Papier Macheniacs: Benguet Strawberry Festival Masks

Buwan ng Wika.
A celebration of our language and culture.
And an ideal time to get cosplay crafting!
PAPIER MACHENIACS --ACTIVATE!

This year, the school assigned the Benguet Strawberry Festival as the theme for my boys' class. And because I was so sure every kid will be coming in Benguet native attire (read: red and black weaved cloth), I knew I had to push my boys gear up a notch. Naturally, that meant making strawberry masks! Creepily fruity, huh! :P

We found these eerie Jason canvas cloth masks at National Book Store and I just went nuts with glee!

Post haste, I went down to making paper mache leaves --which, by the way, was a very therapeutic exercise.

Can I be a dingus and tell you now that I totally forgot to take a picture of the freshly paper mache'd masks? Ugh. It was past midnight. I was working against the clock. Still, that's no excuse, you pathetic blogger! *whimpers*

Slathered the masks with red and green paint, complete with white teardrop details --and BOOM! We got strawberry masks!

I am extra proud of the leaf details!

Made tiny strawberries for necklace embellishments to complete the look, too.

And there you have it!
I was informed that my boys spent most of the school celebration sneaking up on people and scaring them with killer strawberry delight. So I guess that means this project's a success! :)

HAPPY BUWAN NG WIKA, GUYS! See you with more of these insane crafts next year!

Papier Macheniacs: Embellish!

Ah, your teenager's first Masquerade Ball.
This is the perfect time to get your creative juices going in the area of mask-making. Sure, you can buy masks for a dime a dozen in any department store or party nook. But that's too easy. Where's the fun in that?

So, here is where I teach you easy embellishments that should only take a couple of hours of your time. Heck, you can even do chores in between! :P

We start off with something that's already there. A plain white mask. This is your canvas. You can get it cheap since it isn't dolled up yet. You're handling the dolling up department after all.

Now, think of your masquerade concept. We went with the Phantom of the Opera, so that meant cropping the mask to size. And, because it's a ball after all, adding a bit of zing to it. By zing, we mean texture of the paper mache variant. It's pretty simple. Just cut strips of tissue paper and shape them according to your whim. Stick them on the mask with wood glue. Don't forget to sculpt your design with curves, dips, and rises. Like I said all about texture.

And then, PAINT! We went with a nice, shimmering gold --you know, the kind with the glitters in the paint --to make our sunburst explode throughout the party.

And just like that...
My boy masqueraded dat shizz!

So why not you and your kid start dolling up those white masks to the high heavens? I mean, these canvases aren't gonna artsify themselves. :)

Papier Macheniacs: Springtrapped!

Heeeeee…. I LOVE THIS PROJECT! I am so fangirling about it because it's the creepiest character in Five Nights At Freddy's and he's my personal favourite! Eeeeekkk!!!
*slaps self* 

Okay, the project in question is our Springtrap paper mache mask with moveable jaw. As usual, we used only items on hand to build it. Basic pieces for this mask are a couple of paper plates, three empty flip tops, and a number of plastic drinking straws.

One of the reasons why we liked this project was because we didn't have to make it perfect. Springtrap in the popular game, is a horribly destroyed animatronic. So, in creating its paper mache counterpart, we had a field day wrecking his face and trashing his ears. None of the usual trying to create smooth surfaces and perfectly sculpted edges. YAY US! Haha!

Painting the mask was equally a blast! Lots of marring and disintegrating and splattering done single-handedly by my big boy. Looking at the end product, it was a museum artist's nightmare and a Papier Macheniac's delight.

After that, it was all a matter of attaching Springtrap's lower jaw with a stud-type folder fastener…

Snapping a couple of Done-and-Done pics…

And then stuffing the masterpiece with our very own screaming-for-his-life resident Purple Guy.

Oh, but you know us. We don't stop there. As you ponder on the possibility of crafting a Springtrap paper mache mask for yourself (or your kid), please do feast your eyes on this little video we made.

Cool fact: I didn't even add special effects to my little boy's voice here. He makes all-natural monster voices perfectly. Hey, yeeeeah! Now that's a skill you wanna put in your resume. :)



* Credits to the awesomeness of The Bonnie Song

Papier Macheniacs: Rubberatronic Freddy Fazbear

"Hey, buddy! I'm Freddy Fazbear!"

Yeah, this guy creeps up on me every night now. He's our version of one of the animatronic robots in the game, Five Nights at Freddy's.
Eh, you know how we roll --new online game discovery, new paper mache project.

So today, brace yourself as we take you through the Freddy Fazbear Rubberatronic Mask DIY!
Why 'Rubberatronic', you ask? Ah, in due time, little grasshopper, in due time.

First, we gotta do some sculpting. Most of our masks are paper plate-based. Because paper plates are easy to shape and they've got that nice shiny silver surface that doesn't rip when the wearer of the mask sweats or decides to sneeze. Uh-huh.
Our Freddy mask is made up of two parts: The face itself and the jaw. This has something to do with the Rubberatronic awesomeness I've been blabbering about.

Second, when you've got all your sculpted newspaper down pat, it's time to whip out the glue and tissue. Paper mache-ing in progress! Now, for this particular mask, the nooks and crannies were insane. So you have to fill those pockets up with paper mache to make sure every bit of the mask holds in the end. Do the same for the jaw and teeth.

Third, applying the details. We use standard marker for this. Make sure you do this with Freddy's picture right in front of you. I mean, even the freckles were crucial to my boys.
If you haven't punched holes for the eyes at this point, you better do it now.

Fourth, paint!

BAM! Pretty handsome specimen, eh? :P

Just as an added tidbit here, the Freddy mask is heavy up front because of the bear's snout, the hat, and that jaw attachment. So instead of our usual backstrap, we opted for a full-on 'skull cap' to keep the mask secured on the wearer's head. Yes! We measured my son's head and then paper mache'd and painted the mould accordingly. The skull cap is then cinched with a horizontal strap and an additional vertical strap.

Fifth! The Rubberatronic attachment!
Okay, okay… too much fanfare. It's really just a couple of rubber bands that the jaw attachment can hang from at a good distance from the bottom of the face. So with just a tug, you can get Freddy Fazbear to talk like a robot. Kinda like in the game. Except it's manual. Not, uh, technological. Hahaha!

There you have it --Papier Macheniacs' very own Five Nights at Freddy's top man, Freddy Fazbear!

And now, I leave you with a few words from our sponsors.

Papier Macheniacs: OFF Halloween masks, on!

First day of the sem break and we're already getting our hands dirty.
Thanks to a new game my boys are currently addicted to: OFF. For this weekend's project, we're focusing on the game's lead character Zacharie and his masks. A little pre-Halloween special, if you will.

Pretty nifty, eh?
Unlike our usual complicated masks, these babies are fairly easy and quick to make.

All you need are thick cardboards. We used juice-by-the-10s boxes here. Sturdy stuff. We could've just painted the simple details on, but since we don't like things too easy (Haha!), we decided to put a little 2D spin to them with sculpted newspaper.

Then, it's back to the glue-and-tissue combo for some messy mache-ing fun! Remember to curve the masks in a concave shape after the first layer. You'll need that space for your nose. We did 3 layers for the each mask surface but kept the eye parts at only 2 layers because we'll need to punch peep holes through them.

And that's where Dada came in. Yes, we're definitely recruiting him for most of our projects now. :P Using a metal hole puncher with a wide enough diameter, a trusty hammer, and a few expert hits… BAM! We got peep holes! The straps were, of course, concertina folded newspaper which we also paper mache'd.

A splash of pretty conservative paint colours, and… WE'RE DONE!
Can i just say that I am so digging the swirly cheeks detail? :)

These can rock as costumes-in-a-snap for a Halloween Cosplay. It's pretty cheap, too.
So if you're up to going down quick and dirty, it's time to put your OFF game on!


*Zacharie pic from Devianart.

Papier Macheniacs: TF2 Metal Jaw

The Team Fortress 2 Metal Jaw (also seen on Heavy and Engineer) is one of our easier mask-making projects. First of all, it doesn't require the whole face. The details were simple enough. And the paint job was pretty much a free-for-all.

Our version, naturally, started with a paper plate --folded and taped with a bunch of newspapers and coins. The coins were for the rivets. Genius, huh? :P

The dents and breaks on the surface were fun to make during paper mach stage. The imperfection of this piece brings out a lot of your creativity.

And then, you just let loose on painting it. Miro decided on a post-battle Metal Jaw, hence, the rust and blood stains. The boy really went to town with realism here. Proud mom moment. *sniff*

Make your own paper mache TF2 Metal Jaw. Because… Just because.

Papier Macheniacs: SCP-035 on a Plate

Now serving...

Our latest arts and crafts and creepy: The comedy mask donned by SCP-035 in the videogame SCP Containment Breach! *thunder, lightning, and what-not*

It's your typical theater comedy mask --which we could've easily bought somewhere online. But because we like challenging ourselves in the messiest way possible, we decided to make it by hand and glue and a paper plate. Uh-huh, the lowly paper plate is fast becoming our favorite mask-making ingredient, seriously.

Shaping is the key here. After the first layer of papier mache, we let it dry overnight while taped at the back and wedged in between two heavy objects.

When you're done with the second layer, just paint the mask death white and add lovely details like --oh I don't know-- blood trails maybe. And voila! Instead of scaring people out of their wits in a video game, now you can do it in real life! WOOHOO!
(Yeeeah... our kicks are pretty simple. Lol!)

Papier Macheniacs: Plague Doctor Mask Made Easy

Very, very late post! The past few weeks have been insane! But we, Papier Macheniacs, still managed to squeeze in one very crucial project.
Ok, 'crucial' is such a big word. But Miro needed a mask to spook a friend on his birthday so here it is...

I AM THE PLAGUE DOCTOR!

This was so much fun making. It's even more fun that we made it using the most common household items. Paper plates, an empty tissue roll, and cellophane-wrapped polvoron! The polvoron we ate during break time. :)

How did we make such a spazztastic transformation? Pretty easy, really.

First, we did the measuring. Eye holes and breathing holes are always important in mask-making... for obvious reasons. Miro just wrapped a paper plate around his face and put pencil mark guides on where we should cut out the appropriate holes.

Second, the beak. There's a variety of plague doctor beaks out there, but we decided to go with something that resembled that of a hawk's or a falcon's. All it took were 2 plates rolled and taped into cones. And then we taped them together to keep the whole beak sturdy. The A-line cut should be the bottom part of your beak because that's where you breathe.

TA-DAH!

Next, the straps. Now we wanted straps with a little give so it won't rip with repeated use. We used folded news paper strips for these. Then, we papier mached everything together.

Looking pretty plaguey already, eh?

A little focus on the eyes here. Remember the polvoron we ate earlier? We used the red cellophanes for the goggles, for that extra creepy touch we all aspire for in spooking dear friends. We also painted the
insides of the goggles red so that the whole creepiness reflects beautifully. Oh, and just in case you didn't notice --the goggles are made out of cut tissue roll.

Just a little bit of original painted design touches and --there you have it! Who needs Halloween when you have everyday to creep your friends out? 

Needless to say, my boy Miro's evil birthday plot was a spooky success! :)

See how easy that went? I dare you to make your own Plague Doctor mask today.