My jovial friend Ocean requested for me to make him a mask for this Halloween. He drew a sketch of what resembled Zeratul from Starcraft, but ~3/4 face.
Rather than go the paper mache route, I decided to over complicate things, as usual, and make it from fiberglass.
- I started out modeling the idea in Blender, then moved into Pepakura to create a template for the folds.
- I then glued the printed templates onto thin pieces of cardboard, to make the 3D "frame" for the mask.
- I added definitions to the eyes and nostrils with orange Playdough, to avoid overly thick sections which may be prone to stress cracks.
- Then I put a layer of aluminum foil over the mask to smooth out all of the facets and to act as a mold release.
- Next came the fun part, gobbing on a couple layers of fiberglass. The smell is, to say the least, intoxicating...
- Now it's time for some sanding and shaping with with my good old rotary saw and hand sanding... this is going to be a long, messy process.
- Little more sanding and defining around the eye and nostril. I cut the horn deeper to make it more pronounced. Now to see what the boss thinks...
- Rough fiberglassing is pretty much done, as well as the bulk of the shaping. Tomorrow I'll start with the finishing coat of filler to give it a nice, smooth look.
- Painted white to show what areas need a little more smoothing.
- Added bloody scar
- Alright! I've finally neared the end, and none too soon, as the party is on Friday! I found out an important lesson in what will and will not stick to fiberglass, and that an epoxy that can hold a pedal on a bicycle won't necessarily hold an elastic band on a mask. I went to my last resort and cut slits at the back to run bands of elastic through, then sewed them to the headband. He'll be wearing a blackout mask underneath, so the eyes and rest of the head will be nearly invisible and should be pretty honking sweet!
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