Tuesday, 15 October 2013

How to Make Your Own Halloween Mask

Halloween is a fabulous time of year for creating and crafting. Whether it’s carving a pumpkin and making some delicious spiced pumpkin soup for the family, or making your own costumes for a touch of trick-or-treating, there are activities to suit the whole family and children of all ages.

We all hate to show up to a party wearing the same shop-bought masks and costumes, so why not start making your own? Halloween isn’t until the 31st after all… and the kids will love showing off their home made scary masks. Here’s GaltToys’ suggestion:

What you need:
Galt Play Apron
A protective cover for the surface you will work on
Galt PVA glue
Balloons
Old Newspapers
Galt Paintastics water-based paints
Galt Paint Brushes – one for glue and one for paints
Galt Safety Scissors
An Egg box (with no eggs in!)
Card

1) Squeeze some PVA glue into a container and mix with a little water. Cut or tear your old newspapers into strips around six inches long by one inch wide. Inflate one balloon per mask.

2) Paste half of the balloon with your PVA glue mix and stick your newspaper strips onto the balloon, painting them with PVA glue mix once in place. 



3) Create your monster face! Use the cup sections of an egg box to make monster horns or a witch’s chin and cheekbones. Make a hooky nose or spiky hair out of card, or use newspaper sausages for scary monster eyebrows. More card can make spiky scary teeth or a monstrous mouth! Use newspaper and PVA glue mixture to secure the facial features in place. Cover with one final layer of paper (white or green or orange can be especially Halloween-y!)



4) Allow to dry (you’ll know it’s done when you can knock on it and it is rock hard). If it appears a little soft, add another layer or two of newspaper, pasting it each time with PVA glue mixture. Once your mask is completely dry, pop the balloon and ease it away from the back of your mask. Trim the edges to make them smooth (a grown up should do this as scissors can dangerous in little hands). Then, cut some eye holes and a slit for a mouth.

5) Time to paint! Either paint the whole face or, if you pasted with a background colour like green, then paint the mask’s features. Black eyebrows, dark red lips, or a cut and a bruise on your monster's head adds to the full effect. 

6) Once dry, coat with a layer of PVA glue mixture to seal in the colour. When completely dry, an adult can make a hole in either side to attach elastic or string.
You don’t have to stop here! Make hair with wool or string. Add a scary beard. Whatever you and your little one can think of is a possibility.
Now this year, you’ll have a unique mask that stands out from the crowd. 

Happy Trick or Treat-ing!!!!

(Disclaimer: This is a guest post from Galt Toys. I was not compensated for publishing this post in any way.)

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