Many Carnevale masks are a mask wearing a mask.
Carnevale di Venezia, or the Carnival of Venice, is an annual festival which starts a couple weeks before Ash Wednesday and ends on Fat Tuesday, also known as Shrove Tuesday, during Mardi Gras. Venetian masks have always been a very important part of the Carnevale celebration and are traditionally made from papier-mache. Professional mask makers use clay molds which they pour a paper pulp into to create a mask that when dry they paint and decorate. Another method is to actually mold the papier-mache mask right onto the users face. This takes patience and a model who won't wiggle too much. But you do not need to have tools the professionals use, or to mold your own face, to create a Carnevale mask. This project is kid friendly and an entertaining way to recycle creatively.
Instructions
Preparation
1. Lay the bleach bottle on the table in front of you with the handle side down and the bulgy side up. Tape the bottle to the table. Make sure it is secure and not wobbly, since you will be molding your mask onto the bottle.
2. Use your marker to draw the shape of your mask on the bottle. Use the bugle on the bottle for your chin.
3. Tear your newspapers into strips along the paper's grain. If you tear against the grain, the paper will not tear straight and will just be a jagged pile of scraps. Keep a pile of plain papers separate from the rest.
4. Line your mixing bowl with the plastic bag. This will make for an easier clean up.
5. Mix together the flour, salt and water to make your paste. It should be like a thick creamy soup. If it's lumpy, add more water. If it's too watery, add more flour.
Forming The Mask
6. Dip a strip of paper into the paste and make sure it's completely covered. Pull the strip between your fingers to remove excess paste. Lay the strip across the bottle inside of the mask shape you drew on the bottle. Dip another piece in the paste, remove the excess and lay across the mask within the shape, overlapping the edge of the first strip. Continue until the entire mask area is filled in with your first layer.
7. Start your second layer by dipping your strip in the paste and removing the excess. This time lay the strip up and down the mask rather than across it. Continuing laying and overlapping paste coated strips until you've covered the mask.
8. Apply a third layer of paper strips the same way but going across the second layer.
9. Add a final later of papier-mache with the blank paper layering it up and down over the third layer. This will stop the newsprint from showing through your paint.
10. Leave your mask to dry on the bleach bottle. This may take a couple days. Do not try to peel the mask off while it is still damp. Test your mask for dryness by gently touching it. If it feels cool, it needs more drying time.
Adding Details
11. Lift the dry mask off the bottle and trim the excess papier-mache off the edges of the mask with your scissors.
12. Hold the mask up to your face and roughly judge and mark on the front where your eyes, nose and mouth are. Also make marks on the sides of the mask just above your ears.
13. Take off the mask and draw your eyes and mouth hole. Draw a triangle for your nose. Cut out these shapes with an art knife. Put the mask over your face again to judge the fit. Remove and enlarge the holes if necessary.
Poke your art knife through the markings you made above your ears on the mask. They should be at least a ½ inch from the edge of the mask. These are the holes you will feed the elastic through to hold on your mask. Reinforce around the holes with some papier-mache strips.
14. Cut a triangle from the lightweight cardboard or card stock a little bit larger than the triangle you cut out of the mask. Fold the triangle down the middle matching the points. Tape it in place over the triangle shape you cut out for the nose. Cover the cardboard nose with papier-mache strips of blank paper.
Experiment And Decorate
15. Experiment with your papier-mache to add more details to your mask. Tear strips smaller, dip in paste and twist to make little eyebrows. Dip small pieces of paper in paste then roll into balls for moles. Give your mask some big round cheeks by crumpling two paper balls and taping them to the cheek area then covering with papier-mache.
16. Let the mask dry after you've added all your additional papier-mache details.
17.Test to make sure the mask is completely dry and then paint and decorate your mask.
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