Featured on Bored Panda today was a fabulous homemade Darth Vader Disco ball by Justin Poulsen that’s getting lots of buzz. As he described the process, I realized he had some costly and laborious steps, so I wanted to share with you an easier way to make your own version, with links to all the needed materials.
Darth Disco Ball Tutorial
Justin Poulsen’s Darth Disco Ball:
Justin told Bored Panda:
“I made my own Darth Vader disco ball from a Halloween costume mask and dollar store items. I’d wanted to make a Darth Vader disco ball ever since I saw the Boyz Noise Oi Oi Oi album cover with the disco ball skull.
As I start to expand the motion side of my photography portfolio I thought it would be the perfect time to finally create and document it.”
How To Make It
I will share with you the way Justin made his, but also provide you with easier options and possibly better, cheaper materials.
1. First, he purchased a reproduction helmet by Rubies at a costume shop for $50, but you can get the same one here for less.
2. He then used Krylon Premium Spray paint in Chrome to add a stainless steel look to the helmet, but the effect was more matte than Justin had intended, so sent the eye lenses to a local proprietor to be sprayed true chrome.
I would suggest using Rust-Oleum 7718830 Bright Coat Metallic Color 11-Ounce Spray, Gloss Chrome. Based on reviews, this will give you a more mirror-like finish than the paint Justin used and will not have to send the lens anywhere. (If the lens are not as metallic as you’d like, try using this self-adhesive Chrome Mirror Silver Vinyl Wrap Film Sheet on the lens)
3. He found mini disco balls such as these, pried off the individual mirrored tiles and used Aleene’s tacky glue to adhere them to the helmet.
BUT it’s sooooo much easier to simply buy small mirrored tiles such as these and glue them on rather than deconstructing mini disco balls. For all the various sizes (and colors!) of mirrored tiles available, go here.
For the small spaces where the mirrored tiles would not fit, Justin covered them with chrome automotive vinyl like this. But because the mirrored tiles come in tons of sizes, you won’t need to do that step!
And Voila:
To Recap
The necessary materials:
1. Rubies Adult Darth Vader Helmet
2. Rust-Oleum 7718830 Bright Coat Metallic Color 11-Ounce Spray, Gloss Chrome
3. Square Assorted Mirror Tiles
4. Aleene’s tacky glue
Make a Colored Version!
You can also make this in a pink version using these, turquoise version with these or a gold version with these. or with any of the colored mirror mosaic tiles here, or multi-colored mirrored versions using colored mirrored tiles instead.
In Justin’s submission to Bored Panda, he shared how he created a backdrop against which to photograph and film his helmet by cutting holes in grey matte board and covering them with with LeeLux 400 diffusion material. Below is his Instagram photo of the set he built to shoot it ). You can get more details about that here
Documentation of Justin’s personal DIY Darth Vader disco ball build can be found at https://www.justinpoulsen.com
Thanks to Bored Panda and Justin Poulsen for inspiring this tutorial.