Spirited Away- 'No Face' mask suggestions.

[tingjunkie]

Hey Folks- My prop/costume fabrication has thus far been mainly limited to building lightsabers, so I am definitely in need of some help here. :confused

For a few years, I have been wanting to build a 'No Face' mask, from the great anime film Spirited Away, for a Halloween costume. I have no idea what materials are out there in order to sculpt something (somewhat) comfortable to wear. I think the biggest problem is that the entire front of the mask is smooth and slightly rounded. If it was 'face-shaped', then I could just modify a Jason/hockey mask, or a Mardi Gras mask with some Sculpy or something, then paint it. But alas...

Is there a type of stiff foam out there which could be carved, sanded, and painted? I really have no idea what materials could work, so your suggestions on how to do this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

Here are some images of the character and his mask...

 

[PhoenixVader]

Resin or Ceramic, I would say. You could make a positive out of Clay and make a Rubber mold to make resin copies, then paint it. This would probably be the easiest, but Ceramic would be closer to the spirit of it I think.

This is all I can come up with. Very cool idea, I would not mind getting one for a wall display.

thomas

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Another member asked for help on making a mask a few months ago :

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=56659

 

[Knightjar]

Given the size, you'll want to use a fairly lightweight material. Should be easy enough to do in papier mache. You could even continue it to make the shape under the hood.

 

[rollerboi]

There's a papercraft model of the No-Face mask on the web that can be printed, cut out, and glued together. There was another thread on the RPF here not too long ago about using fiberglass resin on paper models. Search for those two things, and you'll be off to a good start.

If you can't find it, let me know. I think I have it on my hard drive somewhere.

Edit: try www.tektonten.blogspot.com

 

[jackdoud]

I contemplated making this costume a few years ago. I planned on using a face shield for the head support and carving the face out of foam. To get the height I was planning on setting it up so I was looking out of the mouth. Never got around to it though.

 

[CadetTK2386]

I saw this picture online last year while researching the costume myself, and saved it, and have since forgotten where I saw it, but it is the single best No-Face mask/costume I have ever seen. I just like how he has the mouth under it, but when closed the mouth can be "hidden."

 

[tingjunkie]

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I searched and found the other thread, but I think that member was far more ambitious than I am. I'm just looking for a static mask... no animatronics necessary! :lol

Cadet, I agree... that is by far the best No Face costume I've seen. Doing a google image search will reveal a lot of horrible and funny ones however!

At this point I am thinking that carving the mask out of a sturdy foam may be a good way to go. Can anyone recommend a type (or better yet a particular brand) of stiff foam which can be carved and sanded?

 

[Bizarro Lois]

I did mine out of paper mache, and did my best to sand the rough spots. It wasn't perfect, but the photos looked ok. I'll try and find pics - that was back before I photographed everything and put it on my Photobucket account.

 

[FoxyChan81]

I'm looking at building my own No Face as well the method I'm thinking of using is forming the shape of the mask out of light wight wire and paper mache also for wight and finishing it off with a vinyl coating to smooth it out and give the same same sort of smooth finish the anime looks like

I'm stuck with how to mount it when I make it I'm thinking of maybe a helmet with some sort with a light weigh frame attached but I'm stuck any suggestions would be good