Ainsil's Cosplays Things

So the mask cost me about $7 to make. It was only that cheap because I already had half the materials. Here’s what you will need: 

Materials Pictured:  - Worbla (11cm X 35 cm) - Craft Foam - Black Spray Paint - Wire Mesh Food Cover (you can get it at the dollar store for like $2) - Hot Glue - White and Black Paint - Mod Podge - Gesso - Painter’s tape - Black Elastic

☆ A trick with the worbla is that you can use scraps. Just melt them together between sheets of wax paper and use a rolling pin to flatten and smooth them out. ☆ Step 1: Make your pattern. Use paper first! Take the measurements of your face (plus some space for breathing room) and write it down. Measure the full width of what you to want it to look like. Here are the measurements of my mask.

Here is what your pattern should look like: 

Put your pattern together and hold it up to your face. Do you like it? If not, adjust your pattern until you are happy. Paper is easier to work with so it’s easy to adjust it. Remember to make your pattern a bit smaller (under half a centimetre smaller), because when you put the worbla over it, it will add some thickness! Step 2: Making the bottom half of the mask Once you are happy with the shape bottom half of your mask, trace your shape onto your craft foam and cut it out. Use a heat gun or a heat source (stove, hair dryer, iron) to shape the foam into a curved shape, big enough for your face. While you let that cool, trace your paper pattern onto your worbla (add an inch to ALL the sides so you can fold it over).  Using a heat gun or heat source (be careful!) mold the worbla to your foam base and wrap the excess worbla over the edges so it’s all covered. It should look like this: 

Step 3: Make the mesh wire half of the mask.

Using your paper pattern, tape the paper onto the mesh of your food cover and trace around it with a marker (Sharpie is best). It should look like this: 

Now cut this out. Glue together the two points at the top to make a curved surface. When you’re gluing this, hold the mesh together until the glue is completely cooled. This way it won’t spring apart when you let go.  ☆ You can use thread to bind the two sides together (like you’re sewing it together) for some added strength ☆ Your wire mesh form should now look like this:

Step 3: Make the trim on the mask.  You’re going to need a trim around the mask so the wire mesh doesn’t cut you. I used some scrap worbla that I melted together and rolled out into a long string. You will need about 52+ cm of edging all together.  Heat the worbla and press it into the wire mesh edge and then seal it with hot glue. Only work about 2 inches at a time and give plenty of time for the glue to dry. The process looks like this: 

When it’s done, it should look like this: (Make sure all the wire on the inside is covered with glue)

Step 4: Prime using Gesso

Cover the worbla with AT LEAST 5-6 coats of Gesso. This will prime the surface for painting and give a really smooth finish. Once you’ve painted on your last coat of gesso, you can sand the surface a bit to make it smoother. Make sure you can’t see any of the brown from the worbla showing. Before you sand, let the gesso fully set for about 4 hours, or leave it over night. 

Step 5: Painting Bring the top half of your mask outside and use the black spray paint and give it a few coats of that. Remember to spray paint outside and make sure you’ve covered your work surface (or floor) with either some painter’s cloth or news paper. You don’t want to get black paint everywhere.

Paint the bottom half of the mask with white paint. Use about 2-3 coats until it’s got a really nice and smooth finish. Once your paint is dry, use a pencil and make a small mark on the mask about every inch or so. Use some painter’s to make very thin lines around the marks vertically. Paint the inside of these lines black. Once dry, remove the painter’s tape. Everything should look like this: 

Step 6: Put it together

We’re almost done! This part requires A LOT of hot glue, so be prepared (like 6 sticks of it). Play around with your mask and decide how you want it to look (how much of the front is shown and hidden, etc) and use hot glue to glue it in place. There will be a bit of a space at the front between the black part and the white part so fill it in with glue. Also make sure all of the wire mesh part not shown is covered in glue on the inside. The finished mask should look like this: 

Step 7: Final touches

Put a protective layer or two on your mask to help keep it safe and to add some shine. 

The final step is to add two straps on the mask. Place the mask to your face and measure out some elastic. Cut two strips and glue or sew them to the mesh.

Ta-Da! You’re now done! Your beautiful mask should look like this now! Happy Cosplaying!