Rorschach Mask?

This is going to be a bit big, but here's a tutorial I made for myself an some friends a ways back if you want to make a somewhat simple mask.

First off you need a fabric for your mask, I find the best is a four way cotton knit, it comes sewn in a tube, and that actually helps alot with the method I use to make these masks. It also has that knit pattern, which works great if you're making a movie mask.


Make a pattern out of cardboard, make sure the pattern is big enough for the fabric to fit over the widest point of your head. You should also make it flat on one side so it will line up with the folded edge. If you want you can contour it to your head on the other sidefor an easier fit, you can also make it as long as you want because it can be trimmed later on, but the important thing is that it covers your head and neck.

EDIT- After dying and drying, the cotton shrinks some, I just realized this after comparing my pattern and my mask. I would recommend enlarging the pattern by about 15-25% overall if your planning on dying it.




Then lay the pattern along the flat folded edge of your 4-way knit.



Then trace the pattern with a fabric pencil, or if you don't have a fabric pencil, use a colored pencil, and for the love of God, don't use a marker. I repeat, DONT USE A MARKER! A marker will bleed through the fabric and quite possibly ruin your mask.




Trace and cut out the pattern TWICE, and you should end up with two pieces of fabric like this.



Then lay them on top of each other and make sure they line up, this is very important, because if they aren't lined up correctly then you might end up with missed seams and those a real pain in the tucus.


Then you can go ahead and put it through the sewing machine, I used a very tight seam because I find it holds better, but it deosn't really matter what you use. I used a beige/tan thread because I planned on making a movie style mask and the thread won't dye because almost all thread is made of nylon, but if you want a comic style mask you can use a white thread.



After you finish sewing the mask you can turn it right side out and try it on to see how it fits, don't worry about seeing out of it yet, I'll cover that in the last step.



OPTIONAL STEP: I dyed my mask with just regular liquid tan Rit dye, make your mask a little darker than you would like it beacuse the dye dries lighter.


After dying for a short period and running it under hot then cold water, you can go ahead and toss it in the dryer for a while.



After the mask is dry, you can kidnap your nearest sibling or if your a good brother, unlike me, you can just use a mannequin head. Then use sandpaper or a sanding block to make the fabric pill up to look more like the movie mask, these pictures really don't do justice to how good it comes out.


After pilling up that fabric you can easily make a Rorschach pattern by making a pattern in ms paint and mirroring it, that's what I did, but If you're too lazy to do that, then here's a pattern for you.



I make patterns by printing them out on regular computer paper and then backing them with masking tape, after cutting them out they end up very sturdy. Cut out a large piece of rounded cardboard and place it in between the outer layer and inner layer on the front of the mask, then stretch out the mask and pin it down on the cardboard to avoid distortion. You then pin the pattern down on top of the mask and you can either trace the pattern on and then fill it in with marker, or you can paint it on like I did. I just painted on straight black rit dye. This should be fine, the painted on dye then bleeds a little and creates that movie look. On my mask I tried helping along the bleeding with a dye water mixture, DON'T do that, just the dye should bleed fine by itself. But if it doesnt, after the dye has dried a bit you can take a small wet paint brush and paint outwards on the edge of the pattern and this will make the bleeding look better.
-Edit- I'd suggest watering down the rit dye some if you don't want it being to thick and heavy on the mask, which you can see on the final picture.



Make sure you leave the cardboard between the two layers or else the dye will bleed onto the second layer. After the dye has dried you turn the mask inside out and pull it over your head, then have a friend make a dot on each of your eyes. You can then cut out two eyeholes in the second layer that will be hidden by the black pattern.



You now have a pretty decent Rorschach mask!

The blotchiness of the black is just the light reflection off of the dried dye, if you want to avoid this, you can paint the dye on the mask inside out so it seeps through to the other side and still has that neat bleeding effect.


There is only one drawback to this method, the eyeholes have to be obscured or hidden by the black pattern. Otherwise this a pretty versatile method and can be used by anyone. I hope everyone enjoyed this tutorial and thanks to fifth for letting me post it.