Eddie: Aces High

 Probably my shortest project ever: All Iron Maiden fans need a life-sized Eddy Head from the Album Aces High that lights up, right? This was a gift to my brother-in-law and I worked on this project from December 16-22, 2023. Materials: The base is made from particle board with a hardboard cover, the head is a foam mannequin head covered with 'Paper Mache Clay' and I got the goggles and aviator helmet on Amazon. Total cost of the project: About $40.00. Let's look at the steps.

Step 1: Eye Lights

You can see most of the basic materials here in this first pic. I started with a picture of Aces High Eddy. If you don't know the story of Eddy, you can Google it...maybe you just have to be fan. Eddy is kind of an undead ex-Pharaoh mascot for the band Iron Maiden. Makes sense to me...again, maybe you need to be a fan. Since I knew before I started that I wanted lights in the eyes, the first step was to insert Christmas Lights (I used daylight white here, the little battery back you can get at Walmart for less than $5) into pill jars that I would insert into the foam head. I used a leftover women's foam head because I had one available and it's cheap. I actually don't recommend that. Spring the $6 to buy a men's head if you're making a male statue. Trust me here...

I'm kind of a pro at building paper mache zombies and I've learned that foam heads are the best base. I've also learned that you almost always need to cut the lower jaw and add teeth later for a good mouth effect. I used a drill with a 2" diameter circular saw blade to cut out the eyes. You could use a knife too but this was easier aside from the mess. I then kept hollowing out the eyes until they fit the pill bottles filled with lights. To do the lights, count the lights on the cord and basically tie two bundles, one for each eye. Single lights would work too but they are more expensive. I also cut a hole into the back to run my cord and switch out so I could mount it on the base. 

Step 2: Teeth

Ok, here's a Trehal secret so don't tell anyone: When you want to do really good zombie teeth, go the Dollar Store and buy some glue on fingernails. A $1.25 package goes a long way...I think I'm still using the one I used for Eddy. So here's how I typically do it: I cut out a small piece of cardboard (about cereal box thickness is the best to use...you want cardboard that can bend) and I glue the teeth to them. For these, I trimmed each 'tooth' until I liked the shape, put some caulk on the back and glued it to the cardboard. I used caulk as the glue because it flexes and I knew I would need that flex. When I had a full set on the cardboard rectangle, I trimmed it a little, stuffed some newspaper in that big mouth-hole and taped it on. The fingernail teeth are a simple method, but I've made A LOT of zombies and now Eddy this way, and it pretty much always comes out nice. And it's easy. 

Step 3: Fill and First Layer of Normal Mache

Did I mention that I used a foam woman's head and that it was a mistake? Well, it was, and this picture shows it. Women's heads are smaller than men's (you would think I would know that) and in order for the goggles and helmet to fit, I had to measure my own noggin and then tape a 1/4" thick insulating foil over the entire head to make it the right size. Next time I'll spring the $6 to buy a proper men's head. So I've done a lot of mache work, and one of the things I've learned is to put a layer of mache over the soft stuff  as soon as you can. The mache gives you a hard surface to add unto which is actually easier than all the taping and trying to shape with soft materials. This is a bit counterintuitive.

Here is the same statue with just one layer of normal mache on it. I think this was the last time I made normal mache without boiling the mixture, which is an absolute necessity. Click here to get Jonni's normal and 'Paper Mache Clay' recipe. I actually did this project specifically to experiment with Jonni Good's 'Paper Mache Clay' (There's a video on the recipe) and I probably didn't need a base layer of normal mache, but mache is one of my old-school mediums and old habits die hard. If you do a hard layer, you can sculpt on top of that layer using any air-dry clay or an impromptu clay made of paper towels or even toilet paper dipped in the glue. Don't knock this until you've tried it, you'd be surprised how much glue-dipped toilet paper acts like clay and it dries as hard or harder than the newspaper. 

Step 4: Paper Mache Clay

Paper Mache Clay is the invention of Jonni Good and maybe the best way to describe it is poor man's resin or maybe a home-made air dry clay. Click here to go to Jonni's site Ultimate Paper Mache. The recipe (linked above) is basically 1/3 pre-mixed joint compound, 1/3 Elmer's Glue All, and 1/3 toilet paper. The result is a resin-like finish that dries so hard it's not easy to sand. The dry stuff feels like plastic. As you mix this, you can leave it thin enough to paint on with a spatula or you can add enough flour to mold it like clay. I've found I mostly use it as an outer layer but it's awesome. This strengthens your statue tenfold.

Here's a pic of the painted head. Being an Egyptian mummy, they took the top of poor Eddy's head off in the embalming process and when he woke up he had to bolt the top of his skull back on. (Again, if you're a Maiden fan, this all makes perfect sense...). I used acrylic paint here that you buy in the little bottles at Walmart. I tend to mix the colors and put a few layers on, and in the end, I also gave it a dry wash with watered down black paint and after it was all done, I think I used a satin spray clear coat, which is something I often do with my projects. On that note: I'm way less worried now about gloss, satin, or flat finishes on the color because I tend to apply those on the clear coat. You can buy the spray clear finish cans at Walmart in the spray paint section. 

Step 5: Goggles and Headset

I bought the goggles and helmet from Amazon, and at $30, they represent about 90% of the cost of the project. They are pretty good quality but did have one problem: they are brown. To fix that, I had to spray them with primer, grey spray paint, and I drywashed them in black to give them a weathered look. Oh, I need to mention the Iron Maiden label. I copied the image, put it on a slideshow, and adjusted the size until it was just right. I printed the label then glued it to the base using a gloss coat Mod-Podge on both the back and front to make it solid. That method has become my go-to for labeling things. Cheap and easy, and looks pretty good. 

 In this pic, you can see a closeup of the headset. I made his headset using metal cat food cans that I glued part of a pill bottle lid to. The two ear pieces are connected by a head band I purchased at the Dollar Store. The way I connected the head band to the ear pieces was to glue foam pieces inside the ear pieces and make a slit in them for the headband to fit into. I think I put glue into the band before I inserted it, but overall, the effect was good. 

This was my second project after my Imperial Destroyer and I only spent 6 days on it. Overall though, I think the finished statue looked good, and I LOVE Jonni's paper mache clay. I perfected a number of techniques doing this that I knew I would use on my next project. 

To me, there is something calming and satisfying about doing a project like this. You have to think about what your base materials will be, how they'll go together, what order you need to do things in, etc. In that way, each project is like a puzzle. There is also something satisfying by taking things that are mostly junk, trash, or things you can pick up at the Dollar Store and turning them into something that looks good. Once I finished Eddy (BTW...I'm coming back to this...I still need an Ed Head for my office because I gave away this one), and I now had some experience using Paper Mache Clay, I again began thinking of Star Wars...more specifically, Return of the Jedi...