Flashback: paper maché masks

These two masks were among my first creations ever. I made them for Halloween parties, but they were quite uncomfortable to wear.

The technique is pretty simple. You take a balloon, glue strips of newspaper over it and when the layer of paper maché is thick enough, you pop the balloon. This gives you a basic oval shape to work with. Of course, you have to make sure the shape is big enough to fit over your face!

Here's the first mask. I made it in 2010 as part of a costume for a Halloween party. The sawblade is made from a thick piece of cardboard, and the cuts are made with paper clay. Besides the saw blade, the most prominent feature was the eye, of course. It's a cheap plastic Christmas ball with paper mache glued over it.
The mask is painted with cheap gouache paint, wich wasn't the best idea since it's not waterproof. The hair is made from yarn, attached with hot glue.

The second mask was made the next year, for the same party. I managed to make the basic shape a lot smoother. The ears are made from cardboard and clay, with extra paper mache glued over it. The lips and eyes are also made like this. This time, I was smart enough to use acrylic paint instead of gouache. Overall, the paint job looks a lot better than on the first mask.

Masks like these have one huge disadvantage: they are impossible to wear for more than fifteen minutes. You breathe out straight into the mask, so in no time you sit in a hot, humid atmosphere that smells like whatever you had for dinner!