Lite Up Mask

I used a paintball mask and pre-fabricated EL wire I purchased on Amazon. It was such an easy project that I thought looked killer so I decided to try and post an 'instructable'. Apologies if the instructions or pics are not super clear.

You will need:

1. A mask

2. EL (electro-luminescent) wire with inverter/driver

3. Twist ties or glue gun for attaching wire

3. Drill for wire holes in mask

4. Wire cutters/strippers

You will want to make several holes for feeding your wire throughout your mask. I wanted to make a skull pattern on this mask so I put holes near the edges, on both sides of each eye, and on each side of the chin.

I attached the driver for the EL wire to the back of the mask strap, if your mask will not support the weight you may need to find a different location (ie. extend wire to pocket).

The wire from the driver leads down the side strap to the inside of the mask and I fed the EL wire through the hole i drilled to the out side.

EL wire, when purchased pre-fabricated, comes with an 'end cap'. This can be removed (cut) so you have a nice thin wire to weave. Just fix the end so the core and filament wire do not short before powering it up.

I secured the wire with a tie first to see what I liked better (tie seems cleaner)

I secured the outer design with glue from a glue gun and fed around until I got to the chin area before feeding back inside.

You can make a pattern on the mouth (I was going for a 'Punisher' skull design) or not, whatever.

I fed the wire inside the breathing holes in a stitch pattern to create lines on the outside.

I slacked some extra into the nostril area to create lite coming out of nose and secured the wire inside the nose bridge area with glue. I secured the wire on the mouth with glue to keep it from sticking out too far.

The weave will come back out of the side of the chin opposite where you started to finish the wrap up along the side of the mask completing the outline.

Then back in and towards the eyes.

You should have two holes on the outside eye opposite the one you start. To facilitate a weave to secure it if you like, or you can try glueing. I weaved it for uniformity.

You will need to bring the wire up from the mouth area on the inside of the mask and feed out through right or left eye on the outside edge (close to ear area).

The pattern goes out along top of eye, in through nose bridge and back out along top, weave though to bottom of eye and back across then back inside the mask to finish (in same hole for eye beginning or just below).

After you feed the line back into the mask after wrapping the eyes, it will go back to the chin to finish the pattern.

You might have a bunch of wire extra, I cut mine after finishing the chin, but please be imaginative and have fun with your design. using the inside of the mask you can weave whatever pattern you desire.

To finish this up I ran the wire (pictured next to the eye feed that I taped over) down to the chin again to finish the outline. A couple simple weaves then I cut the wire and taped it up in the inside chin area.

The last picture shows the pigtail I left. As long as the core and filament of EL wire is not shorted it will work.

Happy hunting and have a great Halloween!

The light on the inside is not an issue when wearing (especially in this paintball mask) but you can always tape over for an easy coverup.