How To Make A Majora's Mask

Tyler wanted a Majora's Mask, from the video game, for one of his Christmas presents this past Christmas.  We foolishly thought we could simply go online and buy one.  No.  The only ones available were art pieces that cost hundreds of dollars.  So, the combined talents of engineer Paul and artist Julie, brought forth a miracle.  I wanted to post how they did it, so that other parents, futilely searching for an affordable Majora's Mask, might be able to follow this plan and make one of their own for their younguns.  

For supplies, they started with a trip to Hobby Lobby.  They spent about $34. I have listed the Hobby Lobby sku numbers after each item.  They began with the mask base (white butterfly mask, sku 925149).  Paul trimmed down the bottom, getting rid of the part that goes by the mouth and lower cheeks (see inside of finished mask, at end of this post).  

To get the proper dimensions of the mask, he found a pdf of Majora's Mask and sized it up to the size he wanted for the final mask size.  He then cut the shape of the outer mask from a 5mm white foam sheet (sku 336339) using this resized pdf, and glued it to the mask base (basically a heart shape with points along the edges - be sure to have the points as part of the 5mm white foam, you will color them later) using foam glue (sku 377473).  He and Julie then cut pieces of 2mm colored foam (sku 570192) in the shapes as indicated on the pdf (with the exception of two small areas on the lower portion of the mask which were either left as white foam or colored green with Sharpie, see details at end of post). The layers were: base mask, white foam, purple foam, red foam, then smaller pieces of purple, orange, yellow, and green for the forehead pieces and the eye sockets.

White foam

Colored foam

Foam glue

Julie then painted and Sharpied any colors not already there in foam.  She used white acrylic for white areas (sku 337170), old gold acrylic paint for the upper points on top of head and just below the sides of the eyes, and the triangles above the eyes (sku 344960).

Sharpie markers (sku 603068) were used for the lower points along the sides of the mask, along with the green areas near the green points.

Inside of mask: white foam heart shape with points along top and sides, glued to mask base

The finished mask

Some details on the finished mask: Most of it is made of foam layered on foam, with gold and white paint and Sharpie markers coloring in the white foam not covered by the colored foam.  The only white foam exposed is the white near near the green points.  The green and black there is Sharpie marker on the white foam.  The white accent just under the nose is painted on the red foam.  All of the points are the white foam colored with either gold paint or Sharpie.  The white accents on the forehead are white acrylic paint, and the triangles on the forehead are gold acrylic paint.  Note also that the eyes on the Majora's Mask pattern are very wide-set.  Your child will not be able to see out of the eyeholes that far apart.  Paul simply cut the eye openings in the foam as a more oval shape so Tyler could see out the mask.

This was a *bit* labor-intensive, truly a labor of love, especially for Julie who was up late several nights artistically painting in the various areas of the mask needing paint.  Stay tuned for a future post of Ty dancing in his mask!

P.S. If you have any questions about how Paul and Julie did this, leave a question in the comments section; we'll try to help!