Made by Gail B
My 10 year old grand daughter (visiting from interstate) wanted a fox mask for Xmas
She had very specific requirements… as 10 year olds do. lol
It had to look like the one’s she had seen on the internet, but in greys and white.
I can’t thank you enough for the complete map (pattern & steps) to fulfill a little girls wish 🙂
Thank you so much for your kind words Jonni 🙂
Yes Mia was thrilled (and we were all relieved) with the end result of her mask… I sensed she was a tad concerned when I said that we could make a paper-mache fox mask. So many kids these days don’t have the awareness that my generation had of home made or hand crafted gifts… but thankfully her mum (my youngest) encouraged her with ‘trust the process’, while I had my fingers crossed the whole time lol
The long fur is Alpaca hair that I normally use for spinning… everything else is paper. While the Alpaca wasn’t pure white is was the lightest I had on hand, and would’ve looked awesome with the red fox mask. With more time I could’ve bleached the hair 🙂
I followed your step by step instructions for assembly and first layer of paper.
I then added a top coat of loose mache pulp for texture.
I used my dehydrator to quickly dry the mask in-between each step (wish we’d had that option back in the old days).
The first coat of paint (underpainting) was silver/white, mid grey and black with stark contrast between each colour area… the same layout as the red fox pattern pics 🙂
Then a light sanding with a course emery board to smooth the areas that needed it and we were at the top coat and finishing touches part.
With a round dry brush I stippled (dabbed) some watered down white and grey paint (from before) ‘lightly’ over the rough texture of the mask… putting the dark shade where the shadows would be, and the light shade where the raised areas are.
By not cleaning the brush in-between you get a lot of different tones (wet on wet) and because there isn’t much paint on the brush, over a course texture, it allows the underneath colour to show through a little to create a blurred or blended illusion for the eyes. Smoke and mirrors lol
When it was all dry I glued the long hair in place (under strict direction from the masks owner) and sprayed it with hairspray to finish off.
Sorry about being so wordy, but again ‘thank you so much for your awesome pattern and instructions’… it couldn’t have happened without you 🙂
Great explanation, Gail! Thanks for sharing your process. The end result proves that all the steps were worth it. 🙂
Your granddaughter’s fox mask looks great, Gail! She must have been really excited when she saw it. I love the way you’ve used the faux fur. The short fur looks real, too – how did you paint all those natural-looking changes in color on the face?