Nerdy Craft Time - Masks!

 

So today we'll be making masks! Nightmare Before Christmas masks to be exact.
Now, before you get all crazy excited... Jack, Sally, or the Boogie Man will not be in this post. I have nothing against them at all. But I actually use the shit I make for Nerdy Craft Time and I will be using these masks. I mean in reality you could just paint your face for Jack and Sally and use a burlap sack to make an Oogie Boogie mask so you don't actually need my help with that.
Now, my child, my mom, and me are a trio and how could we pick a better trio then.... Lock, Shock, and Barrel!  You know, the three kids who kidnap the Santa and hand him over to the Boogie Man because, that's who they work for. Come on Jack, you couldn't have picked someone more trust worthy for that job?
This will be the Nugget and I's second matching family themed costume and the first time we've included my mom. Our first family costume was Princess Tiana and Dr. Facilier. It was fantastic, I made my giant top hat and got to have a mustache. I loved that pencil moustache. But enough about our old costumes. On to our new ones!

I just have to say, making masks is much harder then you think it is. It's time consuming and kind of sucky. You have to actually sit down and create a form if you want any kind of shape to it. You think you can use plaster like paper mache and you can't. You think you can half ass the molds and you can just fix them later, but you can't. It's pretty ridiculous. In this entire process I made 10, yes 10, masks. In the end I had 7 failures. This was a pretty horrible project. I'd like to say that I will never ever make masks again, but I'll probably forget about how awful this was and try again next year. I'm a glutton for punishment when it comes to my own failures. All 5 of my daughter's horribly decorated birthday cakes can prove that. 
It's possible this would have been easier if I wasn't so stubborn and just used paper mache to begin with instead of having my heart set on making plaster masks. I'm not even sure why I thought making plaster masks was a good idea in the first place but in the end paper mache won. Lets keep this ball rolling!

 

For Barrel, who is our skeleton, you'll need a balloon that's blown up to a size slightly larger then your face. You'll want it round and not oblong. Dollar Store birthday balloons work really nicely for this.  You can actually use an oblong balloon but make sure you blow it up enough to give you extra room to cut away into a round shape.

I used paper mache (2 different kinds of paste which I'll detail at the end), I cut up some random strips of newspaper, I didn't measure them because I don't have the patience so mine were all different widths. I wrapped my newspaper strips around the balloon a little farther then mid way around. This was plenty large for not only my face but also my 5 year old's face, You can always trim some off it it's too long, but it is much harder to add on. I used about 4 layers and it felt sturdy. I'd recommend 6-10 layers though, once I painted mine they started to get a little soft because I didn't make them thick enough.

Once it's completely dry, you'll want to mark out your eye, nose, and mouth holes. Now, Barrel doesn't actually have a mouth hole or lips on his mask, so I left it plain. If you'd like to add lips you can soak a strip of newspaper in your paste and roll it up, then apply it to your mask and smooth some paste over it so it will blend in a little better. Obviously you'll want to let that dry before cutting anything out. Before adding lips you'll want to at least mark your eye and nose holes for placement. After you mark your eye holes and nose slits, you'll want to cut them out. I marked them on the inside and cut them out over a mat of newspapers, using an x-acto knife. Fun fact: There is less of a chance to collapse your mask if you cut from the inside rather then pushing down on the outside.  Next, you'll want to trim any excess off around the edges of the mask. You'll also need to cut holes for your strap to hold your mask on. I'm just using ribbon (because I have an abundance of it) so I used my x-acto knife and punched a small hole.
I used a bit of the paper mache glue to smooth the inside of the holes and keep them from fraying. Then let it dry completely. You could also give the exposed seams around the edge of the mask, eyes, and nose holes a little more strength by rimming them with a thin layer of regular glue or a very thin layer of hot glue.

Now you're ready to paint this up! For Barrel I used a plain white over everything, then added black inside the eye holes and nostrils and slightly outside them as well. I also used black to outline the teeth and a mix of dark green, white, and yellow on the inside of the teeth.

 

So all you have left to do is spray it with a clear coat and let it dry for a couple days. (FYI they sell matte clear coat if you don't want a shiny look to it) Now, I sprayed just the outside of my masks with clear coat but I suppose you could do the insides as well. Just let it dry for several days in a well ventilated area before you wear it. You don't actually have to do this step. I just clear coat everything that I paint because it helps protect it from flaking, scratching, and generally helps everything hold up better.

To complete this costume, we bought a pair of skeleton gloves at Target from the dollar bin, we already had the skeleton shirt, and I painted leg bones on a pair of black leggings. Barrel's hands and feet are bare in the movie but it's awfully cold here in the Midwest so shoes and gloves are a must to trick or treat. He also has green hair but the mask covers my daughter's head and I'm unwilling to dye her hair (however temporary) when she's only 5.

Lock is the devil of the group. This is where I ran into trouble. His face has a pretty distinct shape, and a pointy nose. Luckily, I came across a really fun way to make a mask by using masking tape and tin foil, I just adapted this technique to make my form. I took a large piece of tinfoil and folded it in half, make sure it's large enough to cover your face, if your character has a large chin or an oblong shaped face you can add this on later. Press the foil flat onto your face and with your fingers, lightly push in the shape of your eyes, shape your nose, and run your hands lightly down the sides of your face and chin so you'll have a nice basic form to work with. I cut my eye holes out at this point to use as a guide later, take it off of your face to do this. From there you can add on cheeks, a giant nose, a large chin... whatever you can think of. I stuffed my mask with newspaper so I wouldn't smash it. Then using another piece of tinfoil I cut out a point for the chin and taped it on. For the nose, I folded foil into a triangle, and taped it onto the nose area, then closed it off on the bottom with another little foil triangle. If you need to reshape the nose, you can cut a small hole in the foil on the back of the mask. I did this to stuff the nose with newspaper so it wouldn't collapse. But depending on how thick your foil nose is, you may not need to do this. I also added horns.

My basic face form.

Again, I used 2 different paper mache pastes and cut up newspaper strips to cover my form and let it dry fully. Like Barrel, Lock doesn't have lips on his mask either so I left the entire bottom of his mask blank. Because I used a foil form with this I was able to cut the eye holes using the original ones as a guide. I ended up putting small breathing holes on the very bottom of the nose so they wouldn't show, and I added holes to run a string through to hold it on my face. 

Then I painted the entire thing red. I used black to create his mouth shape, a smoother eye shape, and between his teeth, then used white to give him some pointy teeth. I clear coated the outside of this and called it a day.

To complete my outfit, I went to Walmart and bought some red leggings and a large red men's t-shirt. I sewed a tail out of a cloth remnant, stuffed it with Poly-fil, used a wire to make it stiff, and attached it with a safety pin.

Shock is our witch, and only female. Her nose was a pain in the ass to make! It's so big and rounded. Why couldn't it be sharp and pointed like Lock's nose? I used the exact same method to make this mask as I did with Lock. Foil on my face, mapped out the eyes and nose, created a larger rounded nose, and longer rounded chin. Because my mom is going to wear a hat with this, I extended it up to cover the top of her head as well. I know Shock's mask is flat on the top and it ends before her hat, but I felt it would just look better if you didn't see that seam.

I painted this one a leaf green mixed with a light sea green and added black to create her flap mouth, a smoother eye shape, and under eye crinkles. I then clear coated the outside of this and decided I was done. There isn't a lot to Shock's mask aside from the shape of it.

To complete the outfit my mom bought a purple witch hat. She also bought some purple fabric, cut a hole in the middle and is planning on rocking it like no one's business. We're pretty low budget with our diy costumes. I suppose we could sew it up to create some arm holes but she's unwilling to do it and I'm feeling super lazy after all of my mask failures. It will still be fantastic.

I used a 2 part glue 1 part water mixture as an initial paper mache paste which worked ok, it helped make a really smooth back of the mask because that's where all the glue settled. I also used a flour and water paste mixture, which is basically water and enough flour mixed in to give it a thick consistency. (I used a whisk to keep it from getting lumpy) I really liked this one, it was easy to work with, easy to clean up drips even after they dried, and I could go at my own pace. I attempted to use plaster but it dried much too fast for me to work with it, it made the masks much too heavy, and made them brittle. If we would have dropped a plaster mask it would have cracked or shattered. Which would be a recipe for disaster with a 5 year old.

In a pinch you could actually clear coat it the day before, just let it dry in a well ventilated area and don't spray the inside if you are only giving it a day to dry. If you really work on this, with fans and a hair dryer to speed up the drying process, you could probably knock out a mask in 2 days to be honest, as long as you keep it simple and aren't getting crazy fancy with it. What took me the longest was making the forms. I went through several different methods and it took me a while to get the noses correct on Lock and Shock. Just give yourself a good hour or 2 to figure out the form. Unless you're more amazing then me, which is entirely possible.

I had absolutely no experience with making masks before. I also used about 3-4 layers of paper mache on my masks. You'll want a good solid 5-10 layers if you want them strong. Mine started to bow and get a little soft on the edges once I started to paint them. It wasn't horrible, but I ended up using hot glue to try to reinforce and strengthen the sides. If you're going to keep these or wear them more then once you'll probably want to add more layers. Also try to use thin layers of paint. It will soak in some, and painting on thick layers will only hurt your mask.

I'll try to throw out a Halloween costume post with all of us dressed up soon. I'm sorry I haven't posted 2 Nerdy Craft Times this month, but with my daughter's birthday, my mom's birthday, my dad's health issues, getting a new review up, and making these masks I really haven't had time to do anything else. I tried really hard to get these up before Halloween with enough time to do it yourself, so I didn't want to get too side tracked with other projects. I should be back to normal next month! Hopefully... Plus I've got some fun Thanksgiving ideas including delicious food and fun crafts!

So to quickly recap

 

You'll Need

• Paper mache paste (either 2 parts elmers school glue 1 part water, or flour and water mixed to form a thick paste)
• Strips of newspaper
• a balloon or a foil form (which would require tinfoil and tape, masking or clear whatever you have)

1. Mix your paste, line your work surface with newspaper, set up your form and newspaper strips
2. Dip your newspaper strips into your paste and run your fingers on either side to remove the excess.
3. Lay your paste coated strips over your form overlapping them slightly
4. Allow to dry before laying down another layer. Try to lay your strips down opposite directions for each layer, horizontal on one and then vertical on the other or switch it up within the same layer.
5. After it's all dried completely you can trim your mask edges, cut out your eye, nose, and mouth holes, punch holes for your strap, and reinforce the seams with either a thin layer of school glue, hot glue, or paper mache paste. Allow that to dry.
6. Paint it up using craft paint!
7. Clear coat that sucker and allow it to dry in a well ventilated area for at least 24 hours. Tie on your strap.
8. Rock your mask like there's no tomorrow!

 

Good Luck!! 

I hope that if you're looking for a last minute, low budget mask you'll try this and share it with me if you do! I'd love to see photos of other creations!
As always,
Enjoy!