How to Make Pirate Mardi Gras Masks

Mardi Gras masks are colorful and festive.

Mardi Gras festivals and celebrations date back to the 13th century. Masks have have traditionally played a large role in the celebration. Mardi Gras masks are typically elaborate and decorative, utilizing a variety of colors and sparkle to catch the eye of others participating in the festivities. A Mardi Gras pirate mask can be easily created with many items already in your home.

Things You'll Need

• Paper plate
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Gold and black paint
• Paint brush
• Glue
• Hole punch
• Ribbons
• Feathers
• Construction paper
• Fake flower
• Gold glitter

Instructions

1. Hold a paper plate over your face and mark where your eyes and nose hit with a pencil.

2. Cut out almond shaped slits where your eyes hit on the plate. Trim away the mask from below your left cheekbone, over your nose marking and down over your right cheekbone. Only the top half of your face will be covered by the mask.

3. Draw a downward curved line that starts at the temples and dips down between the eyes on the mask and back up to the other temple, dividing the mask in half above the eyes. The line will form a semi-circle across the mask.

4. Paint the area below the line gold, from the lower forehead through the nose and cheeks. Paint the area above the curved line black.

5. Cut a strip of black construction paper in the shape of a wide, stretched "S," approximately three inches wide and 12 inches long. This will form a pirate's hat for the mask.

6. Fold a flap, approximately a quarter inch wide, over along the wide side of the "S" shape. The flap allows for the construction paper to protrude out, giving the mask a three-dimensional effect. Hold the "S" shape horizontally and glue the folded flap across the black forehead area of the mask and down the side of the mask to form a side-swept pirate hat.

7. Add decorative elements to the hat portion of the mask, such as a gold glitter trim or a skull and cross bones outlined in gold glitter.

8. Glue feathers to the outside of the hat and to the bottom end of it.

9. Adhere a fake flower or crumpled, glittery ribbon to the side of the hat above the ear.

10. Punch a hole in either side of the mask once it has dried completely and attach a string or rubber band to secure around the back of your head and keep the mask in place.

References

• Mardi Gras Costumes Inc: Mardi Gras Masks
• Venetian Masks Shop: History