Mardi Gras Paper Mache Mask

Who loves Mardi Gras? I do! Of course, with my being a french student, how could I not enjoy the basics of Fat Tuesday? So, although Mardi Gras is long past this year, I thought I would share with you something I whipped up as an assignment in my french class this year, my homemade, completely out of paper, mask!



Here is what you will need...

• LOTS of Modge Podge
  
• 3-5 sheets of white printer paper
  
• colorful scrapbook paper of your choice (I chose gold, purple, and green)
  
• a plastic mask to mold the paper to
  
• a paintbrush of some kind
  
• a paper bowl

I love Hobby Lobby so that is where I buy all my crafting materials. 

1. Rip all your paper into small pieces
2. Scoop a lot of modge podge into the paper bowl and mix the white ripped paper into the glue. 
3. Now here is where things get messy. Grab the white scraps of paper that have been soaked in the glue and apply the scraps to the plastic mask. You can do as many layers of white as you want, I ended up with four or five layers of the white paper. Of course, the more layers, the thicker the mask. Let each layer dry a few minutes before applying the following layer. 
4. Once you have as many white layers as you want, soak your colored paper in the glue and complete the same process. I only did one layer of colored paper. Then paint one more layer of glue over the last layer.
   
5. Let your mask dry for twelve to twenty-four hours. Once your mask is mostly dry, peel it very slowly off of the plastic mask you molded it to. Continue to let it dry. 

There you go! You now have a very personalized mask! From my experiences since then with my mask, the sides are going to flatten, but it is easily bendable back to its original form and, bonus, this mask molds perfectly to your face! 

I would love to see your version of the Mardi Gras mask! Send me photos in the comments below and get those creative juices flowing!