Clown Masks

$15 - $20 (based on 2019 prices)

Makes six masks

 

I normally craft my own mask and costume for each haunt to correspond with the theme; however, working on a haunted house in 2017 presented me with the chance to not only costume myself but also a collection of scare-actors with a series of doll masks. 2019’s haunt, in turn, provided me with the same opportunity and I fabricated these clown masks for each scare-actor to wear and help unify the circus motif.

• Six plastic skull masks
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in glossy black*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in glossy green*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in glossy orange*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in metallic silver*
• One 10 oz. can of interior/exterior, fast-drying spray paint in flat white*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat black*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat blue*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat brown*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat gray*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat green*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat orange*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat red*
• One 2 oz. bottle of acrylic paint in flat yellow*
• Six clear plastic Christmas ornaments (two inches in diameter)
• One small bag of Halloween-themed party favors
• One 0.14 oz. bottle of superglue gel*

1. After removing the masks’ elastic bands and any other accessories, give each one two coats of white spray paint. I used two coats, but you may want more or less depending on your desired coverage. Likewise, you could select a different base color or a variation of hues to cater the items to your haunt’s needs.

2. Detail the masks with a variety of colors to create a series of clown-like faces. Based on your haunt, you can fabricate fanciful expressions for a whimsical theme or something more maniacal. Additionally, each face could be a unique character for scare-actors to develop or all one uniform look for an unsettling throng of clones. Once the paint has dried, outline the patterns in black to help accentuate the colors.

3. Using hues which complement the main colors, write words across the masks’ foreheads. As with step two, these can be altered to fit your theme, with remarks like laugh and smile written in bold, bright colors helping to convey a happier tone for younger children or commands like cry and scream penned in blood-red paint amplifying adult-oriented scares.

4. Remove the hanging hoops from the backs of the ornaments and, on a newspaper-lined surface in a well-ventilated area, give them two even coats of spray paint. Akin to the previous steps, these can be all one universal hue or different colors that correspond with the tones of the masks.

5. Glue the portion of the ornaments where the hanging hoops once were to the masks to fashion noses. For a sturdier hold, especially if the scare-actors plan to be highly active, use superglue.

6. Reattached the elastic bands and accent the masks with a collection of Halloween-themed party favors (e.g. plastic bats, flies, spiders, etc.) or other items to reinforce the theme of the haunt.

*You will not use the entire bottle’s content for this project.