Made by François Rose
Hi! A client asked me a realistic rainproof donkey mask for an outdoor performance of “A Midsummer’s Night Tale”. I was thrilled about the challenge!
Your design was by far the best I found online. I just replaced paper mache technique by cosplay technique: I scaled up the pattern, printed it out, cut out the pieces on a 7mm EVA foam sheet, glued it together, tested it on the comedian, cut two slits for vision, removed the chin part to allow a loud public performance, sanded the sharp edges, filled the gaps, reinforced the seams from the inside, painted eyes with Kinder Surprise capsules, with many layers of varnish spray, added eyelashes, sculpted teeth, moulded them, casted them in resin, painted them and glued them on the mask, then I painted the mask, added hair with glue and a strange machine I might call “furryzator”, attached elastic straps inside to hold it steady, tested it, sewed a mane, adjusted it and glued it, adjuted the elastic straps, tested it again, and TADAAA here we are!
(I might have forgotten minor details of the process…)
So proud! Happy comedian, happy client, happy me. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! I have been wondering if these patterns would translate well to EVA foam because I wanted to make a dragon for the Renaissance Festival, but I’m worried about plain mache getting moldy from sweat.
I’ve assembled the chipboard variant of the pattern, and am planning to finish it properly. I think I’ll still go with this for my first year / 1.0 version, and replicate it in the future with EVA.
What a wonderful donkey mask! And thanks so much for telling us about all the steps you took to make it. I’m especially interested in that “furryzator” machine. Is it something that you invented, or is it something we could find, somewhere? 🙂