My Mask Journey
Good evening,
Here, all covered in sequins, is the documentation of the making of my mask.
First up, planning. Initially, I was quite keen on a Rocketeer type helmet.
It was ok, but since I wanted three different ideas before settling on a final design, I drew up another...a Victorian gentleman adventurer, if you will. Replete with a clockwork gear monocle with built in magnifying lense. Oh, and a top hat. A bit like triceritophat.
And some sort of gentleman's smoking pipe.
As for the grill over the mouth...well, this looks cool...
...or, perhaps this, being paper 'n all...
For my third idea, I thought to create an animal.
I actually really like the last two designs...perhaps I could do both, one using the balloon, one using a tinfoil based mask.
Well, either way, I figured I might as well make a start. I carefully measured my head...and then ignored my measurements once I got the 25cm balloons, as I wanted to see how big I could blow them up before they, well, blew up!
Next step, rip up some paper. With the grain. Nice long strips.
Glued on with a flour and water mix. 1:1. (I had to look up the recipe!)
First layer went top to bottom, pretty much laying a strip down so the bottom of the strip ended just above the not and looping over (? is that the right term?) the top of the strip so that it went over the top of the balloon and a little down the other side. This should make the top of the helmet nice and strong.
The next layer went side to side. Long strips around the 'equator' / middle, shorter and shorter strips as they got to the top and bottom.
Update 1:
Once the layers were thoroughly dry (in fact, over two weeks later! I've been busy...), I took the helmet / mask outside to sand it down in an effort to make it nice and smooth for the next two layers.
What a mess! A very fine powder of paper and dried flour ended up covering my trousers.
DO THIS OUTSIDE!
I intend to sand down like this after every two layers. (I'm guessing that I will need a good half dozen layers altogether.)
Next step, before the layers get any thicker, was to cut out the eye holes. I cut out one of the mask shapes (a bunch of which are pinned to the back wall in Room 3), and put it on to figure where the bottom of the mask sat on my nose. I was expecting it to be the bridge of my nose, but nope, 'twas about half way down. Just as well I checked!
Next, I had to measure how far that was from the top of my head...
...so that I could roughly figure out how far down from the top of the balloon / helmet / mask to glue on the eye mask.
Then I simply got a glue stick, stuck down the two outside edges (pretty much where those two printed string holes are)...
...and CAREFULLY cut the eyes out with a craft knife...
...popping the balloon in the process!
I also tried patching up a couple of splits that had occurred from the sanding. As well as pasting on a third eye! It'll be an ornamental kind of thing once I have paper mache'd over it.
And that's kind of why I decided to cut out the eyes before putting on more layers.
I hope this works!
So...measuring...
...cutting...
...and nope! Too small!
So more cutting...
Oh, come on!
Only my mustache can see out!
My right eye is here!
Bother!
Still...with another of those eye masks, this time placed while the helmet is on so's I can see from the inside where my eye holes should be cut out...
Those first eye holes will be easy enough to paper mache over. Or perhaps somehow put some sort of flexible tubes, perhaps connecting to a breathing pack - either hanging on my front like an old gas mask...
...or over the back, connecting into a back pack type thing. If the Vader thing doesn't work out...
Anyhow, best I get these eyes sorted out first! Boy, am I glad I did this before the helmet got too thick to cut!
Update 2:
Right, so I printed out another set of eye masks, cut out the eyes, put on the helmet, held the [eyeless] mask on the face of the helmet, and looked into the sun to see where they eye holes of the mask were from inside the helmet. I then held everything in place, saw roughly where it should sit (right above the top of the first mask), glued on the mask and cut out the new eye holes for the helmet.
Huzzah, it worked! Now I look a little bit like a spider. A spider man, if you will.
I figured that since this thing was supposed to be pretty cheap to make that I'd print out that Bane mask, glue it onto the back of a Weetbix packet, and pull it all together using some glue stick glue. And a peg. Jolly useful things, pegs.
Once that was dry (overnight), I glued it onto the helmet, again with the aid of pegs...
...while using the newly cut out eyes from the helmet to plug the holes left by the first ones!
(Stuck there with the help of some sellotape on the inside of the helmet.)
I also noticed that some of the glue stick glue didn't sticking as well as I would have liked, so I used some PVA...and pegs...
Now to wait 'til everything's dry, and then I can recommence paper maching over everything. Apart from my new eye holes!
Update 3
And now, the silly thing don't fit no more! The careful use of a pair of scissors should fix that!
Update 4
Now that I'm back at school...
After instructing the tinfoil mask making children to start paper maching theirs...I thought I'd best give it a go as well.
Turned out it was harder than it looked. The jolly paper wouldn't really stick to the foil, especially at the bottom (it just wouldn't wrap 'round and stay put), so...
...I held the wet paper in place with pegs.
As can be seen above, I was applying the paper strips up and down...with some strategically placed horizontal strips to help define the bridge and bottom of the nose, as well as the top of the cheeks.
Hanging the whole heavily wet mask from the strings in the room has really pulled the mask down longwise. I'm hoping that I'll be able to reshape it once the first layer has dried before applying the second layer horizontally.
That should be interesting.
And since the paper and paste was out, I thought to paper over the mouth piece smooth out the edges of the helmet.
Using the wallpaper paste instead of the flour and water mixture was interesting. The paste is much...wetter. Easier to spread over the piece, and, in so doing, I was able to mix some wet strips with dry bits, just smoothing them down, soaking up the excess paste.
And since I could now see the inside of the helmet, I was able to see where little holes had formed as the light shined through, making it easy to patch them up.
Again, hanging the helmet up thusly will, I expect, change the shape of the opening/bottom of the helmet into a more oval shape. Once it's dry I expect that I'll be able to reshape it if I need to. I hope.
Next step will be 3D printing my com unit so that I can paper mache that onto the side of the helmet. Oh, and the eye piece/monocle too I guess.
I've decided to alter my top hat so that the com unit's aerial can stick through the brim of the hat...oh, hang on, it'll be easier to draw it.
Here, all covered in sequins, is the documentation of the making of my mask.
First up, planning. Initially, I was quite keen on a Rocketeer type helmet.
It was ok, but since I wanted three different ideas before settling on a final design, I drew up another...a Victorian gentleman adventurer, if you will. Replete with a clockwork gear monocle with built in magnifying lense. Oh, and a top hat. A bit like triceritophat.
And some sort of gentleman's smoking pipe.
As for the grill over the mouth...well, this looks cool...
...or, perhaps this, being paper 'n all...
For my third idea, I thought to create an animal.
I actually really like the last two designs...perhaps I could do both, one using the balloon, one using a tinfoil based mask.
Well, either way, I figured I might as well make a start. I carefully measured my head...and then ignored my measurements once I got the 25cm balloons, as I wanted to see how big I could blow them up before they, well, blew up!
Next step, rip up some paper. With the grain. Nice long strips.
Glued on with a flour and water mix. 1:1. (I had to look up the recipe!)
First layer went top to bottom, pretty much laying a strip down so the bottom of the strip ended just above the not and looping over (? is that the right term?) the top of the strip so that it went over the top of the balloon and a little down the other side. This should make the top of the helmet nice and strong.
The next layer went side to side. Long strips around the 'equator' / middle, shorter and shorter strips as they got to the top and bottom.
Once the layers were thoroughly dry (in fact, over two weeks later! I've been busy...), I took the helmet / mask outside to sand it down in an effort to make it nice and smooth for the next two layers.
What a mess! A very fine powder of paper and dried flour ended up covering my trousers.
DO THIS OUTSIDE!
I intend to sand down like this after every two layers. (I'm guessing that I will need a good half dozen layers altogether.)
Next step, before the layers get any thicker, was to cut out the eye holes. I cut out one of the mask shapes (a bunch of which are pinned to the back wall in Room 3), and put it on to figure where the bottom of the mask sat on my nose. I was expecting it to be the bridge of my nose, but nope, 'twas about half way down. Just as well I checked!
Next, I had to measure how far that was from the top of my head...
...so that I could roughly figure out how far down from the top of the balloon / helmet / mask to glue on the eye mask.
Then I simply got a glue stick, stuck down the two outside edges (pretty much where those two printed string holes are)...
...and CAREFULLY cut the eyes out with a craft knife...
...popping the balloon in the process!
I also tried patching up a couple of splits that had occurred from the sanding. As well as pasting on a third eye! It'll be an ornamental kind of thing once I have paper mache'd over it.
And that's kind of why I decided to cut out the eyes before putting on more layers.
- To make it easier to cut out the eyes before the mask gets too thick...
- ...and so that I can round out the edges of the eye holes with subsequent layers.
Next, before I start layering again, I want to cut the bottom off so that I can fit the silly thing over my big noggin!
I'll need to measure the widest circumference of my head (probably around the ears), and then, starting from the bottom of the mask / helmet with the measuring tape already set to that circumference measurement (like a circle), move the tape / circle up from the bottom of the helmet until it doesn't fit any further without breaking / needing to be any wider. (I'll probably actually tape the measuring tape together at the right size - that'll make it easier to move up from the bottom of the helmet.)
I'll need to measure the widest circumference of my head (probably around the ears), and then, starting from the bottom of the mask / helmet with the measuring tape already set to that circumference measurement (like a circle), move the tape / circle up from the bottom of the helmet until it doesn't fit any further without breaking / needing to be any wider. (I'll probably actually tape the measuring tape together at the right size - that'll make it easier to move up from the bottom of the helmet.)
Once the measuring tape / loop / circle won't go up any further I'll mark along that line so I know where to cut it.
I suspect that this will make the helmet too short to cover my chin, so I may need to add something like a big cylinder of card to make the helmet long enough again. I want to do that before I start with more layers of paper mache so that I can make any new bits look like they are all part of the one design, not something that had to be added on later.
We'll see...
I hope this works!
So...measuring...
...cutting...
...and nope! Too small!
So more cutting...
Oh, come on!
Only my mustache can see out!
My right eye is here!
Bother!
Still...with another of those eye masks, this time placed while the helmet is on so's I can see from the inside where my eye holes should be cut out...
Those first eye holes will be easy enough to paper mache over. Or perhaps somehow put some sort of flexible tubes, perhaps connecting to a breathing pack - either hanging on my front like an old gas mask...
...or over the back, connecting into a back pack type thing. If the Vader thing doesn't work out...
Anyhow, best I get these eyes sorted out first! Boy, am I glad I did this before the helmet got too thick to cut!
Update 2:
Right, so I printed out another set of eye masks, cut out the eyes, put on the helmet, held the [eyeless] mask on the face of the helmet, and looked into the sun to see where they eye holes of the mask were from inside the helmet. I then held everything in place, saw roughly where it should sit (right above the top of the first mask), glued on the mask and cut out the new eye holes for the helmet.
Huzzah, it worked! Now I look a little bit like a spider. A spider man, if you will.
I figured that since this thing was supposed to be pretty cheap to make that I'd print out that Bane mask, glue it onto the back of a Weetbix packet, and pull it all together using some glue stick glue. And a peg. Jolly useful things, pegs.
Once that was dry (overnight), I glued it onto the helmet, again with the aid of pegs...
...while using the newly cut out eyes from the helmet to plug the holes left by the first ones!
(Stuck there with the help of some sellotape on the inside of the helmet.)
I also noticed that some of the glue stick glue didn't sticking as well as I would have liked, so I used some PVA...and pegs...
Now to wait 'til everything's dry, and then I can recommence paper maching over everything. Apart from my new eye holes!
Update 3
And now, the silly thing don't fit no more! The careful use of a pair of scissors should fix that!
Update 4
Now that I'm back at school...
After instructing the tinfoil mask making children to start paper maching theirs...I thought I'd best give it a go as well.
Turned out it was harder than it looked. The jolly paper wouldn't really stick to the foil, especially at the bottom (it just wouldn't wrap 'round and stay put), so...
...I held the wet paper in place with pegs.
As can be seen above, I was applying the paper strips up and down...with some strategically placed horizontal strips to help define the bridge and bottom of the nose, as well as the top of the cheeks.
Hanging the whole heavily wet mask from the strings in the room has really pulled the mask down longwise. I'm hoping that I'll be able to reshape it once the first layer has dried before applying the second layer horizontally.
That should be interesting.
And since the paper and paste was out, I thought to paper over the mouth piece smooth out the edges of the helmet.
Using the wallpaper paste instead of the flour and water mixture was interesting. The paste is much...wetter. Easier to spread over the piece, and, in so doing, I was able to mix some wet strips with dry bits, just smoothing them down, soaking up the excess paste.
And since I could now see the inside of the helmet, I was able to see where little holes had formed as the light shined through, making it easy to patch them up.
Again, hanging the helmet up thusly will, I expect, change the shape of the opening/bottom of the helmet into a more oval shape. Once it's dry I expect that I'll be able to reshape it if I need to. I hope.
Next step will be 3D printing my com unit so that I can paper mache that onto the side of the helmet. Oh, and the eye piece/monocle too I guess.
I've decided to alter my top hat so that the com unit's aerial can stick through the brim of the hat...oh, hang on, it'll be easier to draw it.
That should work...
Mr Grant
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