Make Your Own Horror Mask Tutorials
The time-honored tradition of wearing masks for scary holidays like Halloween goes back thousands of years. Ancient Celtic festivals introduced Halloween costumes, masks, and the tradition of trick or treating on October 31st. In modern times, Halloween has been turned into a highly commercialized holiday with large amounts of candy and horror masks being sold in stores all over America. However, you can keep the authenticity of this truly scary holiday alive in your household by making your own horror masks.
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Choosing a Color and Character
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Choose your colors and character. When making a horror mask, darker colors like orange, black, or red are ideal to work with, as they can best represent scary elements like evil and blood. You can also use contrasting colors like neon green and purple.
When it comes to characters, you have a wide array of options to choose from, such as witches, vampires, monsters, and even creepy Halloween pumpkins with scary shaped eyes and teeth. Ghouls and goblins are also characters you can use to inspire your horror mask.
Materials for Your Mask
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The actual construction of your horror mask can prove to be the most entertaining part of the whole experience. You can use any materials you wish, including colored markers, construction paper, scrap cloth, empty milk jugs, spare buckets, and cardboard. Click the reference link below for more materials you can use.
Using paper maché is especially fun for young children because it is hands on and very messy. If you choose to use paper maché, don't be afraid to get your hands dirty. The process is time consuming, and usually involves careful painting afterwards to complete the look, but the end product will be well worth the time spent making it, and you can continue to use the mask for future parties and Halloween events. The sky is the limit when choosing what to use to construct your horror mask.
Example of a Ghoul Mask
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For a ghoulishly scary paper maché mask, use an ordinary empty milk jug, newspaper scraps, paint, and string. Mix together 1 cup flour and 5 cups of water to create the paper maché mixture. There are several different recipes for paper maché; you can use any recipe you like. Tear several long, vertical pieces of scrap newspaper. Make sure the pieces are about an inch wide for coverage. Next, cut your empty milk jug in a vertical direction from top to bottom. Cut eye shaped holes into the two indentions on either side of the handle, and discard the other side of the jug.
After cutting the jug, dip your newspaper pieces into your paper maché mixture and layer them over the jug. Make sure to scrape off the extra mixture before placing your newspaper pieces onto the jug. Once the jug face is completely covered, place it in the refrigerator and allow it to dry for one day. After the mask is dry, paint the base of the mask blood red, and paint large green circles around the eyes. Line the eye edges with yellow paint and speckle black dots around the entire mask for effect. Allow the paint to dry for several hours, then, using a hole puncher, punch two holes on opposite sides of the upper part of the mask and tie a string through each hole. Now you're able to wear the scary mask and use it for many Halloweens to come.
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