As you may have guessed from this post, I spent another Saturday cutting the bottom(s) off of glass sphere(s). Yes, plural. I broke my replacement sphere before I was a quarter of the way around. This was due to one of the following reasons: 1) I had placed packing tape over the blade path, hoping to reinforce the glass. or 2) my tile saw blade holding bolt had loosened. Regardless, I cracked the sphere quite well.

So, I moved on to my backup replacement sphere (number 3 for those of you keeping track at home). I had already figured out that sharpie ink will NOT stick to glass when sprayed with water from a tile-saw, so I continued to use masking tape to mark where my cut should be on sphere number 3. I also placed packing tape on the non-cut side of the masking tape, as I was impressed with how well it had contained the breakage from sphere 2. (I plan on using packing tape to cover a large portion of the inside of the sphere (except the viewport) as a poor-man’s tempered glass substitute. )
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I spent an hour assembling an MK171 digital voice changer kit from Ramsey Electronics for my Mysterio costume. The plan is to place the microphone on a wire inside the glass sphere with the speaker mounted outside so that I can communicate. I will probably have a head operated button inside that gives me push-to-talk capabilities. I picked the voice changer kit because I felt it would give me more options than a simple amplifier.
Although the voice changer kit only cost $15, I still have to purchase an external speaker to use with it.

Depending upon the acoustics of the sphere, I may also need a microphone outside with an earphone wire running inside to hear people talking to me.

I spent a much larger amount of money on an LED strobe light kit, which will hopefully drive flashing lights from Mysterio’s cape clasps or sphere.

I purchased a football “Cowboy Collar” which I think will be a good way to mount and carry the glass sphere. Unfortunately, I got excited when it arrived, and put it inside the hole in my (previously cracked) sphere before I used epoxy putty to reinforce the rim. Digression: An egg is quite strong to pressure applied to the outside. To break it, you want to create a crack in the shell, and pull the crack apart. This is exactly what I did by sawing a hole in the bottom of my sphere, and then placing a (slightly compressed) cowboy collar inside of it. CREAK! The linear crack I had created when cleaning up the edge of the cut with the tile saw extended itself all the way to the other side of the sphere. At this point, I was considering switching my costume to that of Mysterio in Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man #11-13, where his sphere gets cracked.

After searching the Internet for more glass spheres, I finally called the Pottery Barn main telephone number and was told the item (SKU number 702 1991) had been discontinued and it was not available for order over the Internet or phone. But she did mention that one of their stores still had some stock, and it turned out to be in Atlanta!
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After ordering a tile saw and diamond blade ($80…twice the cost of my sphere! Guess I’ll have to re-tile the kitchen now…) I was able to cut the bottom off of the glass sphere that is going to serve as my Mysterio costume helmet. Once I got away from the hole at the bottom, it was quite thin (1/8″ thick) and relatively easy to cut with the diamond blade. As you can see in the picture above, the edge was a bit rough. While cleaning up the cut I did place two cracks in the sphere, which I have hopefully fixed with glass glue. (Update: the fix didn’t work.)
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One of my new year’s resolutions is to build a high quality Mysterio costume. In my opinion, the hardest part of a Mysterio costume is the silver sphere that serves as Mysterio’s helmet. Others have used a glass bowl, or tinfoil, but I was not happy with their results, and decided that I wouldn’t commit to making the costume unless I could get the sphere just right.

It’s amazing what you can buy for $48 on eBay! The image to the left is showing off my Mysterio sphere (44″ circumference, 14″ diameter) on top of a Christmas tree. The sphere is even mirrored inside, perfect for Mysterio’s helmet! It was originally an outdoor lawn ornament (reflecting ball) sold by Pottery Barn.

The only problem is that the hole in the bottom of the sphere is only about 1.5″, too small for my head! My options are clear: 1) Make a “headless horseman” type costume, where my head is actually under the costume’s “head”. 2) Find a way to cut the 1/3″ thick glass sphere! I’m trying really hard to get option two (cut the sphere!) working, as I want the costume to be in proper proportions, and besides, having my head inside of a mirrored glass sphere will be cool! (Visibility may be a problem, imagine wearing mirrored sunglasses at night.)