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This is a perfect guest post for Halloween! Check out Jamie’s dinosaur mask – and be sure to click on the link to see all the progress photos, too.
When my son decided he wanted to be a real dinosaur for Halloween this year, I immediately began searching for a pre-made costume we could buy. When everything I found was too expensive or too cutesy for my little paleontologist, I decided to create his costume from scratch. My mom stepped into seamstress duty to create the body, and I began researching ways to craft a somewhat realistic dinosaur head to go along with it. I found several tutorials that used cardboard and started designing. I had NEVER used paper mache before, but after reading through the Ultimate Paper Mache site, and receiving some personalized advice from Jonni herself, I was inspired to take the plunge, and I’m very happy with the results. Here are some photos of the process.
Thanks again!
Jamie
if you would sell it how much would it be?
Hi Jonni
This is a large over-the-head mask that I made on a custom order for use in a film. The holes in the nostrils are in line with the wearer’s eyes.
I have been making papier-mache for over 30 years, using old methods and materials that were once used to make store display manniquins. Some of these materials are now difficult to find. If any of your readers are familiar with “white card-middle” or “red-flex” papers and could share a source, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim Seffens
HI Jeff. If you tried to add a photo of the mask, it didn’t come through. Please try again – I’d love to see it.
I don’t have a source for you, but maybe one of our other readers will???
We are so glad we found your site! My daughter (11 years old) is making a screech owl for a school project. We popped into your site and, low and behold, you are making a dragon! She LOVES dragons! This year she went as the Ender Dragon from Minecraft. She made a huge, and rather remarkable, costume out of cardboard and duct tape. Wish we’d found your site before! Thanks for the advice, and I plan on getting your paper mache animal book as soon as I finish up here!
Sincerely, Marcy and Dragon Drew!
What a costume – your daughter should be very proud of it. I hope you’ll show us the screech owl when it’s done, too. Did she see the snowy owl that’s on this site? All the posts for it can be found on the extended tutorials page.
My daughter (11 years old) is making a screech howl for a school project. We bumped into your site, and low and behold… you were making a dragon! She LOVES dragons. This year she went as the ender dragon (from Minecraft) and made a huge, and rather unbelievable, sculpture out of cardboard boxes that she cut up and duct taped together. We are so excited about your site. It has already been very helpful, and I’m heading to Amazon to buy the animal book as soon as I leave here!
What a genius way to create and you did the armature and for a first project, this turned out marvelous.
Very cute, I like the way you painted the scales. A triumph for your first paper mache project. How did it hold up on the big day?
Thanks! We had rain on the actual day of trick-or-treating so it got a bit damp under the umbrella, but it dried out and has held up just fine!