Minecraft Enderman With Glowing Eyes

My daughter wanted to be an Enderman for Halloween. After googling for a bit, I saw a couple of homemade costumes with eyes that lit up (like this one), but most didn't fully explain the process, so I decided to make one myself. Difficulty wise this should be pretty approachable. The bulk of the project consists of cutting and spray painting cardboard and gluing some pieces in place. The electronics were just string lights and didn't need any soldering. All the cardboard I had already, but I provide links to any of the other materials you may need to purchase in the next section.

Here are the materials I used:

1. One - Cardboard box (mine was 14.25" (W) x 11.25" (H) x 10.5" (D))
2. One - Extra cardboard box or scrap cardboard at least as large as primary box face (used for spray paint template)
3. Two - 7.5 ounce (mini) 10 pack soda boxes
4. Two - Cans of spray paint (I used Glidden Max Flex in Black Elegance Satin and Rust-Oleum Textured Metallic in Galaxy) - $20 total
5. Two - sets of purple string lights (link is for a two pack) - $12.10
6. One roll - purple cellophane - $8.99 for 100' roll
7. One roll - aluminum foil
8. One bolt - black mesh fabric - $13.95 for 1 yard bold
9. Two - headbands (link is for a two pack) - $1.25
10. Two - sets of Command velcro hanging strips (optional)

Here are the tools I used:

1. Dremel (optional - can use just a box cutter)
2. Box cutter
3. Glue gun
4. Printer (optional - can use just a ruler to layout template)
5. Tape measure

Spray paint all sides of the box with your base color (I used the Glidden in Black Elegance, which despite it's name, is actually grey). I did 3 - 4 coats and let it set for 10-15 minutes between coats. I then allowed it to fully dry and did the other color spray painting on a different day.

Create a template to divide your box face into an 8 x 8 grid. I did this in PowerPoint and put shading on the cells I wanted to pixelate. Since the face of my box was 14.25" by 11.25", each cell was 1 & 25/32" wide by 1 & 13/32" tall. I created four pages each with a 4 x 4 grid using the above dimensions, then printed it out, trimmed the excess and assembled together with tape.

Attach your template to your extra box or scrap cardboard. If you don't have a printer you can also just draw the grid directly on the cardboard using a pencil and ruler. Then, using a dremel or box cutter, cut out the squares that are going to be pixelated (the "eyes", which are on the third row from the bottom for me, do not get cut out for the stencil). This will leave you with a stencil for the next step.

One side at a time, place the side you want to work on face up. Lay the stencil on top and apply your darker paint. Allow time to dry, rotate and repeat until all sides are pixelated. I found I only needed 1 coat of the darker paint.

Using a dremel or box cutter, cut out the viewing section. Measure a piece of black mesh fabric slightly larger than the opening. Then, using hot glue, attach from the inside of the box.

In my design I used a 3x1 opening on each side 3 rows from the bottom to create the "eyes". I drew the outline with a pencil on the box and then used the dremel to cut out.

Cutout sections of the purple cellophane slightly larger than these opening and then, using hot glue, attach from the inside of the box.

I tried to pixelate the eyes by putting an additional strip of cellophane in the middle of each eye. I laid the cellophane over my template to get strips one pixel wide. However, only one extra layer was not enough to get the effect I was going for (you can see it in the image with the light behind it, but not in the final product). Likely need 3-4 extra layers to achieve the pixelated eye look.

Using the mini soda boxes, cut out two enclosures for the lights. I've added overlays to the boxes to show the dimensions I cut out. I went from the edge of the box to the edge of the perforated triangle, and then went 1 mini can down.

Test for fit to make sure the enclosure completely covers the eye opening.

Put a layer of glue on the inside of the enclosures and cover with aluminum foil, shiny side up

Glue the string lights onto the foil to secure. I glued the cardboard holder the lights were wrapped around, instead of the lights themselves, to the foil so that the actual string lights could be repurposed later. Wire should come out the open side.

Attach command strips to the sides of the box and the back of each battery pack. I did one vertical and one horizontal so that I could shift the mounting point slightly to help better balance the head, but it ended up being unnecessary.

Center the enclosures over the the eye holes and secure in place with hot glue. I only glued the bottom and sides because it was too awkward to position the glue gun along the top edge.

Place the completed box on your child's head and arrange it so they get the best viewing angle. Then mark around where the top of their head meets the top of the box. This is the mounting point for the headbands.

Position the headbands in the center the markings you just created and secure in place with hot glue.

Finally, cut the bottom flaps off the box to complete the costume.

I just used one stencil for all sides of the box (not all elements fit on the smaller sides), but you can create multiple ones if you want to pixelate each side in a different way

The sparkly look of the textured metallic paint was nice, but I found it clogged the nozzle really easily. Even with wiping the nozzle after an application, once it dried I was unable to get a steady stream for further applications. If I was doing this project again, I would just use a basic black as I did not have any issues with the Glidden.

Make sure the back of your stencil is dry before placing on a new side or it can smudge.

This design worked for my daughter, who is on the smaller side. Make sure to measure from the top of your child's head to their eyes and then place the viewing panel appropriately.

I used command strips because I already had them on hand, but another option would just be to just glue the battery packs directly to the inside of the box.