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Costume Sites on the WWW #6:  Masks, “Fursuits” and Puppet Making

By Tara Maginnis 

Masks and mask making tutorials also can be found on the WWW, along with crossover how-to information on “fursuit” and puppet making techniques that apply to mask making as well.   Latex mask making tutorials have been excluded from this listing for later inclusion in a future article on theatre makeup.  This listing just has a taste of what is out there.  Many other mask links may be found at http://www.costumes.org/pages/masksand.htm .  This article is mirrored online at http://www.costumes.org/pages/crj.htm

 Mask Collections

 Masks.org broken link One of the largest online databases of traditional and designer masks online.  Also includes articles on historical masks, how-to articles, and a large number of links to other useful mask sites.

Agayuliyararput: Our Way of Making Prayer: The Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/yupik  Has a large collection of masks from the Yup’ik Eskimo, along with lots of text about the historical and cultural significance of masks in Alaska & Canada.

U’Mista Potlatch Collection broken link shows a smaller collection of masks from the Kwak’wala speaking groups of Northwest Coast Indians in British Columbia, along with the story of their repatriation.

Indigenous Dance/Drama/Carnival Masks from Mesoamerica  broken link is a great example of a commercial site that operates as an online museum of images of traditional masks they have sold in the past, as well as their current offerings.  Includes online bios of many of their mask artists. 

Averatec AV3250HX-01 12.1" Notebook PC (AMD Athlon XP-M 2200+, 512 MB RAM, 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW/CD-RW Drive)

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

Cajun Mardi Gras Masks (Folk Art and Artists Series)

 

Mardi Gras : A Pictorial History of Carnival in New Orleans

 

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

Maskwork

 

Maskmaking

  The Mask Project broken link archives mask designs made by artists and celebrities as part of the New York Mask Project, a charitable fundraiser. 

Mask How-to 

Leather Mask Workshop http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/arts/commun/cycle/mask/ Complete coverage of the 10 day (90 hour) workshop in the design and construction of leather performance masks by Paolo Consiglio, at The Crago Mill Regional Arts Centre, Piper Street, Bathurst, NSW, Australia. Includes photos and instructions for all the days projects, with QuickTime video of important bits.  One of the best how-to sites on the web. 

LeatherworX http://www.pclink.com/nick has a shorter page of tips for making leather masks under their page “how-to”. 

Maskmaking: Doing it Yourself http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dhell/diy.htm details a method for making Commedia masks of felt and glue. 

Mendel’s- Mask Making http://www.mendels.com/mask.html describes plaster bandage mask making clearly enough with words and pictures, that I give the URL to my students who are absent on mask making day in class, and they can do the project at home.

 A Milliner’s Approach to Maskmaking http://www.library.yale.edu/~lso/drama/mask.html  is an online reprint of a Yale University School of Drama “Department of Technical Design & Production Technical Brief” of 1994, describing Katherine Snider’s method for making buckram masks, with pictures. 

“Fursuit” How-to

Strange to say,  there is a whole little world out there of hobbyists who make “fursuits” aka fur-covered creature costumes similar to sport-mascots or the cartoon character suits worn by hapless young actors at theme parks.  These folks have put lots of useful how-to sites on the WWW, of which this is only a very small sample:

 FURSUIT: The Furry Costume Information Exchange http://www.fursuit.org Is the home of the Fursuit FAQ list, which complies the tips and supply sources of all the aspects and techniques of fursuit building. 

 Yahoo Fursuiting Workshop http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/fursuitingworkshop Is an club, egroup, and information links site for the fursuit making community.  The archive of posts answers many how-to questions, and the links connect to most of the important, and unimportant fursuit sites.

 Carving a Foam Head http://www.nicodemus.org/fursuit.cgi?design-foamhead  Is a single highly useful page in a larger site.  It describes how to carve an animal head out of insulation foam and cover it with fake fur as part of making an animal costume.

Puppet How-to 

The Puppeteers' Cooperative Home Page http://www.gis.net/~puppetco has thumbnail sketches of dozens of good ideas for the sort of big street theatre puppets beloved of radical protesters, costumed marathon runners and children.  Part costume, part mask, part sculpture, these napkin doodle type plans are simple enough to be used by amateurs, and flashy enough to have great applications in theatre costuming. 

The Puppetry Home Page http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry While having many useful pages within it’s own site, is mainly handy for it’s many links pages to other outside sites that collectively render it one of the largest databases of molding, casting, sculpting, mache, etc. information.