Goblet of Fire Death Eater Mask

Yesterday when I made my first Death Eater mask, I had already decided that I was going to make two. And seeing as how in between GoF and OotP the style of the masks changed, I decided to make one of each.

In OotP the masks look more metallic and have swirls and other designs on them, whereas in GoF when they're all in the graveyard, they all have these half skull masks.

*This requires you to cut the mask, so if you don't think you'll like it, go back to the other instructable and do that one instead. https://www.instructables.com/id/Death-Eater-Mask/

You will need...

- White Mask ($4.99)
- Elastic Strips ($1.99)
- X-Acto Knife (Tool I already had)
- Paint Brushes (Already had)
- Brown Paint (Already had)
- Black Paint (Already had)
- Sealer (Already had)
- Pencil (Already had)
- Rag or something else to wipe spraypaint

You could just go ahead and start chopping into your mask, but keep in mind, you can always take more off, you can't add on. So if it turns out that you don't like what you've cut, there's no going backwards.

I used a pencil to mark where I wanted to cut, and found out that Empire No. 2 worked the best, well the eraser did anyway (it didn't smudge).

I used a picture of a GoF Death Eater mask as a guide, because I've never drawn a skull or skeleton, so I had no idea how to go about this.

Cut it. Go slow though, the masks that I bought are pretty sturdy, but still easy to cut...mostly. I did slip a little, luckily no blood was shed (this time), so just take your time. Make sure that your movements are steady and deliberate, we don't want anyone getting hurt.

When the lower half is separated from the top, clean up the edges so that you aren't scratching up your face when you wear it. I also took off the corners so that I wouldn't be poked in the cheek area when I talk.

And you can go ahead and discard the lower half, or put it on and pretend to be Hannibal Lector like I did. :)

Anyway, moving on...

At this point you should try it on. When I did I found that without the lower half it fit better, except that the eyes felt too narrow and were pressing on my eyelids.

So I marked what would have been the eye sockets (it is a skull after all), and enlarged the eyes.

I wadded up some bathroom tissue and sprayed it with my spray paint, then rubbed it on and got a pretty cool old bone color.

After that, I decided that I was just going to treat this like a 2D drawing and use shading to give the impression that there was depth...

That didn't work out so well.

What I ended up doing was finishing what I'd started, then I went over it with a light misting of brown. After that, I used my little propane torch with it's heat gun add-on and softened up the mask a little. I used a little metal tool that I formed and pressed into the soft spots to kind of create the hills and valleys. Again, it didn't turn out exactly how I'd wanted it to. But it still fit, so onward!

If you haven't already, cut out TWO holes, one on either side (by the eyes). The only reason that I'm doing two to start is because my jaw will be free from the mask, so when I talk it won't pull down on me. If it doesn't fit right, I'll add another hole and another strap.

Tape off any holes, and spray on your sealer to keep all your paint in place.

Measure your head, or have a friend do it, and that is the measurement that you will use to cut your straps to keep this mask on your face. I know from the last one that from behind one eye to the other on my head is about 16.5", so that's where I'll cut.

Once everything is dry, sew the two ends of your elastic strip onto each side of your mask by looping a little bit through, and sewing it to itself.

Well, I am. Mine only needed the one strap, and it feels just fine. It doesn't look like I'd wanted, but it's a give and take thing I think. The other one looks good, but it's a little claustrophobic if left on too long. This one doesn't look like I wanted, but it's comfortable.

I hope that yours came out looking like you'd hoped, if not, Halloween is once a year, and it's dark anyway, lol.

However it came out, I hope that it was fun.