Zoom of Doom
Last Halloween my girlfriend and I hosted
a Witches vs. Mad Scientists party (her
excellent idea) for our vaccinated friends.
As we brainstormed, I found my way to Mr.
Chicken’s website and was inspired by his
Sybil the Clairvoyant crystal ball project (www.
chickenprops.com/p/sybil.html). I wanted to see
if I could create something similar, with three
big differences: 1) use easy-to-find materials,
2) make it a floating head in a jar, à la Futurama
(futurama.fandom.com/wiki/Heads_in_Jars), and
3) make the projection real-time, so friends could
put their own heads in glass at the party.
Depending on what materials you have on
hand, this project was surprisingly effective for
how inexpensive it was! Here’s how to do it.
1. MOUNT THE HEAD
To start, you’ll want to suspend the head in the jar
to create the illusion of floating. I glued the plastic
head to a bent wire, which is run through a hole
drilled in the lid. The mask I bought had a large lip
that I trimmed off with scissors. Then I unfolded a
coat hanger and bent the bottom in a big U shape
that I hot glued around the inside of the mask.
Near the center of the mask, bend your wire
outward 1"–2", then add a 90° bend so the wire
runs straight up a couple inches behind the mask.
Insert the mask and wire into the jar and figure
out approximately where you want it to float.
Drill a hole in the lid where the wire should pass
through, then pass it through. Adjust the wire up
and down until you determine the ideal height for
the mask, then bend the wire 90° just above the
lid. Add hot glue and make small adjustments to
the wire to get the mask as close to centered as
possible. Screw the lid on (Figure
A
).
2. TEST THE PROJECTOR
Now let’s see if the effect generally works. Get
out your projector, set it a little back from the
face, and on your computer, find a centered
image of a creepy face. You can use any still
image of a face, ideally with a black background.
Adjust size, focus, projector angle, distance from
the jar, and heights of jar and projector until it
looks about right (Figure
B
on the following
page). A face should convincingly be projected
on your head in a jar!
TIME REQUIRED:
DIFFICULTY:
COST:
MATERIALS
» Projector I used an Optoma EH336 ($150 on
eBay), but even the Kodak Luma pico projector
we tried ($300) worked in a brightly-lit room.
» Laptop computers (2) with Zoom video call
software free from zoom.us/support/download.
Use your highest-quality webcam for the
greenscreen room.
» Green foam board from Staples, Michaels,
etc., for the greenscreen. Cardboard or plywood
painted bright green should work too.
» Clamps or other way to mount greenscreen
perpendicularly to a table or desk
» White plastic face such as Amazon
B0044S91IG
» Large jar, plastic or glass such as this 128oz
one, Amazon B01LZFR2IF
» Wire, bendable but stiff I used a spare coat
hanger.
» Decorations (optional):
• Wood or foam for building a top and bottom
structure
• Aluminum tape for covering these structures
• Lights, LED or fiber optic or EL wire I used
Lightkraft’s Chasing EL wire lights from etsy.
com/shop/Lightkraft. They’re battery operated
and allow you to change the speed and
direction of how the lights appear to move.
TOOLS
» Box cutter or X-Acto knife
» Scissors
» Hot glue gun
» Drill
» Laser cutter/CNC machine (optional)
» Wood glue (optional)
2–3 Hours
Easy
$40–$400
85
make.co
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