Hey everyone! I think this is my first official post on a piece ive made so bare with me if its boring or lacking in some areas.
I already know i couldve taken more photos but i was in such a rush i didnt have as much time to take great photos but heres what i got!
For Halloween i went to the Hollywood Bowl where Danny Elfman performed the Nightmare Before Christmas, and ive been wanting to make a Sandy Claws outfit for sometime so i finally got the excuse to do so!
I modeled the head off of the Jack Skellington mask that Disney uses for the character in their parks. I wanted the Jack face but didnt want to limit my ability to talk so i modeled mine off of theirs.
So for those of you who havent seen the Parks Jack Skellington heres what it looks like.
View attachment 551488View attachment 551489View attachment 551490
And heres how mine turned out.
So lets get started!
THINGS YOU WILL NEED:
Plaster bandages
Masking Tape
Packaging tape
styrofoam head form
old newspaper
scissors
petroleum jelly (vasaline)
hot glue gun
see-through black fabric (joanns, old pair of tights, whatever)
Thick pad of foam (Joanns)
The method i used for making this mask/helmet was plaster bandages. All it is is cheesecloth with plaster over it, you get it wet, put it on something, let it dry, and boom, youve got a hard piece of plaster strip that you can form to anything, they are awesome.
This was my first time making anything with them and im really pleased with how it turned out!
So first things first youve gotta get the shape of the piece youre making. To accomplish this you can go many routes, i went the cheap route and wadded up a much of paper on top of a styrofoam (i think thats how you spell it?) head form. But that doesnt mean you cant take your time and sculpt it out of clay! If you went that route it would be more expensive but would definitely be easier to work with.
Styrofoam head form, you can find online or in most craft stores (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joanns, etc)
And i just grabbed the newspaper and started taping it up there, until i built it up to the proper shape.
Something you'll have to be aware of if youre making this mask! Notice in the next photo how high Jacks head ends on your actual head. This is because if it was down any lower, it would be absolutely impossible to fit over your head.
And heres the part where i failed to take photos so ill go into detail about the next process.
now that the shape of the head had been formed, i needed to make his eyes. To get a good flat shape, i took an old cereal cardboard box, and traced out the oval size i wanted, Then all i did was place some double sided tape on the back, and stick it onto the front of the headform.
So heres a crudely painted image.
Obviously, space them out as you see fit, and remember when this is eventually on your head, youll want to be looking out of the bottom area of Jacks eyes.
Now with the cardboard area taped on for the eyes, i took pieces of napkin, rolled them up, and taped them down along the outside of the eye, creating the brow, and blending the eye sockets into the rest of the head.
You can use that method or get some paper sculpy (also at any craft store, paper mache clay is what it is basically) and build up the area around the eyes.
After you do that, then youre ready to start plaster stripping the hell out of this thing!
if you used masking tape like i did in the photos, youre going to want to go around the entire head with some packaging tape, (tape you would use to tape up a box), or any tape that has an outside plastic surface. This is going to help smooth down some of the lumps created by the paper and masking tape, and also help get the plaster off of the sculpt once its dried.
After youve wrapped the entire head with packaging tape, youre gonna have to get your hands sticky.
In order for the plaster to not stick to your sculpt once its dried, you have to coat the area you are working on with petroleum jelly (vasaline)
It feels horribly disgusting but oh well.
Make SURE you dont miss any spots because if the plaster sticks to your sculpt youll have to start all over again, so dont go cheap with the petroleum jelly, make sure the sculpt is coated!
Now, its impossible to make this mask in one piece, so youre going to make the front half of the mask first, then the second half seperately, then attach them together when they are both done.
To do this, grab a expo marker, and draw a line going from under the nose and along the cheeks, (remember your chin is showing so you arent doing plaster anywhere past the cheeks on the headform) and bring the line up to the top middle area of the head. Coat everything on the front of the face with petroleum jelly, and start laying your plaster strips down.
Make sure that the line covers up where the headforms ears are. The front part of the mask is the biggest, the back half is a significantly smaller piece. the front half comes down far enough to cover my ears. You dont want your ears sticking out that would look weird. So where the styrofoam headforms ears are, make sure when the plaster is laid down, the headforms ears are covered.
For those of you who dont have experience with plaster strips, all you do is cut the strip to the size you need, dip it in warm water, and smooth it down where you want it. Just remember to cut the strip to the right size depending on what area youre working on. When working around anywhere with detail(aroud the eyes mainly) cut smaller strips and lay them down to make sure the eye sockets are gotten in detail. Otherwise, if its a big flat area, go ahead and use bigger strips of plaster bandages.
Once youve covered the entire front part of the face with plaster bandanges, do it again! Youre going to want to do several coats to make sure the plaster is thick enough, for the mask i made, i used about a roll and a half of plaster bandages over the whole thing, my mask is about a half an inch thick.
once thats done, let it dry, this normally takes 24 hours to fully dry. VERY IMPORTANT. if the plaster still feels wet, or even if it still feels cold, let it sit some more, that means its still not dry, and trying to pull it off when it isnt is a big no no.
So once its dry, hooray! you have the front half of your mask!
Notice the chin is open for your chin, and how i only went half way, again, this mask is done in pieces!
So once its dry, you can carefully pull the front part off of the sculpt.
now, since that part is now dry, i recommend holding it up to the light, if you see light shining or coming through, put some extra plaster strips over that area, it means its much too thin.
And here i go, not taking pictures again. But thats okay! Because to make the second half of the mask, its all the same process as making the first half.
Remember that line you drew to seperate the front from back of the head? Go ahead and coat the back half of the sculpt behind that line for the back of the mask.
NOW. its important you dont lay plaster down too far down on the head, as i said before, you wont be able to fit your head inside jacks head if you put it too far down.
A good way of knowing where to end the back of Jacks head is go from the top of your ears, and drag your fingers from that height to the back of your head. On your skull, you should feel a knob or bump (called the occipital lobe, but were not learning anatomy so thats not important.) Now, move up about an inch and a half,this is roughly the area you want Jacks head to end at.
Heres a picture of the mask completed, so you can see how high up the back of his head is on mine.
NOTICE THOUGH that even though the back of the head is high, the front half comes down far enough to cover my ears.
Now you wait for the back half to dry.
And when its ready, peel that part off and boom, youve got the two halves ready to go.
Now before you go attaching the two pieces, make sure that the mask is going to fit around your head. To do this, i just held the back piece to the front piece together and tried fitting it on.
If it doesnt seem like its going to make it, you probably built the back half of the mask down too far.
But not to worry! The great thing about plaster strips is they make a hard enough surface, but they are very easy to cut through when dry.
So i just sawed off the bottom part of the back half until it was big enough to fit properly.
Once youve figured the sizing out, its time to attach the front to the back!
A very easy process. All it requires is more plaster bandages! yay!
What i did was laid the front half and the back half of the mask upside-down, and started putting plaster strips on the inside of the mask across the seam where they connect. youre going to want to do alot of coats of this as to make sure your mask is strong enough to hold together the two pieces.
So go over the inside along the seam several times, as well as the outside.
Once thats dry, youve got the full head done! now comes the little details.
Like i said, plaster strips are easy to work with after they dry. SO, put the mask on your head, and hold it on so that its lined up properly. For it to properly sit on your head, you want the front bottom part of the mask to be as close to your face as possible.
(refer to the photo at the top of the park jack skellington, notice how the bottom of the mask is pressed up against his face, so it blends into his skin.)
This part is good if you have help, but its possible to do yourself. With the mask sitting on your head and pressed up to your face properly, find where your eyes are, and make a little cross with a pencil over them. Youre going to be drilling these areas out. now take it off your head, and draw a basic eye shape around the cross and get your drill!
You can either use a drill or a dremel tool, i used a dremel, as i found it easier to control than a drill.
Now carefully dremel or drill out the eye shape.
Now that the eyes have been drilled out, its time for even more plaster strips.
Not alot though! Just cut some small strips out and smooth out the area you just drilled over, as youll notice it looks ripped up. so place plaster strips going from the outside of the mask, through the eyehole, into the inside of the mask to make it less ragged.
And finally, its time to sand and paint this guy!
Sand down the mask until its a smoothness you like. As you'll notice, sometimes it starts to reveal the cheese cloth more than a smooth surface.
To fix that, i got some filler putty (home depot, lowes, and hardware store) and did a very thin coat on the outside of the whole mask.
Filler putty is basically a putty form of plaster, and you can smooth it out very thin so it covers up the cheese cloth. I did a very thin coat around the whole mask, let it dry, and sanded that down until it was all smooth.
Now you paint! I just grabbed a glossy white spray paint, and a protective seal spray to go over that.
for the black in the eyes and for the mouth, i used basic acrylic paint, and once it dried did the protective coat over it.
Heres the paint job i did, but feel free to get as detailed, or do it as you wish! I just wanted to exaggerate the features a little bit more, so i mixed some white and black and did some shadowing around the eye sockets.
ALMOST DONE!
All we have left to do is cover up the eye holes, and to glue some foam on the inside of the mask, so it fits to your head properly.
The eye holes are simple, cut out some black see through fabric (joanns or an old pair of tights will work) And glue it down on the front of the mask.
Now for the inside. Remember how its supposed to fit?
the bottom of the mask should be pressed up against your upper lip, so it blends in. Now, just glue in the foam until you get a proper fit to your face!
I think thats all ive got for you guys! if you have any questions feel free to post to the thread or message me! Im considering taking comissions as well if anyone doesnt want to do the work (Not sure if im allowed to post that here so i apologize if i shouldnt have) so if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! Good luck! The finished product is great!
I already know i couldve taken more photos but i was in such a rush i didnt have as much time to take great photos but heres what i got!
For Halloween i went to the Hollywood Bowl where Danny Elfman performed the Nightmare Before Christmas, and ive been wanting to make a Sandy Claws outfit for sometime so i finally got the excuse to do so!
I modeled the head off of the Jack Skellington mask that Disney uses for the character in their parks. I wanted the Jack face but didnt want to limit my ability to talk so i modeled mine off of theirs.
So for those of you who havent seen the Parks Jack Skellington heres what it looks like.
View attachment 551488View attachment 551489View attachment 551490
And heres how mine turned out.
So lets get started!
THINGS YOU WILL NEED:
Plaster bandages
Masking Tape
Packaging tape
styrofoam head form
old newspaper
scissors
petroleum jelly (vasaline)
hot glue gun
see-through black fabric (joanns, old pair of tights, whatever)
Thick pad of foam (Joanns)
The method i used for making this mask/helmet was plaster bandages. All it is is cheesecloth with plaster over it, you get it wet, put it on something, let it dry, and boom, youve got a hard piece of plaster strip that you can form to anything, they are awesome.
This was my first time making anything with them and im really pleased with how it turned out!
So first things first youve gotta get the shape of the piece youre making. To accomplish this you can go many routes, i went the cheap route and wadded up a much of paper on top of a styrofoam (i think thats how you spell it?) head form. But that doesnt mean you cant take your time and sculpt it out of clay! If you went that route it would be more expensive but would definitely be easier to work with.
Styrofoam head form, you can find online or in most craft stores (Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Joanns, etc)
And i just grabbed the newspaper and started taping it up there, until i built it up to the proper shape.
Something you'll have to be aware of if youre making this mask! Notice in the next photo how high Jacks head ends on your actual head. This is because if it was down any lower, it would be absolutely impossible to fit over your head.
And heres the part where i failed to take photos so ill go into detail about the next process.
now that the shape of the head had been formed, i needed to make his eyes. To get a good flat shape, i took an old cereal cardboard box, and traced out the oval size i wanted, Then all i did was place some double sided tape on the back, and stick it onto the front of the headform.
So heres a crudely painted image.
Obviously, space them out as you see fit, and remember when this is eventually on your head, youll want to be looking out of the bottom area of Jacks eyes.
Now with the cardboard area taped on for the eyes, i took pieces of napkin, rolled them up, and taped them down along the outside of the eye, creating the brow, and blending the eye sockets into the rest of the head.
You can use that method or get some paper sculpy (also at any craft store, paper mache clay is what it is basically) and build up the area around the eyes.
After you do that, then youre ready to start plaster stripping the hell out of this thing!
if you used masking tape like i did in the photos, youre going to want to go around the entire head with some packaging tape, (tape you would use to tape up a box), or any tape that has an outside plastic surface. This is going to help smooth down some of the lumps created by the paper and masking tape, and also help get the plaster off of the sculpt once its dried.
After youve wrapped the entire head with packaging tape, youre gonna have to get your hands sticky.
In order for the plaster to not stick to your sculpt once its dried, you have to coat the area you are working on with petroleum jelly (vasaline)
It feels horribly disgusting but oh well.
Make SURE you dont miss any spots because if the plaster sticks to your sculpt youll have to start all over again, so dont go cheap with the petroleum jelly, make sure the sculpt is coated!
Now, its impossible to make this mask in one piece, so youre going to make the front half of the mask first, then the second half seperately, then attach them together when they are both done.
To do this, grab a expo marker, and draw a line going from under the nose and along the cheeks, (remember your chin is showing so you arent doing plaster anywhere past the cheeks on the headform) and bring the line up to the top middle area of the head. Coat everything on the front of the face with petroleum jelly, and start laying your plaster strips down.
Make sure that the line covers up where the headforms ears are. The front part of the mask is the biggest, the back half is a significantly smaller piece. the front half comes down far enough to cover my ears. You dont want your ears sticking out that would look weird. So where the styrofoam headforms ears are, make sure when the plaster is laid down, the headforms ears are covered.
For those of you who dont have experience with plaster strips, all you do is cut the strip to the size you need, dip it in warm water, and smooth it down where you want it. Just remember to cut the strip to the right size depending on what area youre working on. When working around anywhere with detail(aroud the eyes mainly) cut smaller strips and lay them down to make sure the eye sockets are gotten in detail. Otherwise, if its a big flat area, go ahead and use bigger strips of plaster bandages.
Once youve covered the entire front part of the face with plaster bandanges, do it again! Youre going to want to do several coats to make sure the plaster is thick enough, for the mask i made, i used about a roll and a half of plaster bandages over the whole thing, my mask is about a half an inch thick.
once thats done, let it dry, this normally takes 24 hours to fully dry. VERY IMPORTANT. if the plaster still feels wet, or even if it still feels cold, let it sit some more, that means its still not dry, and trying to pull it off when it isnt is a big no no.
So once its dry, hooray! you have the front half of your mask!
Notice the chin is open for your chin, and how i only went half way, again, this mask is done in pieces!
So once its dry, you can carefully pull the front part off of the sculpt.
now, since that part is now dry, i recommend holding it up to the light, if you see light shining or coming through, put some extra plaster strips over that area, it means its much too thin.
And here i go, not taking pictures again. But thats okay! Because to make the second half of the mask, its all the same process as making the first half.
Remember that line you drew to seperate the front from back of the head? Go ahead and coat the back half of the sculpt behind that line for the back of the mask.
NOW. its important you dont lay plaster down too far down on the head, as i said before, you wont be able to fit your head inside jacks head if you put it too far down.
A good way of knowing where to end the back of Jacks head is go from the top of your ears, and drag your fingers from that height to the back of your head. On your skull, you should feel a knob or bump (called the occipital lobe, but were not learning anatomy so thats not important.) Now, move up about an inch and a half,this is roughly the area you want Jacks head to end at.
Heres a picture of the mask completed, so you can see how high up the back of his head is on mine.
NOTICE THOUGH that even though the back of the head is high, the front half comes down far enough to cover my ears.
Now you wait for the back half to dry.
And when its ready, peel that part off and boom, youve got the two halves ready to go.
Now before you go attaching the two pieces, make sure that the mask is going to fit around your head. To do this, i just held the back piece to the front piece together and tried fitting it on.
If it doesnt seem like its going to make it, you probably built the back half of the mask down too far.
But not to worry! The great thing about plaster strips is they make a hard enough surface, but they are very easy to cut through when dry.
So i just sawed off the bottom part of the back half until it was big enough to fit properly.
Once youve figured the sizing out, its time to attach the front to the back!
A very easy process. All it requires is more plaster bandages! yay!
What i did was laid the front half and the back half of the mask upside-down, and started putting plaster strips on the inside of the mask across the seam where they connect. youre going to want to do alot of coats of this as to make sure your mask is strong enough to hold together the two pieces.
So go over the inside along the seam several times, as well as the outside.
Once thats dry, youve got the full head done! now comes the little details.
Like i said, plaster strips are easy to work with after they dry. SO, put the mask on your head, and hold it on so that its lined up properly. For it to properly sit on your head, you want the front bottom part of the mask to be as close to your face as possible.
(refer to the photo at the top of the park jack skellington, notice how the bottom of the mask is pressed up against his face, so it blends into his skin.)
This part is good if you have help, but its possible to do yourself. With the mask sitting on your head and pressed up to your face properly, find where your eyes are, and make a little cross with a pencil over them. Youre going to be drilling these areas out. now take it off your head, and draw a basic eye shape around the cross and get your drill!
You can either use a drill or a dremel tool, i used a dremel, as i found it easier to control than a drill.
Now carefully dremel or drill out the eye shape.
Now that the eyes have been drilled out, its time for even more plaster strips.
Not alot though! Just cut some small strips out and smooth out the area you just drilled over, as youll notice it looks ripped up. so place plaster strips going from the outside of the mask, through the eyehole, into the inside of the mask to make it less ragged.
And finally, its time to sand and paint this guy!
Sand down the mask until its a smoothness you like. As you'll notice, sometimes it starts to reveal the cheese cloth more than a smooth surface.
To fix that, i got some filler putty (home depot, lowes, and hardware store) and did a very thin coat on the outside of the whole mask.
Filler putty is basically a putty form of plaster, and you can smooth it out very thin so it covers up the cheese cloth. I did a very thin coat around the whole mask, let it dry, and sanded that down until it was all smooth.
Now you paint! I just grabbed a glossy white spray paint, and a protective seal spray to go over that.
for the black in the eyes and for the mouth, i used basic acrylic paint, and once it dried did the protective coat over it.
Heres the paint job i did, but feel free to get as detailed, or do it as you wish! I just wanted to exaggerate the features a little bit more, so i mixed some white and black and did some shadowing around the eye sockets.
ALMOST DONE!
All we have left to do is cover up the eye holes, and to glue some foam on the inside of the mask, so it fits to your head properly.
The eye holes are simple, cut out some black see through fabric (joanns or an old pair of tights will work) And glue it down on the front of the mask.
Now for the inside. Remember how its supposed to fit?
the bottom of the mask should be pressed up against your upper lip, so it blends in. Now, just glue in the foam until you get a proper fit to your face!
I think thats all ive got for you guys! if you have any questions feel free to post to the thread or message me! Im considering taking comissions as well if anyone doesnt want to do the work (Not sure if im allowed to post that here so i apologize if i shouldnt have) so if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! Good luck! The finished product is great!
