Make a Storm Trooper Helmet from a Milk Jug

If you want to emulate Darth Vader or you need a rad Storm Trooper costume for an upcoming Star Wars party, put on your Star Wars soundtrack and make your own helmet using a few simple milk jugs, paint, glue and a lot of creativity.

Steps

  1. Assemble the items needed to complete the project. These are listed under "Things You'll Need" below.
  2. Cut the first milk jug into two pieces. This jug will provide the “skeleton” of your helmet, so try to determine the size using your own head as the model (or the intended Storm Trooper’s) to ensure a decent fit.
    • Cut a round circle out of the bottom of the milk jug. This circle will be used as the top of your helmet so make sure it is a perfect circle. If possible, use a pencil and protractor or stencil. Label this part “B.”
    • Cut an opening in the front of the same jug. Hold the milk jug by the handle and hold it so that you're looking at the front of the milk jug. The opening you cut is meant to accommodate the other milk jug; therefore, cut a rather large “C” shape into the front of the jug. Label this part “A.”
  3. Slice the second milk jug by cutting off the top third of the jug with the scissors or an Exacto knife.
    • Cut the top third of the second jug and put the remainder of the jug aside.
    • Slice the opening off the second jug by creating a round circle on the top. Because the circle you cut from the first milk jug should fit on top, use that as a guide. Discard the remainder.
    • Cut the top in half so that you're left with the front portion of the milk jug without a back. Label this part “C.”
  4. Assemble the skeleton of your helmet. Turn on the hot glue gun and set at either low or medium. Be careful––if the glue is too hot, it may melt the plastic.
    • Glue part “C” on top of part “A.” This will serve as the lower and front sides of the helmet. The top of the jug is the helmet “nose.” The top opening on the top of the part “C” should be on top where you will be able to affix part “B.”
    • Glue part “B” into part “C.” Part “B” should fit snugly into the top of part “C.” Hold this piece together until the glue dries.
    • Glue a milk cap on either side of the milk jug opening. Flip the cap upside down and affix the top of the cap to the mask. Make sure the caps are evenly distributed on either side of the jug hole.
  5. Add details to your helmet. At this point you should have a helmet that you could place on your head. Now you can begin to add details so it resembles a real Storm Trooper helmet:
    • Create eye-holes in the front. It’s important that you see while wearing this mask so put the mask on and have someone draw dots where your eye-holes should be. Make the eye-holes as small as possible since “eyes” were not overly apparent in the real Storm Trooper mask.
    • Punch holes on either side of the back of the mask and thread the piece of elastic string through the holes. The elastic will hold your mask in place. Tie a knot on the outside end of the elastic to hold it in place. If you need to adjust the length, do so while threading the string.
    • Spray paint your helmet completely white. Place the helmet on top of several newspapers, preferably in an outdoor area and spray the entire mask completely white. Allow the mask to dry for several hours or overnight.
    • Add details using the electrical tape and black, white and grey craft paint. This is when the totally white mask transforms into a scary Storm Trooper helmet. Print out a photo of the real thing and follow the details based on the film helmet. Use the black electrical tape to form a band around the forehead area and cut a circle from the tape to seal the milk jug opening. Use the black Sharpie for adding in the more intricate details.

Alternate Method

  1. Assemble the items needed to complete the project. These are listed under "Things You'll Need".
  2. Cut the first milk jug. Cut a circle out of the bottom of the jug, cut the handle of the jug as well. This jug will provide the “skeleton” of your helmet, so try to determine the size using your own head as the model (or the intended Storm Trooper’s) to ensure a decent fit.
  3. Cut an opening in the front and back of the same jug. Leave about {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} plastic, this will be use to connect to the second jug to form the half of the helmet.
  4. Take the second milk jug and cut off the top third of the jug with the scissors or a small craft knife. The most important about what you're cutting with is that it does the job, the brand doesn't matter at all.
  5. Flip it .
  6. Connect the 2 jugs together as shown in the picture using a masking tape.
  7. Using a hot glue gun, seal the gaps and permanently fuse the mugs together.
  8. Let the glue dry. You can see the Storm Trooper’s helmet already taking shape.
  9. Here’s the fun part: spray paint your helmet white and allow to dry before adding details.
  10. Using a Star Wars photo or clip as reference, cut some black paper and form the eyes, mouthpiece, etc.
  11. Drill holes on the eyes so you could see well when you wear the helmet.
  12. Use some bottle caps and glue them in front near the mouth area. Make sure you paint them black. If you have some broken or old or very cheap sunglasses hanging around your house you can disassemble it and glue them in the eyes, this would really add realism to your helmet.
  13. Go crazy by adding recycled parts from all sorts, be creative. Add an old washing machine hose to act as a breathing apparatus use on board flying TIE Fighters. Enjoy and serve the dark side well soldier!

Tips

  • Complete your costume by wearing a long sleeve black turtleneck shirt and add a white vest over it. Or if you have any hockey players at home, consider using the hockey padding to complete the outfit.

Warnings

  • If your child wears this helmet while trick or treating, be sure that he or she wears something fluorescent and carries a flashlight(torch) in order to be visible to cars.

Things You'll Need

  • {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} size empty and washed milk jugs (remove label from the outside and save the caps/lids)
  • 1 hot glue gun
  • 1 sharp Xacto knife, box cutter or scissors
  • {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} piece of elastic string
  • 1 spool of black electrical tape
  • 1 black Sharpie pen
  • 1 can white spray paint
  • Black, white and grey craft paint

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