Two years ago making a Devo Power Dome helmet/hat was presented to me fo a Summer Reading Program event. It looked to be time consuming (and it turns out it is) and I recommended that if they only wanted a few, it would be cheaper to just shell out the 22 bucks on Amazon. It turns out that they needed five of them so over a hundred bucks for Devo hats was out of the question. I decided to see what it would take to build one (being able to use it for a summer reading display). If you don’t count your time as a valuable component they are fairly cheap to produce (as long as you already have a hot glue gun and glue sticks).

Starting off.

How NOT to build a Devo hat.

Sorry ehow. Just looking online at Michaels, the Styrofoam pieces to the Devo Energy Dome Hat you describe would be at least $30.00.

Here’s how I made mine.

Materials:

Supplies

One sheet of poster board. 50 cents at the Dollar Tree).

Red duct tape. Not top quality like Duck Tape. The cheapest you can find. I got mine for $2.00 a roll at a discount outlet store.

A red Sharpie to cover up the cardboard seams. The store I went to didn’t sell individual or two-packs of red Sharpies so I had to buy a multi-color 3-pack to get the pen. The priciest component of my build at $3.98 plus tax.

A roll of Scotch tape (I already had. No cost calculation)

Hot glue gun and glue sticks (I already had. No cost calculation)

Spent about $6.50 on stuff I didn’t have.

Step 1: Overview

I spent approximately three hours building it. I didn’t think it would take that long but the minutes added up. Original prototype. There are four levels to the pyramid shape. The actual shape is slightly conical, but to keep it simple I decided to go for just a wedding cake look. I went with 10, 8, 6 and 4 inch disks. In my original prototype I made all of the “layers of the cake” the same thickness (2 inches). I later altered the pattern so that each level was different, diminishing by a quarter of an inch at each level. The base was 2” high, the next level was 1.75”, etc. I then used math (boo) and an online circumference calculator to calculate how long the strips needed to be to wind around the disk for each level.

Step 2: Calculations and Math

I rounded the numbers up to the next quarter inch. Find the photograph with the a table for the length and width of each cardboard strip and the disk that it corresponds to.

Now… I haven’t done it yet, but if I were to re-do these calculations, I would add an additional half inch to the length so that there was more of an overlap where the strip completes the layer. So I have a table for my UNTESTED dimensions.

Step 3: Strips

The poster board I was using was 22” x 28”. So I cut one 2” wide strip that was 28” long and then cut another 2” wide strip that was 3.5” long. I then butted them up to each other and joined them with Scotch tape. After I cut all of the strips to length, I covered the strips with red duct tape. I only covered one side (the “glossy side” of the poster board). I want the inside of the strips to be the bare cardboard to make a better connection when I seal some of the interior seams with hot glue. The one exception was the two inch strip. My duct tape was less than 2 inches wide so two lengths were required to cover the strip. I folded the excess over to the other side so that the interior edge was also covered. Just make sure when assembling that the bare cardboard ends up at the seam. Onto the disks.

Step 4: Disk and Rings - Part One

There is really only one full disk – the four inch disk at the top. The other pieces are rings making the hat hollow. Using this template (an 11” x 11” jpeg) I printed the imaged directly on the cardboard (having a printer that can accommodate 11 x 17 paper). Otherwise, you can just print on regular paper, piece it together and then glue it onto the cardboard with a glue stick. If you DO have a printer make sure to print on the matte side.

Step 5: Disk and Rings - Part Two

Cover the glossy side with strips of red duct tape.

Step 6: Disk and Rings - Part Three

Cut out the circle and rings. I am ultra lazy and did not use an Exacto knife and perfectly cut out the rings. I cut a straight lie to the circle, cut out the circle and then all the rings. I also peeled off the template I had put on with a glue stick. I then taped up the cuts in the rings.

Step 7: Putting It Together

The Beginning. I wrapped Strip # 1 around the 4 inch disk, attaching it with Scotch tape on the outside of the strip and disk. This is going to be removed so don’t use anything super stick. The Magic Type tape. Join the interior overlap area with a piece of red duct tape. Seal the interior seam with a thick line of hot glue. Allow to cool. You can remove the outside tape as you go or just wait until the end. Attaching a Ring. To attach the rings I just use small pieces of tape on thee outside. Slide the ring over the first “cake layer”, turn it over and apply the tape. I start off in a cross pattern then fill in the paces in between. And So On…. Alternate between taping the outside and the inside, sealing every other seam with hot glue until you are done.