Now it's time for the fun part: building Fizzgig's head and mouth, and bringing him to life.

Optional: Separate the Eyes

If you want to, you can cut the two eyes apart along the cut lines and connect them with an extension cable.

This will give you more control over how far apart the eyes go, and give you the option to set them a little off-kilter, for a bit more "character". However, after building my Fizzgig, I realized it would have worked just fine to leave them connected. You have this option, though, so if it works with your project, you can space the eyes however you'd like.

Attach the Lenses

Peel the backing off the lens holders and carefully screw the lenses in place over each eye. The lenses will refract the images and make them appear three dimensional.

Mouth and Nose

Cut a piece of brown craft foam and sketch out Fizzgig's mouth as shown. Leave enough at the top to create a backing for the eyes, and fold the mouth far enough down that it closes easily without bumping into the eyes. Be sure to leave a little space for the nose.

For the nose, I found an inexpensive rubber nose at the local popup Halloween store. You may be able to find these at a costume store or dollar store, or you could make a nose out of sculpey or something similar. Trim it so you have just the tip of the nose.

Once you're happy with the layout and size of the mouth, cut a fresh piece of craft foam for the final version. I added a tongue and uvula cut from red craft foam, and drew in the mouth and throat with a sharpie. Then I cut dozens of tiny irregular teeth from white craft foam. It might be fun to make these from polymer clay as well, for 3-dimensional realism.

Use Krazy glue to glue all the teeth in place. Fizzgig has extra teeth inside his mouth, around his throat, as well. I wouldn't want to be bitten by him!

I used a little watered-down acrylic paint to add some shading between the teeth and along the edge of the tongue.

I also glued a piece of cardboard backing to the upper half of the craft foam (above the fold for the mouth). This added stiffness and stability so his face wouldn't collapse in on itself.

Hair

For Fizzgig's hair, I got a cheap wig from the Halloween store. There were so many terrible wigs to choose from! I settled on "Heavy Metal Rocker". Get a long one, you'll be trimming it down.

Trim the wig at the back, cutting off the longest section so you're left with a roundish shaped hairdo.

Fold the mouth closed and use hot glue to glue the cut-off sections of the wig along Fizzgig's under-chin. I found it easiest to draw a bead of glue along the back of the gum-line, then press the hair sections carefully into the glue. You want the beard to dangle downwards, so secure it just along the "lip" edge and let the rest dangle free.

Once you've got enough beard hair, trim along the lip line.  Be sure the mouth closes nicely, then add the nose just above the closed mouth. Glue it down with some hot glue.

Use hot glue to carefully glue the Monster M4sk eyes to the foam backing. I found it worked to just dab some glue right on the top of the JST connectors on each side, that's sufficient to hold it. Hot glue sure does love sticking to craft foam.

If you need to reposition anything, use 99% alcohol. 99% alcohol is the antidote for hot glue -- it completely dissolves its sticking ability and allows you to peel the glue cleanly away.

Now, grab the main part of the wig. Find the very crown, where the hair parts. We'll place this right between Fizzgig's eyes, so all the hair sweeps back from his forehead.

Cut holes in the wig's inner netting for the eyes to poke through.

Carefully glue the wig down around the lenses using hot glue. Be careful not to get glue everywhere; it does really love sticking to the wig hair! Again, 99% alcohol is your friend if you end up with a furry, gluey mess.

This guide was first published on Oct 23, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (Build Fizzgig) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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