How to Make Paper Sculpture Animal Masks
In our latest series of Pop-Up Studios, Manager of School & Family Learning Julia Hood shares how to create your own animal-themed disguises using paper and handy templates. This may just take a step out of Halloween this year!
Pop-Up Studios are kid-friendly and fun for the whole family.
Materials needed
→ A printer and paper (white cardstock is best, but you can use other printer paper)
→ Mask templates with instructions and inspiration
→ Construction paper
→ Scissors
→ Pencil
→ Glue stick or a small amount of liquid glue
→ Scoring tool if you have one
→ A way to make it a mask: hole punch and string, popsicle stick and tape, or ribbon and a stapler
To start thinking about animals, visit our Animals in Art online gallery to see some of the animals in Reynolda’s collection of art and decorative arts!
with the techniques that we’re showing you um but you could also just follow along with the templates precisely and make a frog mask so i’ll show you what you need to do this and how to do it for this project i recommend printing out the frog base template page from the printable instructions and templates linked below if you print the page onto cardstock the templates will be easier to use but you can also use regular printer paper you’ll need a sturdy piece of paper for your mask base next you’ll need construction paper or other decorative paper in white and green you will need a pencil a pair of scissors a glue stick and scrap paper a scoring tool if you have one a hole punch and some string to make a frog mask start by cutting out
your printed templates [Music] to cut the eye holes gently bend the paper without folding and make a small cut to make a slit in the center of the eye place your lower scissor blade through the hole so you can cut around the inside of the line trace one copy of the mask base onto heavy paper or cardstock trace another copy of the mask base onto paper for the skin of the frog i used green on the same paper trace the outlines of the nostrils trace the frog chin slash throat onto white paper notice how i’m lining up the straight edge with the edge of the white paper to save some cutting and leave more paper that i can use again later trace the outline of the eye pieces onto white paper cut out all paper shapes [Music] place the nostril patterns over the nostril shapes you cut out from construction paper use a scoring tool or the closed edge of a pair of scissors to trace over the dotted lines pressing firmly but not so hard that you rip or cut the paper this should leave an impression to help you fold. fold the nostril for more guidance on paper folding techniques and the difference between mountain and valley folds see the first video in this series on making bird masks i had to cut the tab here so that it went all the way to the fold line this helps to make the shape [Music] put scrap paper under each paper when you glue to allow you to get glue all the way to the edge of your paper but not onto your work surface glue the skin to the heavy paper base then glue the chin slash throat behind the mask [Music] glue the white eye shapes over the eyes [Music] glue the nostrils into place for an easier version of the nostrils just cut flat shapes of paper out for nostrils and then stick them onto the frog face to make the mask wearable punch a hole on either side of the frog’s face then thread a string through and tie a knot we had leftover name tag strings that have a metal thing at the end to hold them in place if you can find those great if not just make knots to make the string the length you need it to be share your creations on instagram facebook or twitter using the hashtag reynoldathome find more videos helpful downloads and other resources on the learn page at reynolda.org find more pop-up studio videos at youtube.com reynolda
lions everywhere at reynolda to inspire us and so i wanted this last video in the series to be a lion and maybe it will inspire you to create your own following the templates that we have i will show you how to use the templates provided for this lesson to create your own lion paper sculpture mask let’s get started to make a lion mask following the templates you’ll need to start by printing out the templates for the lion mask base and for the lion face these are included in the instructions with printable templates linked below you’ll need heavy paper for your mask base any color use black if you have it you’ll need a tan construction paper for your lion and some other brown papers too you’ll need some black construction paper if you didn’t have any heavy black paper for the mask base you will need a pencil scissors a glue stick and scrap paper a hole punch and some string if you have a bone folder or scoring tool that would be helpful too but if not you can use the closed edge of your scissors to score see paper sculpture animal masks part 1 for instructions on four basic paper sculpture techniques begin by cutting out your printed templates to cut the eye holes gently bend the paper without folding and make a small cut to make a slit in the center of the eye place your lower scissor blade through the hole so that you can cut around the inside of the line trace the mask base onto heavy paper or card stock trace the face parts onto tan paper notice how i’m starting near the edges to try to maximize my usage of paper if you had light paper for your mask base trace the lower half of the eyes down to the cheeks of the mask base template onto black or dark gray paper cut out all paper shapes place the face patterns over the face shapes that you cut out from construction paper use a scoring tool or the closed edge of a pair of scissors to
trace over the dotted lines pressing firmly but not so hard that you rip or cut the paper this should leave an impression to help you fold fold the paper as indicated in the pattern mountain folds stand up valley folds retreat [Music] when you start to glue place a scrap paper under your work area so you can put glue all the way to the edges of your shapes without getting glue on the table glue the black paper to the mask base glue tab a of the face side to the central face piece repeat with tab b of
the right side face after scoring and folding glue the nose pieces e and f to the matching tabs then glue the long tabs at the inside of the face sides to the underside of the nose matching them up at the corners of the nose glue the nose pieces together with the tab and tuck the long piece labeled g on the pattern behind the nose pieces labeled e and f to make the ears glue one tab slightly over top the other making the ear slightly cupped you can staple or glue it into place glue the forehead to the mask base and secure cut whiskers and attach them to the nose [Music] glue or staple the ears in place before attaching the main pieces punch a hole on either side of the face where the string will hold the mask in place to make the mane tear and crimp paper in different shades of brown attach it to the mask base around the sides and the top of the lion’s face tear to adjust the length as needed i should have punched these holes before attaching the mane but it’s okay
i’m using a pencil to poke my string through the hole and tying several knots to hold it in place pull the other end of the string through the other side measure the correct length by trying it on and then tie a knot where you need it to be at the right length and trim off any extra share your creations on instagram facebook or twitter using the hashtag reynoldathome find more videos helpful downloads and other resources on the learn page at reynolda.org find more pop-up studio videos at youtube.com reynolda