BEHIND THE MASKS: Custom Vintage

Not to be outdone, my nephew and I finished off some awesome vintage-style goalie masks this weekend.  It was our first attempt at something like this and I really like the way these turned out.

Last weekend, we did the paper mache forms by drawing our basic shape on cardboard, cutting out the eyes and mouth and then bending them into shape.  We taped some newspaper to build up the thickness and add dimension to the front.

Then it was time to get the hands messy.  I don't care what anyone says....paper mache is just flat out fun - like awesome fun.

We mixed the paper mache mix by doing 5 parts water to 1 part flour, boiling it (yup, cook it up) for a few minutes, add a couple tablespoons of salt to help keep the mixture from going moldy and voila.  Four layers of newspaper and we had some pretty sweet looking masks (even before painting).

Speaking of....I only wish I would have taken a couple pictures before we got the brushes out.  Anyways, here are the finished products.
 

He went with more of a 'slasher film' feel while I went with more of a Jacques Plante style with (what I thought was) a John Davidson Rangers paintjob.....not quite.

I still am really impressed that this is nothing more than cardboard, newspaper, flour and water and a few hours of time.

I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to kill a rainy day afternoon with a fun, inexpensive project.  I only wish I'd have thought of this sooner.

One last pic of the gruesome twosome.  Nice job buddy.