Every Halloween, I have a tradition. I put on a costume, and sit on a chair on the front porch handing out candy to trick-or treaters, always with a CD player next to me playing Halloween songs (
Monster Mash,
Time Warp,
Thriller, etc.). To me, it's the big event of the season. And, this year I wanted to dress as a pumpkin man (not unlike our dear friend,
Bob).
There was just one problem. We couldn't find a proper pumpkin head mask. There were plenty of pumpkin
face masks, masks that are shaped like regular human faces, but made out of pumpkin. That's fine, but what I wanted was something shaped like an actual pumpkin that would fit over my whole head. The only one we found cost roughly $80!
Eventually, my Mom came up with a great idea. Don't buy one, make one!
Starting with the inflatable pumpkin to the left, we taped a pile of plastic bags to the bottom to increase the height. Then, it was covered with strips of newspaper that were coated in flower-paste.
When she was a child my mother once created a Charlie Brown mask using the same method, so it was great that she was able to help.
I was surprised at how tough it was when it hardened, considering it was just newspaper and flour. Honestly, I hadn't made anything out of paper maché since elementary school.
Jonni Good's site was a great source of tips, by the way. Check it out sometime. This person does amazing things with paper maché.
Once it hardened, we removed the inflatable and it was just a matter of
spray-painting it orange. Then applying the details in poster paint,
with the facial features outlined in black marker.
Then all we had to do was cut the facial features out with a
dremel and spray it with a polyurethane glaze, completing the mask!
Of course, we had a real jack-o'lantern, too. And, here you can see the mask side by side with the real thing. While, it's not the most realistic pumpkin mask out there, I think it looks pretty decent.
And, now the moment of truth...
I had a glow-stick inside the mask with me to create a glowing face effect like a real jack-o'lantern, but I don't think the effect worked that well. Still, I'm pleased with how this costume turned out. Anyway, I hope you had a Happy Halloween and found this post entertaining, and not too boring.
Oh, and since this is such a dorky "photo-blog" post, and none of those are complete without cat pictures, here is my adorable Halloween kitty...
