My dad was initially going to program a basic few step and loop program by building a computer chip. His ability to build a program using circuits was enough to amaze me, you don't get taught that in the Bachelor of IT!

However after talking to me about what I wanted, he realised I wanted something a bit more complex. I.e. turn a bit on one antennae, the other one another bit, at the same time sometimes, different directions and different distances in one movement and different speeds.

So online (maybe eBay again) he found a programmable computer chip, where you simple created a program and it was uploaded to the chip.

The movement pattern is up to you and how obvious/subtle you want the movement to be. Suprisingly once you start walking around, movement you thought once was much to obvious now appears quite a bit more subtle. You also need to consider how many movements are in each loop.

Additionally, it is important to ensure through how far you make the antennae move one way or the other, that in each loop the movement one way is cancelled out by the other way, so that the antennae remain centred.

The board/chip we bought came with a few buttons, so dad programmed it to be able to move each antennae when each button was pressed, so if after a few hours the antennae are not centered, they can be manually alligned.

Wearing the Antennae

Attach the antennae to a headband using wire and silicon or similar glue. Then simply cut holes in the wig where you need the antennae to go, and sew the headband to the wig.

Not only are your antennae bases hidden beneath the wig, but your wig is affixed to your head through the headband.

You will see photos of this in later posts.

Colouring the Antennae

Using Shran as a guide, we painted the antennae's pink tip.

We used red and white colouring to dye latex and painted it on. This is a matter for personal interpretation, but it is important to note the tip should be darker in the middle fading to white and blue.

Disguising the joins of the Three Parts

After completing the basic antennae shape and thirds, there was still a gap between the moving top third and the middle. This gap was necessary as the top moves more than just a few millimetres, which would cause the latex to tear. So after much brainstorming and coming back over various days, we stumbled upon the idea of using electrical wire (the coloured types that are thin) to insert in the join. In the previous post you can see the blue lines between each thirds- this is the wire.

The benefits of this is that by this point of the antennae we had forgotten that Shran's (we were using him as a model) antennae had distinct joins. The wires solved two problems- covering the gap while allowing the top third to be seperate from the bottom section, while creating a definitive join.

We then simply inserted wires into the latex where necessary. I do believe that we had to redo the overall latex body of the antennae to imbed the wires. I am unsure.

Covering the Middle Section

This was a case of trial and error. We wanted to be able to deconstruct the antennae so that if it broke at the convention we would be able to do repairs. So how to cover the middle, but allow access?


We created a ring of latex texturised like the bottom third, by buying a variety of whiteboard and permanent markers to get the right width (the standard size was perfect, which made it very easy). This can then be put over the top and placed on the middle.




I'm glossing over a lot of this as this was my Dad's speciality, being incredibly skilled in creating things and having the ability to even build a computer chip with the program to move the antennae. If you need clarification, just email me. I may try and fill in the gaps later

Motorised Antennae

We bought small motors of eBay (I forget the details of them now), but it is important to consider the size of them. We bought the smallest round shaped motor possible, and this formed the base third of the antennae.

The photo can give you an idea of how the antennae is structured. The base third is the motor, with a metal rod attached which is built into the top third (which is solid latex)

Once you have your motor, obviously check that it works and fashion the attachment (your version of our metal rod in the middle) that will make the top move.

To cover the motor base you can simply paint the latex on. The latex is coloured using light blue dye for latex (all purchased online). It's hard to get the latex smooth, but it is beneficial to even add more stripes and texture.

Obviously the top part is made by filling the top third of the mould made in the previous step.

Making Basic Antennae

I will just focus on making a basic latex antennae shape, non-motorised. You'll find that using solid latex, it is rubbery, flexible and bouncy, so will move quite nicely with the jerky movements of walking.

First you need to create the antennae shape, using plasticine or similar.

This is the general shape we were going for, however this is actually one of the finished motorised antennae.

After you have made the plasticine shape, you need to make the reverse mould, by using Plaster of Paris. However you need to do half of the mould at each time.

In an ice-cream container, fill to a decent level (just under halfway or another appropriate level, you only really need it to be deep enough to capture the mould shape), and press the mould into it, so half of it is cast, you will also probably need to use a straw or something to make a 'hole' that will allow you to pour the latex into the mould later. Leave to set.

Repeat for the other side. You now have moulds for both of them

It's now easy to make a solid latex antennae, it is important to consider how you are attaching the antennae (we used a headband built into a wig), as you will need to build in connectors to the mould.