Made by Amanda Carr
Our middle school decided to do the Lion King Jr. for our spring musical. I used a number of your amazing mask patterns to create the animals for this production. I got so many compliments on how professional they all looked! I gave you all the credit for your amazing patterns. Thank you so much Jonni!
How I made the 4 zebra headpieces:
I printed the Zebra Headdress Mask Pattern out on cardstock to keep them as light and flexible as possible. I did scale 2 of them up a bit (105-110%) to give some size variation. I used brown packing paper and a mixture of 2/3 white school glue to 1/3 water for the paper mache. I applied the glue solution to the ripped squares of brown packing paper using a paint brush.
Once dry, I looked at the zebra images on this site (so helpful!) and pictures of real zebras for inspiration. I painted the whole zebra white and then drew the lines on with pencil before painting them black with small brushes. Each zebra had a different pattern. I highly recommend using clear nail polish over the black of the eyes to add a wet, lifelike shine.
The zebra costume:
The headpiece was secured by stapling in 1/4″ white elastic straps from ear to ear under the chin (similar to a bike helmet with the V around the ear). The zebra shirt was a white T-shirt with black triangles drawn on with sharpie. (Black duct tape might have also worked if we didn’t have so many shows.) I made a belt out of zebra printed fabric (instead of giving them tails).
Here are some images of the completed zebras. They made a dazzling zeal of zebras for our show!
