Big Pink Monster Mask!

Boy oh boy, have I got a backlog of projects to post! Why does blogging keep getting pushed back on my list of things to do? Because... I am busy. But hey, that's a good thing. I'm happy. Etsy sales have been real steady, I've got plenty of fun Alpha Stamps DT work to do, and I'm doing 2 callings for church. Recently got called to the Stake Young Women Presidency, and I'm still happily doing my duties as YW Secretary in our ward. Spring is a BUSY time, so many things coming up. Especially Girl's Camp... Of which I get to be in charge of teaching crafts :) 4 different projects with 100+ teenage girls. It's going to be crazy... Crazy awesome. I need to do a Camp Crafts post, because there's gonna be some cool stuff. 

Anyway, enough rambling. Let me tell you about this monster mask I made.

I finally got around to making something just for fun (of course, assignments and book reviews are fun, but I get the most jollies out of just reaching inside my head and pulling something out!) I've been wanting to build a big mask ever since Bobby showed me some Harlem Shake videos on YouTube. I wanted to make either a monster or a bird, but couldn't decide, so I asked all you fine folks on Facebook. The votes were about 50/50. But I really felt like making some polyclay teeth, so I started with monster. (I did end up making a toucan mask, too! I'll post on that soon.)

 The horns were oh-so tedious, but ended up really cool. They're just made of cut out bits of cardboard box. I drew the horn shapes first, then the circles using a ruler to measure the right sizes the ribs of the horns, then cut them all out.

Assemble, glue, and let dry! I hot-glued some round foam to the edges of the ribs to make them smoother...I used the stuff that you use to stuff into cracks and gaps in windows to keep bugs out/good air in. It was in the weather stripping section at Lowe's. Pretty cheap, too. I didn't get a picture of that step, though.

Then I sewed some jersey knit material into socks to fit the horns and stretched them over the horn bases. They turned out really light-weight, which is a good thing for such big old horns. The eyeballs are just styrofoam balls cut in half with a bead glued on for pupils. I also had fun making the nose and big teeth out of poly clay! I didn't end up using the little pink nose, but it's still around, waiting to be placed on a bunny mask or something.

 I google searched on how to make a big mask, and had a hard time finding anything until I started to search in the furries community, LOL. Helpful! My favorite helper was this tutorial, and the plastic mesh worked GREAT. It was only $1.79 for a big sheet of it at Hobby Lobby. It's sturdy, yet flexible, and breathes. Plus, hot glue works amazingly well on it.

 Once I started gluing on the fur (recycled from a furry kids sweater I got at a Thrift Store Bag Sale) I knew that it was going to turn out so funny and awesome :) I'm pretty proud of the finished product. It's a little heavy, but really not too bad. There's a baseball cap sewn inside to keep it on my head! Can't wait till Halloween!

Well, happy Thursday, friends. I hope your week has been fantastic.