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Costume Design & Construction I

Plaster Bandage & Foam Mask (5D+10C)

For this project you will need 

• 2 people, one victim to be plastered, one tech to do the plastering. (If you can't get a second person use a plastic base mask from a craft store to build the Part 1 Mask on)

• 1-2 rolls of plaster impregnated bandage

• Vaseline

• A Kleenex

• Old clothes, a sheet or other way of keeping plaster off your clothing.

• Spackle

• Warm water in a plastic cup or bowl

• craft scissors

• Hot Glue Gun

• bits of foam, cardboard, and/or poster board as the design requires

• Non-toxic paints, decorative do-dads like feathers, fake flowers or rhinestones, as the design requires.

Masking and Madness: Mardi Gras in New Orleans

The Prop Builder's Molding & Casting Handbook

 

The Prop Builder's Mask-Making Handbook

Mask Making: Get Started in a New Craft with Easy-To-Follow Projects for

Beginners

Maskwork Masks of Mexico : Tigers, Devils, and the Dance of Life

 

Maskmaking

MASKS: Faces of Culture

Men, Makeup, and Monsters : Hollywood's Masters of Illusion and Fx Special Make-Up Effects

The Face : A Natural History

 

Complete Book of Sewing

Clean It Fast, Clean It Right : The Ultimate Guide to Making Absolutely Everything You Own Sparkle and Shine

Crafting Handmade Shoes : Great-Looking Shoes, Sandals, Slippers & Boots

How to Dress Dancers : Costume Techniques for Dance

The Basic Costumer

Part One:  Making the base mask on a face.

Cut the plaster bandage into strips approximately 4cm long.

Tie back the victim's hair and generously coat the face with Vaseline.  Tear out small single layer bits of the Kleenex and place them over the eyelids/lashes and the eyebrows, using the Vaseline to stick them on.

Dip a piece of bandage at a time in the water and place it on the victim's face, overlapping the edges slightly.

Avoid the nostrils, and if the victim is claustrophobic you can also skip the mouth and/or eyes.  Continue the plastering process, overlapping each bandage piece until the entire face is well covered.

Strengthen the mask by adding another layer of plaster bandage, preferably in a cross direction to the previous layer. 

The mask will slowly warm up over about 20-30 minutes.  After it does, it will harden.  When it has, encourage the victim to flex his/her face by making funny faces under the mask, till it comes lose from the skin easily.  To remove the mask, gently lift the edges to break the suction, then carefully lift the mask from the face.  If possible, especially if there is any hair caught in the mask, have the victim do this part him/herself.

Trim uneven edges and eyeholes and let the mask dry completely. 

If any part of this seems unclear, you can go to these sites to read or print out more descriptions of how to do this here:

• PDF on Maskmaking using several techniques

• Mask Making Instructions

• Make a plaster mask

• Mask Making Lesson 

• Mendel's Mask Making  

• Spooky Alien Masks of Plaster bandage (PDF)

Part Two:  Customizing the Mask

Hot Glue small cut up bits of foam, cardboard or poster board to the mask to build up any dimensional parts the mask needs.  Cover these 3-D parts with more plaster bandage to join them to the mask in a continuous whole. See examples of masks with dimensional features below.

      Masks from Yahoo Nation, UAF 2001   

Let the mask dry again, and then gently rub spackle into the rough surface of the mask.  After about a minute, the spackle will begin to stiffen, and you can buff the surface with your fingers to make it smooth.  For a very smooth finish, just repeat this process 2-3 times (drying between) till the mask has a porcelain like finish.

Paint the surface of the mask with the colors and design you want, and allow the mask to dry again.

Finally you can use hot glue to affix any other decorative elements like feathers, ribbons, rhinestones, artificial leaves, etcetera. You can use Mask Making Instructions  or one of the sets of additional  instructions below, to get ideas about how to further build/decorate your mask.  Try to get the mask to look as much like your intended design as possible.  Any material is ok as long as it works. 

Masks from previous face-to-face classes 

When it is finished, photograph the mask as jpeg files and post them to your File folder at the class eGroup.  Post a message to the group letting everyone know you have posted these pictures so you can get feedback.

If this project really excited you, here are more online tips to help you make other types of masks that may interest you after doing this project:

• Milliners way of Mask Making with Buckram 
• 68 Ways to make Really Big Puppets
• Masking with Felt
• Making Faces With Cardboard and Mache

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