amazing work ! what material is it made of
Materials: plastic mask form from Blick, crayola modeling clay, saran wrap, paper mache base (newspaper and mod podge), paper clay, sandpaper, x-acto, gesso
Let me start by saying I have never worked with making props, masks, etc. I majored in Fine Arts, and aside from a basic ceramics class I have never really worked on modeling figures in 3D. I did some preliminary research on cosplay mask making, mostly looking at how people made their own Anbu masks.
So I started with a plastic mask form from Blick and built it up with the Crayola modeling clay to achieve the Court of Owls shape that I wanted. I heavily researched the plastic SDCC masks from various angles, and tried to keep my measurements within the same ratios of that original mask. After that I let it dry a few days so I could work on it without damaging the base underneath.
Once it was dry enough to actually work with, I wanted to make a paper mache “skeleton” since I wanted these masks to be sturdy and didn’t feel like the paper clay alone would be able to handle an entire 4 days at NYCC. I realized that the paper mache would probably bind to the clay base, so before I set to it, I covered it with saran wrap (sticking was still an issue, and pulling it off was still a really delicate procedure which required some cutting and taping back together). I did about 3 layers of paper mache (drying between each layer, and then overnight).
Then came the paper clay which is kind of funky to work with, but the result was really great so I’m glad I used it. I spent another few hours sculpting it to make sure it was JUST SO. I feel like the paper clay is rather unforgiving, but you can sand it, which is what I had to do -- which was a few hours of work sanding in circular motion with a fine grain sandpaper by hand. After sanding to perfection and cleaning up my edges I went ahead and laid on a few layers of good gesso that I use for my canvases, leaving it white and smooth. The elastic of the mask was a last minute scramble, and is actually the elastic from the disposable face masks I used while sanding.
I can certainly go into a lot more detail on the entire process if anyone is interested!
