Introduction: The Tesseract (aka Cosmic Cube)
My cosplay of Red Skull was coming together nicely...
Mask? Check
Bad Guy Black Uniform? Check
Gun? Check
Something's still missing... a Tesseract!
Yes, that's it, a Tesseract that actually works, pulsing with blue energy!
Can't be that difficult can it?
Well no, its not. Here's how I did it.
Step 1: The Cube Itself
The easist part, as these things already exist in the "virtual shopping world", ie- find it on eBay, etc.
Just search for "baseball case", or similar term like "cricketball display case", you get the idea.
These things come in two pieces, they slide apart and back together really nicely. Ideal for placing the working lights inside.
Step 2: The Glowing Lights
These were a little tricky to find but overseas sellers on eBay came to the rescue.
You're looking for the ones where the light glows on-off slowly, rather than any straight "on-off flashing".
These ones were perfect in size, and light effect.
They pop apart, and you simply slide the plastic tab that interrupts the battery connection to switch them on. Batteries are supposed to last about 8hrs constant use I think. But just keep the plastic tabs safe and re-insert them when you want to switch them off. The batteries are the small round type found in watches, they're dirt-cheap to get hold of.
Step 3: Making the Case "frosty"
So here is where you get bust with some sandpaper (or wet/dry paper), basically any abrasive paper normally used for woodwork or car repair.
Just attack both the inside and outside surfaces to remove the glossy finish. You want that cube really matt and "frosty" looking. No need to resort to any decorative sprays for that effect, just rub that plastic surface like a madman.
Step 4: Adding the Lights to the Cube
So what we do next is switch on all our lights. I used the whole pack of them, for maximum luminosity and random pulsing effect.
Place the light balls inside some bubblewrap, make sure they point in random directions and that any which are next to each other don't light up at exactly the same time. You want as much random movement with the light as possible.
Then place the bubblewrapped lights inside the cube case, and slide it shut.
Step 5: The Finished Tesseract
And there it is, in all it's blue-glowing splendour.
It's enough to put a smile on Red Skull's face!
For more information on my cosplay of Red Skull, follow this Facebook page.
Many thanks for reading!