Spike Ball Helmet

I wasn’t planning to make this into a tutorial so I don’t have near as many processes pictures as I wish I had :(

However! I made this spiked ball helmet head thing for a random costume option so why not add it here?

This is mostly papier-mâché so it’s an easy / medium level project.

Materials :

1. Ball ( one that could fit on / around your head comfortably )
2. Plastic cling wrap
3. Cardstock / Cereal box cardboard
4. Newspaper
5. Elmers Glue
6. Wood or Super Glue
7. Salt
8. Water
9. Hot Glue
10. Paint
11. Screen / Mesh

Like I said, I wasn’t planning to make this a tutorial so I didn’t take many pictures.

For step one you’ll want to get your ball base and wrap it with plastic wrap! This is to keep your papier-mâché from sticking to the ball and makes it easier to deflate and take out later without risking your papier-mâché ball collapsing. Be sure to leave the valve of the ball exposed!

Once your ball is all wrapped up, mix your glue and water. I used a 1 : 1 ratio and would start with 1/2 cup of Elmer’s glue, 1/2 cup of water, with 1/2 teaspoon of salt mixed in. Mix everything together and start dipping your shredded newspaper strips into the glue and applying them to the ball.

Be sure to let each layer dry! The thicker your layers the longer it will take to dry!

You’ll want at the very least 10 layers of papier-mâché on the ball!

In Step 1’s image you’ll see my cones are made of normal printer paper, those cones were just to see how big they needed to be and how many I’d need. For my ball I ended up needing 13 spikes!

Start by folding your cardstock / cardboard into a party hat cone shape, once you like the size of it, do it 12 more times for the other spikes :)

You’ll want to add papier-mâché onto these as well, you won’t need as many layers as your ball but you still want them to be sturdy!

To attach my spikes I hot glued them on, but you can definitely use other glues like super glue if you prefer.

After attaching my spikes I added a few more layers of papier-mâché to secure them in place and blend them into the ball.

At this point in the project you’ll be dreading each application and will definitely be tired of this whole process lol ( But it’s worth it, don’t worry )

Once you’re finally done with the papier-mâché steps you’ll add your seeing holes (?)

To do this, deflate the ball you used as a base and remove it. At this point you should’ve added enough layers and the shell of papier-mâché should hold its shape!

For the seeing parts, I drilled them out and attached the screen / mesh to the inside and outside making sure it was as opaque as possible.

After attaching everything I used a wood glue ( you can use super glue instead ) to add paper around / on top of the screen and of course added more papier-mâché around it to blend it in with the rest of the ball.

For the inside of the ball I added a chin strap and some padding so it sits nicely and comfortably on my head.

I glued these in with hot glue :)

Last thing to do is paint it!

I used matte black spray paint for my base, then went over it with a textured spray paint ( Hammered ), and finally finished it off with a high gloss spray paint.

I hope this tutorial helps someone :) again, I apologize for the lack of progress pictures, my next project will have plenty!