DIY Scare Crow Mask

Today I will show my process from start to end how I made my Halloween mask.

Items needed:

1. Cheap strap on mask. (Walmart, or a dollar mart are good places to find one.)
2. Sack cloth/Burlap bag.(I got mine used, can buy new if you want! Craft stores will have the burlap by itself or you can go to farm stores and they will sometimes sell used bags.)
3. Spray adhesive (Any brand should work, I used Gorilla Spray Adhesive, can be found pretty much anywhere.)
4. Spray paints/ oil or water based paints (Again can be found just about anywhere. I used spray paints in a well vented area.)
5. Hot glue gun ( You do not need this! Its used for exaggerating features of the mask, or making your own patterns.)
6. Some kind of padding. (sponges, spray foam insulation, padding that comes with the mask) I used the insulation for my padding.

COLORS Used:

A. Brown(Kona Brown)

B. Black

C. Dark Green (Hunter Green)

Step One: Exaggerating and painting.

For this step you will need your mask, hot glue gun, if you want to exaggerate, and paints.

Paint after gluing

Exaggerating:

Using the hot glue gun I went over the ridges of the eyes, to make the eyes feel more sunk in, and made some vain patterns on the head, to give it more movement and texture.

Painting:

This specific mask was silver when I first bought it. With the sack cloth being somewhat see through I did not want the silver to show through so I painted it before the cloth was applied.

Notes:

Spray paint worked just fine and was fast to apply. The only problem was on the plastic mask it took a while to dry and if touched when wet fingerprints would be visible. (not a problem when covered with sack cloth.)

Step Two: Finding, Gluing and Cutting.

just chuck it on

Process of finding:

Just throw in on there to start! I cut the bag open then dropped in on the mask. One of the problems I sometimes have is over thinking. To get around this its sometimes best to just do.

With the mask on the ground and the bag on it I arranged and rearranged pushing the cloth in the holes on the mouth and eyes trying to find what felt best. This bag has a thick seam that I used to run up the side of the face over the nose and out the other side of the head.

When you have found something that you like its time to glue!

yes its that easy!

Gluing:

I found it is best to glue in sections so you have time to work the cloth into the nooks and cranny’s of what you exaggerated. To work the cloth I used a cap of a marker because the plastic did not catch on the burlap and it had a strong point to it so I could work the cloth into the tight parts. I cut out the eyes and mouth during the gluing process. Be careful not to cut out the screening on the mask when cutting out the eyes and mouth!

Sizing and cutting:

This mask is being based off of scare crow masks. With this in mind it does not need to be pretty. If anything, the cruder the look the better. To figure out how much material you need put the mask on (after it drys! be careful of fumes!) and wrap it around your head making sure you cover all your hair and neck with it. Then use a marker to trace out where to cut.

Warnings:

Be mindful of fumes when working with paints and glues you don’t want to hurt yourself. I had some problem with the spray adhesive wetting the paint on the mask so it will make a mess. The glue will make a mess and start to stick on your hands and the tools you are using.

Notes:

At this point I did do some painting. Black around the mouth and eyes after the glue was dried. I also did a uniform light dusting of brown to darken up the cloth. The reason I did this here and not later was because after stitching the cloth does move around and i did not want lighter cloth peeking through.

Dusted with Brown

Step Three: Padding and Stitching.

Inside of the mask

Back of the head

Padding:

From one of my earlier projects I had some scraps of cut spray foam laying around. Using the glue gun and two peaces of the foam I padded the inside of the mask so my eyes and nose where not being smashed.

Stitching:

I had to get some help on this one. Using a mirror and a friend we wrapped the extra material around my head. Using safety pins we pined it in place.

At this stage move around and look at it from different angles see if you like it. If you do it’s time to stitch it.

I used black thread and did a simple under over stitching. With this mask I’m not scared of it looking grungy and old so there was no fancy sewing that went on, I even left the safety pens in.

Fifth and Final step: Painting.

Look at the mask not the mouse!

Painting:

Using the spray paints I darkened and aged the material.

Process:

Black around the eyes nose and mouth. This makes those deeper areas shadowed.

Brown over the whole mask both before and after stitching. I did this to darken the material as a whole and to help the blacked areas not stand out.

Green was used to both highlight and dirty the mask. This was used like the brown as a light mist but not used as heavily. I focused the areas around the nose and front of the face.

The process from start to finish drying included can take from 3–5 hours if you know what you want in the end longer if you don’t.

Conclusion: Closing.

I have enjoyed sharing with you how to make your own mask! I hope this was as fun of a process for you as it was for me. I will see you around as our projects take us to new places with unmade crafts waiting to be discovered.

You can Follow me on twitter or Instagram @training_scope or ascopetraining, thank you.