Husky Dog Mask, Tail, and Paws

If you want to be a dog for Halloween but don’t want to buy an expensive fur suit and mask or use a flimsy paper printout for your mask, this is the place for you! I really loved creating this husky costume and hope you do too. It is really satisfying when it all comes together. I hope you have a great time making this costume! believe me, it’ll be fun!!! This is a complicated project to do, so get ready!!!

(Prepare for many hot glue gun burns; I kept a cup of ice nearby my workplace just in case)

For this husky costume, you will need:

1. White faux fur
2. Black faux fur
3. White felt
4. Carabiner clip
5. Scissors and/or utility knife
6. Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
7. Access to an outlet
8. White gloves
9. Cardboard
10. Tinfoil
11. Time!!!

For step one, you will need to use your utility knife or scissors to cut a gaming controller shape out of cardboard. It should cover your face from the nose up. Then cut a little slit on the top as seen in the pictures.

For your mask’s muzzle, or nose, you should cut a strip of cardboard from easily bendable cardboard that fits into the curve of the game controller shape. Then cut out a smaller piece that will go on top of the bigger one.

To do step three, you should plug in your hot glue gun and shove a hot glue stick into the your glue gun. You will need to glue the bigger cardboard piece from step two into the curve from the game controller from step one. Once it is dry, hot glue the smaller piece (step two) on top of the big piece so that half of it is hanging off. If you would like, cut off the edges of the smaller piece. This is your nose. I went back and trimmed mine a little bit so it was smaller.

The mask base should be looking kind of like an upside down heart with a curved balcony. If you want, you can trim the edges of the game controller shape like I did. After that, it’s time for your mask’s ears. This is where you can get creative. Since I am aiming at a husky, my mask’s ears will stand up strait, but you can make your ears floppy, like a Labrador retriever, droopy, like a beagle, or curled over the front of your mask. If you are making floppy ears, use bendable cardboard and make a crease in the middle of the ear so that half of it bends over. In a later step, you will add faux fur to the ears and face. If strait ears are more your style, then cut out two identical triangles from stiff cardboard. You should then hot glue one side of your ear on the top of your mask. Remember the slit you made on the top of your mask back in step one? Do NOT hot glue your ears next to it. Fold it and hot glue your ears below it.

It’s step five already and you must be wondering what that little slit is for, so I’ll show you. Take one side of the fold you did in the last step and force it on top of the other flap. You will need to hot glue it in place. This should result in a 3-D look for your mask.

Time for your mask’s eyeholes! It’s not a mask if you can’t see out of it! Grab your pencil or pen and draw two ovals on opposite sides of your mask’s muzzle. Make sure you can see out of them before using your utility knife or scissors to cut out your mask’s eyeholes. Trust me, it’s not easy to cut out the eyeholes, but the results are satisfying. Now, poke two smaller holes in between your mask’s eyeholes and the edges of the game controller shape. Grab your string or rope and tie it around one hole. Then, tie the other end of your rope or string around the other hole, creating a strap so you can wear your mask.

I finished up step 6 and I realized that my mask’s snout didn’t look quite right, so I decided to fix it, and you can two, if you don’t like the way your mask is looking. This is an optional step, and you don’t have to do it, but it made my mask look more dog-like. I showed it so far to a friend, and she told me it looked like a duck. Cut a half circle shape out of stiff cardboard. Watch the provided video to know what size to make your half circle and what to do with it. Attention: WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST!!!

This is my first time felting a mask and there are much better felting tutorials out there, but I’ll try my best to teach you how to felt your mask and hope it turns out good. First, cut two shapes from your white felt that match your ear’s size. Make the felt shapes a tiny bit bigger then the actual ears on your mask. Then, hot glue the felt pieces on top of the cardboard ears of your mask.

Step 9!!! Didn’t I tell you this would be fun? It’s time to felt your mask’s nose! Cut a strip of white felt the size of the top of your mask’s snout and hot glue it on. It should go over the smaller piece on your mask’s snout; in a later step you will color a part of your mask’s snout for the nose. Again, watch the video before doing this step.

In this step you will be felting the optional nose piece and the base of your mask. For the nose piece, cut out an identical shape from white felt and hot glue it to the cardboard. Then, cut out the shape of the mask base from white felt. Hot glue it on, and again, WATCH THE VIDEO FIRST!!! (These steps might seem very vague, but a video could explain much better than my own words). Lastly, cut eyeholes out of the felt. I found the eyeholes to be very frustrating and hard, but once I finished this step, I felt very satisfied with my work. I hope you are, to! I will admit that I did not felt my base very well and it looks kind of sloppy, and I hope you have better luck with this step than I did.

On to faux fur!!!

Grab your white faux fur and cut out two shapes identical to your ears out of the fur, but make them a bit smaller, so they fit inside your tmask’s ears. Then, hot glue the faux fur ears into the middle of your mask’s ears. It should give your ears a fluffy, soft, look. For your edges, cut two thin pieces from your black faux fur about the length of the sides of your mask. Now, hot glue the black strips to the sides of your mask’s face. Your creation may be looking by now like a black haired, eared human, but don’t worry, things will get better!!! If you want you can cut the black faux fur strips to your liking, like I did.

For the markings normally found on a purebred husky’s head, you will cut two more strips with sizes shown in the provided videos and pictures. Then you will hot glue them in the shown places. If you would like, you can vary the markings on your mask or do no markings at all. I roughed up the faux fur used for the markings of my mask to give them a more realistic feeling.

Find your sharpie-it’s nose time!!! Feel for the raised part on your snout and use your sharpie to draw an oval like shape on your snout. It doesn’t have to be realistic- mine sure isn’t!!!

It’s back to the white faux fur for your mask’s snout fur. Cut two strips of white faux fur the length of the side of your mask’s snout like in the pictures and videos provided. Then hot glue them to the correct places on your mask. Do it on both sides.

You should now be done with the mask part of your costume!!!!!!! Continue for paws and a tail!!!

Tail time!!! No dog is complete without their wagger! For this step, you will be using your white faux fur, (black as well if you would like spots or stripes) hot glue, a carabiner, and scissors. Cut two pieces out of faux fur the same size. They should reach to your knees when held at your waist. Next, hot glue the non furry sides of your faux fur strips together. Once you’re done, it should be furry on both sides. Then cut a hole near the edge on the flat, non pointy side of the tail. Poke your carabiner clip through the hole so you can clip the tail to the back of your shirt.

Step 16!!! Take out your gloves, tinfoil, and black faux fur. First, cut two pieces of black faux fur the shape of your gloves, except smaller so that it fits on top. Next cut out ten small triangles from tinfoil and hot glue them on your glove’s fingers for claws.

For your neck fur, grab your mask and some white faux fur. Remember the fold you did in step 5? It should Not have any faux fur on it . . . yet. Get a sheet of white faux fur and hot glue one side to the fold. Once it’s dry, hot glue the sides of the faux fur sheet to the sides of the mask as seen in the pictures.

You should now be DONE!!!!!!! With your mask, tail, and paws. I suggest wearing them with black and/or white clothing.

I hope you really enjoyed making this costume and the end result!!!