Harry Potter Death Eater Mask

While visiting my sister, we decided to craft some more with paper mache. I decided to try making a Death Eater mask inspired by the 5th movie, Order of the Phoenix.





Here's a closeup of the mouth:

It was a real pain cutting those decorative pieces on the mouth out with a pair of craft scissors, but that's all that was available at her house. Sheesh. And she calls herself an crafter. :)

I started by covering cereal box cardboard with masking tape and regular newspaper strips soaked in all-purpose flour. My sis had some Claycrete paper mache mix. I'd never tried using this before. It looks like spit balls when wet and something like cottage cheese when dry. I covered the newspaper with it to build up the cheek bones and other protrusions. Being really rough, though, I went back over it when dry with some paper clay (that brings back found memories for me. I used to make jewelry out of something like the paper clay just before Sculpey was available. It's fun to carve into.) The paper clay spreads and smooths out nicely when slightly wetted.

The mask, from start to finish, took about 2 evenings to create due to drying time, but this was significantly reduced by baking at a low temp. It is actually "bronze" paint that I used on most of the mask, though it looks copper to me.

Well, the Dark Lord is calling. Must go. Enjoy!