Materials
- Plaster Bandages, Hobby Lobby is where I got it ($3.00 or so per) You may want to get two for you and a friend .
- Petroleum Jelly Vaseline
- Bowl for water
- Work area (I like outside)
- Old clothes, you will eff them up
- String or ribbon to hold the mask on
- Decorations (optional, I will cover it here)
Casting
I started by applying Vaseline all over the face. Remember to apply it really thick. Don’t rub it in, this way the removal process hurts less. Make sure you cover any areas with hair, such as your eye brows, with a thicker layer. The hair will stick to the mold. Once you have covered the entire face take a moment to prepare by cutting the Plaster Bandages into easy to use strips. I would say about half a roll will be good for a base mold.
Now you will start covering the face. It’s easiest with a friend but possible by yourself if you don’t plan on covering the eyes. Start by playing a strip on the forehead. You want to make an outline of the mask. I would say close to your hair line, ears, and just below your chin. You don’t want to go to far under the chin or it will be harder to remove.
Next you want to connect the outer edges by covering the bridge of the nose from the forehead. Then across the nose from ear to ear. This may take several pieces. Be sure that when laying the bandage that you push it into the crevasses such as the nose to give your mask some neat looking features. Remember to leave the nose holes free.
Now start laying across the mouth.This is where the most muscles in your face are so use them. If your smiling when you lay the casting the mask will smile, remember to push into the crevasses. After you get the smile as you want start filling the entire face in. Try to start from one side and go to the other. You will want to over lap as you go across the face. This will make it smoother in the end.
Make a few layers as needed. You need to be able to handle the mask after you remove it.
Removal
The removal starts before you finish casting. When you start feeling it harden on the inside move those muscles I was talking about earlier. Any little movement works such as rising your eyebrows, smiling, qrinking your nose.
Once you have completed the casting let it sit for about 15-30 mins. Go watch Scrubs or something.
Now it’s time to remove the mask! Start at the chin. Move slow and let your skin pull itself from the cast by pulling a little and holding it. Watch for cracks, you shouldn’t have problems if you move slow enough.
Smoothing
Now that you have it off make sure to let it dry. It’s best over night but I’m impatience so I started right away. I wanted to add some more layers to make it harder and thus sturdier. I started with any weak spots I saw by holding the mask up to some light. If you see more light in one area than others you will need to cover it with more bandages. While your at it, fill the nose bottom you left open during the casting phase.
Now, you should have a pretty good looking mask that’s stout with no weak spots. Let it dry over night this time. The next day cut some pretty long strips of the bandage and cover it one or two more times with as little strips you can. Use the overlapping solution as before. Let each layer dry about 2-3 hours before adding another one. After another overnight session drill holes in the sides almost level with the eyes for the string to go above your ears. This is how we’re going to keep it on your face.
Tip use lots of water on this phase to remove any laces from showing.
Decorating
You don’t have to but if you want a really wicked one you probably do. This is pretty simple for anyone that has spray painted. Start with a base spray to make sure the color sticks. Then, put your color into it; Make sure to get the edges since they will still show and we don’t want this to look tacky. After your done with that you may want to finish with a gloss sealer, this is completely optional.
Now I have done something special with mine by covering the back of the face with a black cloth. This makes my mouth cutouts and eye holes dark. Since I’m going with the white on black look I wanted to hide all I could.
