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Do you have a great idea for a mask, but you don’t have time to find a mask form?
This blank mask form is easy to make and takes very little time.
Once it’s finished, you can paint it any way you like. You can add sculptural details with paper mache clay, like eyebrows or beards, and you can embellish your new mask with feathers, ears – or whatever your imagination comes up with.
Unlike the plastic mask forms that you can find on amazon or Walmart, this one will fit perfectly, because it’s custom-made for your face.
I used white copy paper and cooked flour and water paste. Just one layer of paper mache is all you need, so it dries really fast – especially if you put it in front of a fan. And if you use white paper, you won’t need a coat of primer or gesso to make it white before you paint your mask.
You can find the recipe for the flour and water paste here.
Make your mask form with these easy steps:
- Cut out the back of a cereal box.
- Measure the distance between your eyes and the length and width of your nose, and mark them on the cardboard. Draw the shapes the way you want them, and cut them out.
- Cut the outside shape of the mask now, or wait until the paper mache is dry.
- Reinforce the areas where ribbon will be attached.
- Cover the cardboard with masking tape so it won’t warp.
- Punch or drill holes for your ribbon.
- Cover your mask form with one layer of paper and paste.
- While the paper mache is still wet, tie the mask form over a round object – I used an empty coffee can.
- Wait for the paper mache to dry.
If you make a mask with this mask form, we really want to see how it comes out. Please share a photo or two on the Daily Sculptors page, so we can all see your new mask.
Masks made by readers, using the Easy DIY Blank Mask Form:
I wondered if you would be able to give me any ideas on how you would start to make a pair of very large hands. I would love to make them for our daycare as it is named Mighty Little Hands Academy and I would like to make them in our foyer. I saw your paper mache clay and am very intrigued. I think it would be able to be molded and lined, such as the natural lines in our own hands. Anyway, any direction you might steer me would be greatly appreciated! Really enjoy your videos:)
Hi Dawne. That sounds like a great project. I haven’t made any large hands, but if I did I’d start with a cardboard pattern cut out in the shape of the hands, with fingers. Bend the cardboard so the thumb is in the right position, and then fill in the rounded shapes with crumpled foil and hot glue, or crumpled paper and masking tape. Then you’d be ready for a thin layer of the paper mache clay. If you make them, be sure to show them off on the Daily Sculptors page on this site. There’s a link to it at the top of every page. 🙂