Evening star., 1937-10-24
False Faces
Made Like
Students Design
Disguises for
Halloween.

w this Halloween? A pig? A
horse? A cat?
If your tastes run to something
in the animal kingdom, here's sug-
gestion: Make your mask out OF
simple materials and within very
little time.
We got the idea from fifth-graders
over at the Peabody School in north
east.
These pupils~of Mrs. K. D. Brady
are planning to give play for the
school very soon and the cast calls
for a variety of animals. Making
masks for the play proved to be so
much fun that the class Immediately
voted to carry the work a little
farther and make their ow,c disguises
for Halloween.
This is how they were working
when we dropped in on them last
week:
A table in one corner was filled
with materials-rolls of sealing tape,
several yards of unbleached muslin,
tempera paints and some stiff brown
paper. That was just about all that
was> necessary in the way of ma
terials.
A student was chosen to act as
a model for the mask while. his class
mates went swiftly to work.
First, square of the unbleached
muslin (cheesecloth could have been
used) was cut large enough to cover
his face and head and lap in the
back.
Them a strip of the sealing tape
was cut, ,moistened, and fastened
around the head like crown. Then
another piece of tape was drawn
under the chin and crossed at the
top of the head. BY this time the
young model was beginning to feel
a little suffocated, so the cloth was
carefully removed and holes were
cut for nostrils.
Once the mask was back on the
model the work progressed rapidly,
as tape was pasted all over the cloth.
automatically taking the shape OF
the features underneath.
When the rough mask was out
lined and holes for eyes had been
cut the students we're read.' to decide
what sort of animal they wished
to represent. Pictures were con-
suited.
For a horse, the class took a small
brown paper bag, blew it out and
pasted it out in front, for a long
nose. Brown paper was cut out
in the shape of a horses ears, piece
of fringe was foun for a bit OF
forelock draped across the forehead
and the mask was ready for its finish
ing touch-the T-int.
When the class was ready to make
a pig, brown paper was rolled into q
sort of cylinder for a nose, and this
was carefully fastened to the mask.
Ears, of course, were attached to this
model, too, before the painting began.
Making a cat proved to be lots of
fun. Whiskers had to be cut for each
side of the mouth and when these
were painted different color from the
mask, the effect was weird enough for
anybody's Halloween.
Though it's important. to have your
mask take the general shape of the
animal you have decided to represent,
the best feature of making these heads
is that you can be as funny as you
like-in fact, the funnier the better.
Some of your best effects can be OBJ
tanned by using a little imagination
in the final stage of your process
painting the masks
If you feel a little more ambitious,
here's another idea for papier-mache
masks. First model mass of wall
paper cleaner or clay in the rough
shape of face. Let it stand until
hard. This is the form over which
the mask is made.
Put grease on the mold to keep the
paper from sticking. Cut strips of
newspaper about 5 inches long and
cne-half inch wide. Place wet cloth
on the mold. Paste on the cloth the
strips of newspaper, overlapping each
other in fan-shaped manner about
the form.
After three of these thicknesses of
paper have been pasted on, remove the
wall paper cleaner or clay. Then, when
dry, add hair or various head dresses.
Paint the mask with showcard paint.
Shellac with clear shellac when dry.
And just because you have used
false face on Halloween one year is
no reason you cannot use it the next.
You can make your old one look like
new.
Use BOOKINGS for noserings, string
chestnuts for chains, green buttons for
eyes, ice cream cones for horns and
feathers for crowns. Adding different
strokes of paint will make chins and
noses look longer.