Halloween Mask

We were at 5 Below and they had these plastic half skull masks that were kind of lame. So, what did we do? Buy a few of them and bring them home to completely change them for the better! If you watch the video (at the bottom) we've made several different masks. This instructable will walk you through making Tim's mask, the one with the horns and long fangs.

I will do my best to list all our supplies, but feel free to change things up as you see fit for your mask design.

sand paper

markers

contact cement (glue for the foam)

super glue

foam clay

foam (we used the floor mats from harbor freight)

excato knife

Paint

paint brushes

rags

sponge brushes

plasti dip (can get this at any hardware store. Ours came in a spray can)

face mask to protect from the plasti dip smell

gloves

foam sheets (this came in a pack from walmart)

A. He didn't have the Guts!!

Step 1. Found these inexpensive masks from 5 below. You could use anything you can find, as long as it is plastic and not decorated.

Step 2.We had some sharp plastic edges on our mask. Took some sand paper (or even a nail file would work) and filed down the edges. Just a quick light sand to smooth out any sharp edges will do.

A. Bone-Appetit!

Step 3. Cut out the horns. We used the foam floor mats for this. Draw the size horns you want and cut it out with the excato knife. Cut four more the same size. Layer them and the top and bottom most layers you want to cut a small bevel on each side. This helps when sanding down the foam to get a round horn.

Step 4. Use contact cement (or super glue) to hold the foam layers together. Repeat for the other side.

Step 5. For the middle horn, do pretty much the same thing on a smaller scale. Make three small horns and bevel each side then glue together.

Step 6. Sand the horns. We used a belt sander to do so, but you can use sand paper and achieve the same look, it will take just a bit longer. We rounded out the horns. Be careful if you use a belt sander or palm sander, the foam slips easily out of your hands. Please wear protective gear as well.

Step 7. Use the foam sheets to add a cuff to the one horn by cutting a wide strip, putting glue on that and wrapping it around the horn.

Step 8. Use the foam sheets to add a second cuff on the other horn. Once that is done, we used thinner strips of foam and glued them around the second cuff. This made it look like he had jewelry around that horn.

Step 9. Glue the horns to the masks. Hold them in place for as long as possible while the glue drys.

Step 10. Once the glue is completely dry and the foam stays in place: Foam clay. Use this to sculpt around the middle horn, side horns. This makes them look part of the mask and not just sitting on top of the mask. Tip for the foam clay, you can smooth things out with a little water on your fingers.

Step 11. More foam clay. We continued to use the foam clay to sculpt around the eyes and cheeks. We then used the foam clay to sculpt a new nose, and long sharp teeth. Make sure to add in any scratches, marks, patterns and scuffs as possible. This isn't supposed to look perfect. Make it look beat up and really scratched up. Same for the horns too.

Step 12. If you need, you can add some extra foam or foam clay inside the mask for comfort.

Step 13. Let the foam clay dry.

A. He didn't have the stomach for it!

Step 14. Spray the mask, skipping the strap, with plasti dip. We used a dark gray plasti dip, this is because the dark color will help capture the details when we paint. This firms up the foam and mask. This also covers the whole thing in plastic which makes it easier to paint and it will last longer. Let dry.

Step 15. Paint! With that dark gray plasti dip, we stipple painted the mask to keep as much detail as possible. We painted the horns tan/bone, one cuff red, the other brown and gold. The face was a white and the teeth were bone/tan. We added a little bit of red paint around the base of the horns and along the face of the mask. We also added some black paint around the cuffs to show more 3D detail.

Now it's time to figure out what clothes to wear with your new creepy mask! :D