in the diagrams, and all measurements are in inches. If you have any suggestions for improving any of these steps, please share them. (The part where you fit the felt over the mau5 head is especially tricky, so I’d love to know if anyone has good strategies for that step.)

Step 1 Materials

For the list of materials, I included the brand and source of certain materials in brackets wherever I could. Materials are not listed in the order you need them.

32 oz. all-purpose glue (you may need more, but this is a good amount to start with) [Elmer’s, JoAnn]
1 can spray adhesive [Elmer’s Multi-Purpose 4oz, Kmart]
2 medium-sized plastic bowls (one with an airtight lid)
1 inflatable beach ball (14” diameter) [Kmart]
1 hard hat [Lowe's]
three 22”x28” sheets of foam board
2 packages of epoxy glue [E-B Weld], OR 1 can of epoxy paint
1¾ yards of 72” felt (whichever color you want the mau5 head to be) [JoAnn]
6”x18” piece of wire mesh
18”x18” piece of sheer white fabric
two 4½-inch tap lights [Goodwill]
several sheets of newspaper
2-3 metal coat hangers
several fist-sized chunks of very stiff Styrofoam
masking tape
string (any color)
scissors
craft knife or razor blade (USE VERY CAREFULLY)
utility knife
wire cutters
hand drill
plastic dinner knife, OR a cheap 1” wide paint brush (depending on whether you chose epoxy glue or epoxy paint)
screwdriver that fits the screws in the tap lights
high-temperature hot glue gun
dozens of hot glue sticks
needle
thread (any color)
sewing pins
permanent marker
tape measure
ruler
protractor
optional: spray paint for inside surface of mau5 head, electrical tape to make crosses over eyes, LEDs or electroluminescent (EL) wire to add spectacular lighting

Comments

[supermau5]

Cool i amm going to start making a head for my sisters friend so she can give it to her as a bd present!!

[TofuCube12]

Awesome! More power to ya!

[deadmau5man101]

im gonna start making my maul head this week and ure the first 1 i found

[TofuCube12]

Great! I hope it is helpful. Good luck!

[deadmau5man101]

Thanks i'll be needing it. MAU5 FOREVER!!!!

[Cri5alfa_21]

So with the way u made it, do your eyes light up? It doesn't sound like hey do but I'm thinking if I glue them in without dissassembling them they could still work...any thoughts?

[TofuCube12]

My mau5's eyes don't light up, but yeah, I have a friend who made a mau5 head following my instructions, and she just hot-glued the fully intact lights inside the eye holes. As long as you're careful to glue them securely, they should stay in place just fine and allow you to have light-up eyes!

An additional thing that my friend did was to have her dad replace the bulbs in the lights with colored Christmas light bulbs that he soldered in. Just a thought if you happened to want colored eyes. :)

[sethro34]

How much does all of the materials cost in all?

[TofuCube12]

Read the comments at the bottom of this page.

[sethro34]

How did we get the head? I feel that you skipped a ton of steps.

[TofuCube12]

Do you mean the main sphere that becomes the mau5 head? The way to make that is described in Step 2.

[hlsiao]

How much does the head weigh after you finish the paper mache?

[TofuCube12]

Hmm, that's a good question. I don't have a scale to weigh it, but my finished mau5 head feels to be around 4 pounds. Sorry I don't have a more accurate answer. Hope this helps, though.

[dodo1095]

Do you have to let it dry after every/ an certain amount of layers or can you do it all at once?

[TofuCube12]

I let it dry overnight after each layer. Another instructables user said he used a hairdryer to speed up the drying process.

[xxwerdxx]

I'm ordering my EL wire and I need an inverter. Idk what this is and which kind to get. What'd you do?

[TofuCube12]

I'm in the same boat as you in that I don't know much about inverters, either. I bought a pre-assembled EL wire kit that came with a battery pack already set up with the wire. There was just a clip that connected a wire from the battery pack to the EL wire. The kits aren't cheap, but they saved me the headache of trying to make an EL wire setup myself. Here's the link to the kit I ordered (available in lengths of 3-9 feet):

http://www.thatscoolwire.com/store/item.asp?Category=185&SubCategoryID=155&GroupID=&SKU=WY%2DPPL%2DN3

[Uberwolfman]

So for the eyes I am using styroform balls that are the same measurements as the tap lights. (Parents did not wanna waste 10 bucks on two of them) is there any problem in that if I cut them in half and use paint to make the surface look more smoother? Also what kind of inverter did you order? I am also wanna use battery power.

[TofuCube12]

I think painting the styrofoam will work okay. The styrofoam may absorb some of the paint, so you may end up applying a few coats of paint to make the surface smooth.

As for the inverter, I don't know what kind it is because it just came with the pre-assembled EL wire kit. There was just a clip that connected a wire from the battery pack to the EL wire. It was really easy to set up; I just had to clip those wires together and install batteries in the pack. The kits aren't cheap, but they saved me the headache of trying to make an EL wire setup myself. Here's the link to the kit I ordered (available in lengths of 3-9 feet):

http://www.thatscoolwire.com/store/item.asp?Category=185&SubCategoryID=155&GroupID=&SKU=WY%2DPPL%2DN3

[nbiaggini]

Hi, im from latinamerica and I would like to know, those measures are inches or cm?
Sorry the bad english haha (:

[TofuCube12]

The measurements are in inches. :)

[amcgrath1]

this is really cool almost done with mine btw you look really cute with the deadmau5 costume

[TofuCube12]

Cool, you should share a picture of your mau5 head when you finish it! And thanks for the compliment; the Tron deadmau5 costume has been a big hit so far at sci-fi/gaming/animé conventions. In the future I may make a rhinestone-covered mau5 head...

[Danying]

Do you put the lip prices on the top and bottom? Or just bottom?

[TofuCube12]

You put the lip pieces into both the top and the bottom of the mouth.

[The3rdPunch]

How much does this cost without lighting? Reply ASAP

[TofuCube12]

I don't have an exact estimate, but it should cost around 75-100 dollars, if you already have the necessary tools.

[The3rdPunch]

Ok thanks.

My only other question is about how long does it take to make?
Do you know if it can be done before halloween?

[TofuCube12]

Sorry I didn't get to reply before the day of Halloween! :0 As far as how long it takes, you can figure on 9 days to complete Step 2, and then at least a few days to complete the remaining steps if you can devote 3-4 hours to work on the project each day.

[zeaton]

How the the paper mache hold up? I am begging this. and I see all other methods using acrylic globes and hamster balls? Please help.

[TofuCube12]

So far it has held up fine for me. The ears have sometimes been hit by walls/doorways/people and have not suffered any damage. I've never dropped my mau5 head on the ground, but I don't think it would break if I did. I think the only thing that would weaken the papier-mâché is if it got really wet. So if you keep the mau5 head dry and don't drop it, you should be fine. Also, coating the papier-mâché in epoxy glue/paint (as in Step 8 of my instructable) should help to strengthen the mau5 head. Thanks for asking! I hope this explanation helps.

[Danying]

So, for the lips you'd also use the project foam boards?

[TofuCube12]

Yes, as described in Step 3.

[JBowmanDIY]

how thick are the foam boards?

[TofuCube12]

They are 3/16 inches (or 5mm) thick (like those foam boards people use for school projects and presentations).

[a7x92x]

i just finished mine. i couldnt find a beach ball so i used a 14" ball sold at walmart instead. if i had to rush the paper mache drying i took a hairdryer to it and let it sit for an hour. i used carbon fiber screening like on a screen door because i couldnt find wire mesh. i couldnt find a beachball so i used a ball i found at walmart for like $3 which was the same size. i spend maybe about $60 after i did everything, not including the hard hat because i already had one. it came out decent considering i rushed all of the cutting and felting for the head in about 3 hours.

[TofuCube12]

Lookin' good! Glad you were able to improvise on materials a bit. Did you install lights inside the eyes? (If you did, bravo! Extra points for awesomeness.)

[Ryutso]

How did you hide the EL converter and the switch? Long piece of wire so it sits in your pocket?

[TofuCube12]

If you look closely at the backs of the ears in the upper right photo, you can see the black rectangular battery packs attached there. (I used two 6-foot EL wire kits from www.thatscoolwire.com, one kit to light each side of the mau5 head.) I hot-glued velcro strips to the ears and to the battery packs in order to make the battery packs detachable (for easier loading and unloading of batteries). This was tricky, though, because sometimes the velcro wanted to peel off of the battery packs, leaving the battery packs hanging in midair. I'm sure there is an easy way to make the attachment more secure, but I didn't think of one at the time I did this project. Hope this answer helps!

[Ryutso]

It actually looks pretty nice and those battery boxes really blend in with the black.

What diameter EL wire?