Make me Musical !: Venetian Carnevale at Musicalia (part 3)

Making Our Masks
Preparation and Planning
1. Look at pictures in books, magazines and on the internet.
2. I prepared an outline of a face for the children to design their best carnevale mask.

Casting the Masks
Supplies:

casting bandages (I used 3 packages for 7 masks and had leftovers)
scissors (for cutting the bandages into tiny pieces that can be laid easily on the shapes of the face)
water and bowl (for dipping the bandages into as you are casting)
towels (to lay under the children during the casting)
vaseline...don't skip this part! (vaseline is spread on the skin to cover all parts of the face that the casting bandages may cover so removal of the wet masks later will be easier)
soap, water and towels to wash up afterward
a place for masks to lay and dry out overnight

1. I purchased casting bandages from a surgical supply store. They come in a variety of widths.

2. I purchased the widest roll (about 2 inches wide) and had the children cut them into smaller pieces (about 1/2 inch wide by 1-2 inches long).

3. We cast the masks one at a time with the children helping to lay the strips on each child. I did the majority of the casting.

4. Each mask took about 15-25 minutes. We worked on the masks for the last part of each weekly class, with some kids staying a bit later each week to complete this part of the project. It took us 4 weeks to complete.


A half-face mask to cover the top part of the face.

This was a full-face mask and took a bit longer to complete (about 40 minutes)

Dipping bandages into the water before smoothing onto the face!

I kept a dry cloth nearby to wipe out their eyes, ears and mouths as the water/casting liquid dripped into various places. The kids were really good-natured about the dripping!

Painting the Masks

Painting took almost one entire class (almost 90 minutes)

tempura or acrylic paints
small paper cups for mixing specialty colors
paintbrushes
decorative bits (sparkles, ribbons, beads, feathers)


I placed a large sheet of plastic on the floor to make clean-up easier.

We had 3 different sizes of paintbrushes for painting large areas and tiny areas.

What a difference the glitter makes! They LOVED the glitter:)

She added sparkles

A quarter-face mask...like phantom of the opera.

The orange mask with stripes and glitter!

The original phantom mask!

A full-face mask..two-tone!

Decorating the Masks & Adding the Tie-on Ribbons (this took about 60 minutes to complete 7 masks)
You'll need:

hot glue gun & glue sticks
cloth ribbons
scissors
beads
feathers
glitter
fake jewels

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures during this part of our process! I was too busy using the hot glue gun and pasting the ribbons onto the masks.

Some of the kids brought special add-ons from home...like the 2-foot long white feather! wow...

Lots of glue-gunning on this one! I used strips of brown papertowel and glued them over top of the ribbons and feathers on the underside of the mask to keep everything in place securely.