My favorite thing about Interchangeable Mickey Ears is that they can be worn all day long without giving you a headache! All you need is a 3D printer and your favorite headband to diy your own pair.
I’ve been wondering this for years. Is there some secret trick to be able to wear Disney’s Mickey Ears all day? Because they kill my head after 30 minutes.
I feel like they’re torture devices.
And that’s coming from someone who is a “recovering” Ears addict. I used to buy a new pair every few trips we took and was always so excited for them. The problem was I’d end up wearing them once or twice and then they’d end up collecting dust in my closet because I would never wear them again.
Then I stumbled across 3D printed interchangeable Mickey Ears. I was pretty impressed that you could print your own and change them out depending on your mood during the day. I also loved that they were super lightweight and took up next to no room in our suitcase.
I’m a chronic overpacker so anything that saves us space is awesome.
Chris had been looking for new things to print with his 3D printer and he figured out how to design the 3D printed interchangeable Mickey Ears in the software. We had to play around with the shape of them a bit until we got it right but once we did it was super easy to design all of ears we wanted!
The first one we did was Star Wars, just in time for Galaxy’s Edge opening in Disneyland.
I requested interchangeable ears from Chris because I didn’t want to carry around a million pairs of ears. I also follow a shop owner who sells them and wanted to figure out how to do it myself because hers are incredibly popular and always out of stock.
Interchangeable Mickey Ears have three different parts, the
- headband,
- 3D printed magnetic bars, and
- 3D printed Mickey Ears.
The magnetic bars are superglued on to the headband and are what the interchangeable ears connect to.
We quickly realized that changing out the ears constantly would weaken the hold the glue had on the headband. That’s when we decided to try to wrap the headband in ribbon to create a barrier between the magnetic bars and the ears.
In theory that was a great idea. But I used the wrong type of ribbon and the ears slid around on my head. For my next ears I’ll experiment with different ribbon to see what works best.
The nice thing about using ribbon is that the magnetic bars glued to the headband are much more secure with a ribbon holding them down. This will help them last longer, which is the goal with these types of projects!
At some point I also want to play around with figuring out how to do interchangeable bows. But….one thing at a time!
Commonly asked questions when making 3D Printed Interchangeable Mickey Ears:
1. How do you find the center of the headband?
I went about this the wrong way multiple times. The first time I just eyeballed it and they were way off center. I don’t suggest doing that.
I have a few other Mickey Ears that I used to help me find the center by laying my own headband on top of them and then using a fabric pen to mark where the ears sat. This was super helpful and easy!
But if you don’t have other headbands to go off of I suggest laying them on a fabric cutting mat and finding the center that way (you can also use your Silhouette mat!). Lay your ears on top of the headband until you find the desired look, mark the spot with a fabric pen, and then super glue them on. Easy peasy!
2. Does the headband slide around on your head if it’s windy?
Short answer? YES.
But if you use a certain type of fabric to wrap the headband with you can make it so that they don’t. I suggest wrapping your headband with this textured trim and then using faux suede to put on the inside of the headband. The faux suede will grip your hair and help the interchangeable Mickey Ears (mostly) stay put. That’s not to say that a strong gust of wind won’t push them a little bit…but they shouldn’t slide right off your head unless the wind is crazy strong.
I used satin ribbon for my first headband. Don’t do this. It is slippery and I had to keep pushing the headband back in place because it would slide around!
3. What type of glue do you use to keep the ears in place?
Gorilla super glue is our favorite. It doesn’t take long to dry and it is STRONG.
Hot glue did not have as good of a grip on the ears so I do not suggest using it. Stick with super glue.
4. Do you have a specific type of headband that you suggest using for the headbands?
Honestly, any type of headband will work for this. I used these headbands from Amazon and I really liked them because they were wide and did not squeeze/hurt my head after a few hours of wearing them.
You could also go to Sally’s to try to find headbands that you like. Target does not have them….trust me, I looked.
5. Does this tutorial only work if you want interchangeable Mickey ears or can you make a regular pair of ears instead?
You do not need to make interchangeable ears if you don’t want to! I love them because they save space in my bag but you do not have to.
You can still follow this tutorial, just leave out the small 3D printed magnetic bar and glue the ears directly onto the headband!
These 3D Printed Interchangeable Mickey Ears are:
- cheap to make,
- customizable, and
- lightweight!
DIY 3D Printed Interchangeable Mickey Ears
Materials
- Headband
- Elastic Ribbon
- Faux Suede Ribbon
- Hot Glue
- Interchangeable Ear Design from Thingiverse
- Magnets
- Super glue
Tools
Instructions
- Place magnets in magnetic bars and ears. Before you glue them in make sure that you have the magnets turned the right way so the ears and magnetic bars stick together.
- Use super glue to attach the magnetic bars to your headband. (see post on how to find the center of your headband to get the correct placement for your ears)
- Tightly wrap your headband with the elastic ribbon. Use hot glue to attach the ends of the ribbon to the headband.
- Cut a piece of the faux suede ribbon and super glue it to the inside of your headband (this will help it stay on your head).
- Make a bow using this no-sew tutorial.
- Attach it to your headband in between the ears with super glue.
more Disney crafts!
ozzy rivera says
July 14, 2019 at 9:30 amWhere do you get the magnetic bar .stl from
Teresa says
July 15, 2019 at 2:16 pmThe magnetic bar is 3D printed and then you add small magnets inside of it and in the bottom of the ear design.
Bryan says
July 31, 2019 at 12:59 amAre you sharing the .stl files for people wanting to try to do DIY ears :)?
Teresa says
August 1, 2019 at 11:13 pmHi Brian! You can find the .stl file over on Thingiverse! Come back and share a picture once you’ve made them. I’d love to see them. ๐