DIY Tamatoa Mickey Ears

My family LOVES Moana.  I knew that we weren't likely to see a lot of Moana things at Disney World yet because the movie was so new, but I thought it would be fun to make my own pair of Tamatoa Mickey Ears. Both Lucky and Keith LOVE the song Shiny and the little after the credits scene. 

I made a lot of ears for our Disney World trip, and I can't remember where this set fell in the order.  I do know that this was one that I did a lot of improvisation for although you can find some of my inspiration on my Disney World Ideas Pinterest Board. 

Materials

• Headband
• Thick craft felt in black and navy
• Gold Sequin Fabric (Optional - for the back of the ears)
• Metallic Gold and Gold Glitter Puffy Paint
• freezer paper
• gold sequins in various sizes
• Blue sparkly fabric
• "crystal gel" sparkle puffy paint
• two purple/black sequins for the eyes
• Hot glue gun
• polyfill stuffing
• Sewing Machine (optional, you could use glue instead)

I wanted to do an experiment about creating embellishments for a Tamatoa ears.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money buying different gold color embellishments, so I tried using some $1 puffy paint on the waxy side of freezer paper.  If these peel off, then I can use them to add some dimension to a Tamatoa shell.

It worked great!  I could crinkle the various shapes to add dimension to my ears.  Next I needed to create the base of the ears because I knew that I wouldn't be able to sew it together after I started adding on the piles of puffy paint.  

With the tabbed template I created in my first set of Mickey Ears, I cut out four pieces from the thicker craft felt.  I cut 3 black pieces and 1 navy piece.  

I knew that the sparkly gold fabric I picked out needed a foundation for it to stand up on the ears.  I pinned the extra sparkly fabric to two of the felt pieces.  Since the mesh was somewhat see through I didn't want to use glue to adhere it.  My plan was to stitch just around the outside and hope for the best.  I did wonder if I needed to add tissue paper over the sequins, but it just worked!  The sewing machine needle went through the fabric with no issues. 

I decided to wait to trim the fabric until I had sewn the front of the ears to the backs, although I did cut the fabric to separate the two pieces. 

For Tamatoa's face, I cut out one triangle and two circles and pinned them to the piece of navy felt.  (I used some scrap fabric that came from my Elsa ears, but it looks like I haven't written up that post yet.)  If you don't have sparkly fabric in your stash you could use a lighter blue felt and add some glitter to it after the fact. 

Once again, I stitched down the embellishment pieces versus using glue.  I like the definition that the stitches give to the shapes.  However, I don't think you would be sacrificing much if you decided to use a fabric glue instead.  

Before stitching down the whites of the eyes, I used a tiny dot of glue to glue them down. I didn't trust my ability to pin them correctly, but I did sew them down with my machine to keep them in place.  

I think that the wrong side of this ear section looked really cool!  

Now that the ear fronts were ready to go, I stitched them to the back pieces and then trimmed off the excess gold fabric. 

Now it was finally time to start embellishing the shiny shell ear.  I covered the black felt with globs of gold and glitter gold puffy paint and added sequins and some of the shapes I created earlier.  My goal was to create a lot of texture and shapes to look like a pile of treasure. 

I did the ear in a couple of stages.  In part I wanted to see how things dried so I knew how to modify my technique.  It worked AMAZINGLY well.  I also did some similar mini embellishments on some freezer paper (not shown) to incorporate onto the bottom of the second ear. 

This ear really does look like a pile of treasure, right? 

For the face ear, I needed to make some Antennae but I also wanted to show a bit of the shell so it would look like Tamatoa was just started to peek his head out. 

I used the crystal gel puffy paint for the Antennae and to attach the darker sequins to the whites of the eyes. 

Doesn't it look like he is squinting? 

I used a fabric pencil to draw out the lines of the shell. I started by adding some of the pre-fabricated shapes to give this mini shell some dimension and then added sequins and glitter. 

Finally I just needed to wait for things to dry so I could finish up the ears.  

How is that for some custom, DIY Tamatoa ears?  Now I'm just missing the headband!  

I lightly stuffed the ear pockets with the polyfill stuffing and then used hot glue to secure them to the ears.  I first glued the center to the top of the headband, and then glued the back tab to the bottom of the headband.  Finally, I glued the front tab around the back and trimmed off any overhangs.  These ears look positively shiny, right?  

I couldn't wait to bring these with me to Disney World!  

Lucky thought the ears were pretty awesome, but REALLY didn't want us to meet Tamatoa at the parks.  He thought that Tamatoa would like these ears too much and try to steal them.  

I was surprised that there was almost NOTHING Moana while we were there.  I started collecting pins on my trip and didn't see a single Moana themed pin.  

I will say that these ears were popular with the staff when I wore them to the Animal Kingdom.  I'll share some photos from the trip in a future post where I show off all of the Disney Ears we wore at the parks. 

Star Wars R2D2/BB8 Mickey Ears

It was time for me to make the first pair of Mickey ears for myself.  I planned to make myself a pair of Little Mermaid ears, but I still needed to track down the supplies.  I had all of the felt that I needed to create some adorable droid ears, so this became my next project.

Last year, Lucky and Rowdy were R2D2 and BB8, respectively, for Halloween.  These are the best costumes I've ever created, in my opinion, and I wanted to bring that essence into my ears.  My plan was to cut shapes out of felt, sew them down with invisible thread and then add a few more details with puffy paint.

I wanted to put a little more effort into this set and make the ears two sided.  They're not exactly reversible, but people should recognize who the ears represent from my back.  I also made the bow removable so that I could be more or less feminine depending on my mood.  (The bow obscures some of the cutest details, but I do love the black sparkles!)

Materials for R2D2/BB8 Mickey Mouse Ears

•  White craft felt, thicker/stiffer for the ear bases.
• Thinner craft felt in blue, orange, grey and black for the embellishments
• Silver and white puffy fabric paint
• Polyfill stuffing (optional)  
• One thick dollar store headband.  
• Gutternmann Invisible Thread 
• White thread for the bobbin
• Sewing machine
• Hot glue gun and hot glue to secure the ears to the headband
• Black sequin fabric for bow (optional) 
• Pipe cleaner for removable bow (optional) 

I used the patterns I created with my first sets of ears to cut out four pieces of thick white felt.  (I was in a Star Wars mood so I was also working on Keith's Boba Fett ears at the same time.)  The felt I used is the more expensive $1.99/large sheet felt at craft stores.  It has enough stability to stand up on headbands without additional reinforcement.  My plan was to decorate all 4 flat pieces with the sew-on felt sections, sew the ears together, add pufy paint, and then stuff and attach the ears to the dollar store headband with hot glue.

I looked around Pinterest for BB8 and R2D2 inspiration, and then took a deep breath and started cutting shapes.  I cut these pieces by eye and then adjusted them to be the size that I wanted.  Rather than cutting the shapes to fit the curves of the ear base, I let them overhang and would trim them after the ears had been assembled.  This gave me some allowance should the pieces slip during sewing.

You don't have to use Invisible Thread to sew down the felt embellishments, but I like not having to change out my thread colors as I switch felt colors.  I stitched around all of the shapes, including along the outside curved edge.  I knew that I would sew over this again when I attached the front and back pieces together, but I wanted to make sure that the colored felt pieces were secure.  

With wrong sides facing, I stitched around the outside of the ears and along the bottom notches.  I left the tabs section open so I would be able to stuff the ears before securing them to the headbands.

Once I trimmed the ears, you could really see the droids.  The hand cut shapes aren't perfectly matched, but I think that helps give R2D2 and BB8 a cartoonish vibe.  

I waited to add the puffy paint until after I had sewn the ears together because I remember how hard it is to sew over puffy paint when I made Rowdy's BB8 costume.  I used an air soluble marking pen to plan out where I wanted to add some of the white accents on BB8's face, and then freehanded the paint embellishments on the rest of the droids.  

When I started putting the puffy paint on the BB8 mickey ear, I wasn't sure if I ruined it.  The lines were so much cleaner before I tried to add the ridges.  I like how the ones on the back of the ear came out, and I think R2D2 looks AWESOME.  I know that I will wear this with pride no matter what.

To add some more dimension to the ears, I lightly stuffed them before attaching them to the headband.  After I added the stuffing, I placed a line of hot glue along the bottom edge to join the pieces of felt together and to secure the center point to the top of the headband.  Next, I glued down the back tab along the bottom of the headband.  Once that was secure, I glued down the front tab towards the back and trimmed off any extra.

The R2D2/BB8 Mickey Ears are the fourth set of ears  that I worked on, and the first that I wanted to have a bow.  The black fake sequin fabric is really drapey.  Initially, I wasn't sure if I should reinforce the bow with some felt triangles inside either side.  Ultimately I loved the drape of the fabric so I didn't reinforce the bow with any kind of stabilizer.

I got the idea to make a removable bow when I was testing out the bow size I wanted for these ears.  I secured the center of my prototype bow with a pipe cleaner and I loved the ears with and without the bow.  Unlike the other ears I plan to make for myself, in this case the bow really does cover up part of the droid faces. Why not sew the bow and then keep the pipe cleaner so I could wear the bow as needed?

For the bow, I cut two pieces of fabric; 9" x 10.5" for the main bow section and 0.75" x 9" as a ribbon for the center section.  I folded the fabric in half (4.5" x 10.5") with right sides facing and stitched a 1/4" seam.  I had never sewn through sequins, but it came out of the machine okay.

I turned the bow right side out, and then hand stitched the last edges together.  I could have machine stitched this but I wanted some control. After stitching this edge closed, I didn't cut the thread.  I centered this second seam in the back of the bow, and used the thread to wrap around the entire bow to cinch the middle together.  This gave me the chance to manipulate the shape o the bow and the gathers to the way I liked it.  I made a knot but kept the thread connected.

I sewed down one edge of the skinny piece I cut above and then wrapped this around the bow a few times and then trimmed the edge.  In retrospect, I wish that I had used a folded over piece with no raw edges.  I'll do this next time.  I tacked down the edges of some of the center piece to help keep it straight.  I finally tied a knot and cut the thread.

To make the finished bow removable,  I cut a pipe cleaner in half and inserted it into the back of the bow.  TIP: if you are having trouble feeding it through fold down one of the pointy edges so it doesn't catch on the fabric.  I twisted the pipe cleaner so it would be perpendicular to the bow and then twisted it around the top of my headband.  I tucked the remaining edges around the headband and my detachable bow was ready to go!

What do you think?  Do you like this headband better with the bow or without?

I think that this is the only set of Mickey Ears where I will want the bow to be removable.  I plan to glue the rest of the bows I make onto headbands.  I think that the other bows I have planned I will want to be attached.

When I was trying to photograph the Droid Mickey Ears, Rowdy want to get in the pictures, too.  (He climbed in my lap and said "CHEEEEE")  I decided to throw a pair of ears on him, too, and mix the worlds of Star Wars and Frozen.  I'm not sure he'll keep the ears on at Disney World, but he sure is adorable at home!

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