APR
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How to make large, lightweight masks for kids (and adults, too!)

Part II 

By Susan Frost 

Susan Frost has been involved in theater, music, and fine arts since childhood.  She has written several plays, directed, produced, acted, stage managed, created costumes, designed and built sets, created and managed properties, and she loves making masks. 

Last week, I showed you how to make the base for a large, lightweight mask.  Now comes the creative, fun part — turning the base into any sort of creature!

Like the base, all the material needed is readily available and very inexpensive.  Glue or tape foam board or poster board onto the base to make whatever shape you are looking for.  Foam board has more strength and holding power, but poster board is flexible and allows for curves or folds.  Both are super lightweight, which is very important when building large masks for kids.  I have made many different masks using these materials.  Here are some examples:

A lion:

The two sides are made from foam board and the front and top are made from poster board.  The back is just the corrugated cardboard base.  Felt works great for hair on large masks.  It holds its shape while still being lightweight.  The child was able to see out through the underside of the chin (which was open) and through the mouth well enough that she could run.

A lumpadoozel:

I also made a fantasy creature called a “lumpadoozle.”  I wanted this mask to be very large and to stick out in front, so I laid part of a yardstick across the top of the base.  (Hardware stores have cheap wooden yardsticks that can be cut to size.) 

I wanted a rounded shape for the lumpadoozle’s head, so I used poster board.  I used flexible plastic tubing underneath it to give it more strength and to help it keep its shape.  (I’ve used different kinds of tubing for various projects — some are stiffer than others.)  The tubing comes from the hardware store and looks like this:

I wanted the lumpadoozle to have pop-out eyes.  After my family finished some ice cream, I realized the container was the perfect shape for the eyes.  (This meant we had to buy more ice cream for the second eye — the things we do for art!)  I traced the shape of the upside down container and drew that on the head, sort of like this:

Then I cut “tabs” out from the center, so they could bend up inside the container.

And, of course, I duct-taped them to the inside of the container to attach it.

I also wanted to give the lumpadoozle a moveable jaw.  This was not hard to do.  I made the jaw from two pieces of foam board for the sides, and poster board for the curve around the front.  I attached it to either side of the base with plastic nuts and bolts.

First, I made washers out of circles cut from a plastic milk jug and duct-taped them on so the cardboard or foam board wouldn’t tear as the jaw rotated on the nut.  This is an example of a milk jug washer, and how it was duct taped onto the base (with white duct tape): 

It worked very well.  The child moved the jaw with her hand.  And she could easily see out of the mouth.  I used foam pipe insulation to make the fat lips!

Here’s another example:

I made a giraffe.  I needed to build upward from the base to form the neck high over the child’s head, so I used three dowels.  Two ran vertically along the sides of the front.  They also extended down below the base to the child’s waist to give her something to hold onto, and to add stability to the neck: 

Of course I used a whole lot of duct tape to attach them!  One dowel ran up the back.  Using layers of cardboard, I built up the spot where the end of the dowel rested at the bottom of the back of the base, so that the dowel would lean toward the front.

Then I wrapped the dowels with flexible plastic tubing to give the neck a roundness.  Again, I used a lot of duct tape (not pictured here).

I covered the neck with very lightweight cotton fabric and cut eyeholes in it so the actor could see.  I made the head out of poster board and covered it with the same fabric.

This was the end result:

I have used all sorts of materials to make masks from this basic cardboard base.  Walk around a hardware store sometime and you’ll get a ton of ideas!  They have great stuff for mask-making!

Making large, lightweight masks is so much fun!  Once you form the cardboard base, let your imagination run wild.  You may make them as simple or as elaborate as you want, or as time allows.  Happy creating!