Paper Mache Masks

Another activity we did over the weekend was paper mache masks.

For the YW activity we have this week we are doing the masks and it was my job to research it and figure out how to make them. So I spent some time on YouTube. With my niece an nephew this past weekend I wanted to try out mask making and see how it went. I also wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing so I could make any adjustments if I needed too. After a number of videos and recipes I actually decided I wanted to try plaster bandages, unfortunately we could not find them at ANY of the craft stores we checked.

What you will need:
We went with 2 cups flour and 1 1/2 cups water with about 1 tsp of salt for the plaster ~ just mix it all together. We then tour a bunch of strips ~ about 1x4 ~ from newspaper. We also got some white printer paper so the last layer would be white and it would be easier to paint.

How you do it:
To start you need to COVER you face with petroleum jelly. This will make it easier to get the mask off your face and keep your hair from getting stuck in the plaster. Now you need to dip the paper strips in the plaster and make sure to get both sides. I would then run my fingers down both sides to make sure and get the excess off. If too much is left on it will take a lot longer to dry. Then we let it dry ~ we helped it dry faster by using a blow dryer and holding the button for cool air. Then you repeat and add another layer. All the things I found said to do 4-5 layers but we were working with a 4 and 8 year old so we kept it to 3. For the third layer we did the white printer paper. After it had a chance to dry and stiffen up enough, we took the masks off and let them dry over night. In the morning we trimmed them to how the kids wanted them and after church we painted them.

Because these masks were not too thick I was able to use a hole punch and put a hole on both sides by the ears where we tied on some ribbon. The pieces were long enough to pull to the back of the head and tie the mask on.

The making off.
It was my nieces idea to pose like that under the bed.

Designing!!

Spider Man and Batman in one!

Ta Da!!!

My nephew loves Spider Man but the whole sticker would not fit on
so he put the leg and that is what you see in the middle of his forehead.

They absolutely loved them, which made me happy. They could not wait until their mom came to pick them up so they could show off their masks.