My daughter came home a little over two weeks ago and said that her school was having a middle school prom. I was like, "Okay when?". She told me most of the girls were wearing the shorter prom dresses and to top that off we had less than two weeks! I panicked. You have to understand my daughter is 5'10" tall so a normal length short dress is higher than mid thigh on her. We went shopping with friends and after many hours and many dresses later I was feeling frustrated and so was she. We decided to head home, and as we approached a bridal store, I suggested we stop real quick--someone else might have I can't remember exactly. Anyway, we did stop and they had a dress that was perfect for my daughter. It was long enough and did not show cleavage which was what we were or should I say...I was looking for :). She liked it well enough so we bought it and off we went.
If you are planning to go to a Masquerade Ball, Party, Mardi Gras, or need a Halloween Mask, you can do this at home possibly with materials you already have available. Another option is to purchase a primed or painted mask from an art store to decorate with different embellishments and glitter. Take the roll of aluminum foil and pull out a long strip from 18 inches to 24 inches long. For a zorro type mask, fold one end over and press making a rectangle approximately 3 inches wide with the rest of the roll attached repeat this process until you have a rectangle with 6-8 layers of foil. For any other shapes, make the width more than 3” depending on what you are trying to achieve. You can always cut some off, but it’s hard to add to it J.
If you want a Zorro mask, then cut sides of the rectangle to make it approximately 7 ¼” long with the 3” width. For all others, cut the shape you prefer. See the picture at the bottom of the tutorial for the “Zorro” type.
Once you have the rectangle with rounded edges, cover the cut edges with masking or paint tape. Now whatever shape you decide upon for the sides, the next step is to figure out the placement of your eyes. Place the mask on your face over your eye area and firmly press it to mold to your face. Be sure to press over your eye area. Remove the foil mask and you should see indentions where your eyes are. Find something handy that is round and flatten the mask placing the round object like a coin, peppermint, bottle top, etc. over the eye area. It won’t be perfect, but in the end no one will notice. Outline the circle and cut out the eyes. Once the round object is cut out, and then cut off the left and right side of the circle “<” and “>” to make the corners of your eyes.
Now make sure the work area is covered and remold the mask to your face again. Once this is done prepare your strips of newspaper and paper mache. You will need to use either Mod Podge, a glue/water mixture, or one part flour and two parts water mixture. Dip a strip of newspaper into paper mache, and pull the strip through two fingers to remove any excess. Make an “X” over the top of the nose crossing over and ending above the eye on each side. This makes the mask a bit stronger. Now cover the rest of the front with paper mache and newspaper. Make a nice heavy layer with the paper mache overlapping covers the mask.
Now reform the mask to your face and lay it down or prop it up on a dry piece of newspaper to dry overnight. Repeat the process two more times ending with 3 layers of paper mache.
Once you have your form, you can punch a hole into each side using an ice pick, nail, or something that would leave a small hole for the elastic. Paint the mask with your color and paint of choice. When you are done painting the mask then you can either apply a varnish, Mod Podge, or a spray sealer over it. Add trim, feathers, rhinestones, glitter glue, flowers, and other types of embellishments or accessories using hot glue.
Attach elastic to fit tight around your head through the holes and tie the ends off. It doesn’t hurt to add a bead of hot glue to the inside of the mask and press the knotted end into it for extra strength. If you prefer to hold the mask, then attach to one side a covered or painted fireplace match with the end cut off, a dowel rod, or chopstick. Attach with hot glue and embellish with ribbons, etc.
Beautiful Belle of the Ball!
My daughter's good friend Taylor came over and made this one with a plastic mask from Hobby Lobby. Taylor added glitter, rhinestones, wire, beaded embellishments, trim, and feathers! A super easy way to personalize one quickly!
