How to Create a Metal Tooling Mask

Those of you who have been keeping up with me realize that I have fewer posts because of my preparation for my new High School Art teaching job beginning this Fall.  See: What Will Happen to The Chocolate Muffin Tree).  Some of my future posts may actually feature some High School Art projects too...like this one.  My daughter and I have been working on lots of creative projects, but I haven't had the time to post as much lately. This particular project of a Metal Tooling Mask was intended to just be just a High School Project, but my daughter wanted to give this technique a try too. A lot of projects can be simplified so younger children can do it and vice versa.  Here is C's beautiful metal tooling mask.

To create a Metal Tooling Mask you'll need:
Metal Tooling Foil (aluminum, copper, and gold)

a stick with a dull point, popsicle stick

felt to place under the foil so no holes are made
felt for padding or magazine

My daughter wanted to just draw at first....I love her cute people!

Here she is just experimenting.

One thing I noticed is that the edges are sharp so I put tape around the edges.  The red underneath is a couple layers of felt. You might be able to use some magazines for padding too.  I helped C draw a big oval to begin her mask.

Then she started to to draw on the foil.  You can draw out the basic shapes first and then go back and do the tooling part.  I cut out the mask when she was ready to do more detail. Basically you are embossing foil.  A popsicle stick works great for pushing out areas and making them pop out.  You can flip the metal over to push out and turn it over to push in.  This metal is quite flexible, but be careful not to press too hard!

At the last step C took permanent markers to add color to the mask.

Here is my High School example.  I painted it with black tempera paint and while wet, rubbed off the paint leaving the paint in the deeper parts. This great idea I got by looking through Pinterest and found it here: Aluminum Masks from A.C. Art Department Blog.

Paper Bag Mask Monsters Made From A Vintage Book

I have a "way too big" collection of books about making things.  Recently my daughter was looking through one of my vintage "making things"books and wanted to create these paper bag monsters.  She actually really had a lot of fun making these (and so did I).  It just goes to show you that even old books have some great ideas.

This is my daughter C's mask.

Here is my mask creation.

Here is the book that this idea came from.  It is dated 1974.  When I researched further it is said to be Volume 9 of Worldbook's Childcraft Encyclopedia of awesome things.  I'm sure we'll be making more things from this book.

What some of your favorite books about making things?

(vintage or not)

Other Projects that we have made with Paper Bags:

Paper Bag Puppets Inspired by Fandango

Paper Bag Self Portraits

Paper Bag Puffy Heart

Simple Mask Making

We made these simple feather masks the other day and they turned out so lovely!  Cassie enjoyed this activity a lot.... as most kids love making masks and wearing them!  This picture cracks me up because she truly looks unrecognizable to me! ***At the end of this post I have included some great links to visuals of masks around the world.  This will give children and adults endless inspiration to create a mask!  

To make this mask we use a thicker white paper.  You could use construction paper, tagboard, or even white scrap booking pages! Fold your paper in half either vertically or horizontally.  Then on the fold I drew a slot shape for the eyes, a small shape for the nose, and a curvy mouth.

I made the shapes like this so that it would be much more simple for my daughter to cut out.  I wanted her to be able to cut it out herself and a "two eye"mask is too difficult for cutting.

After the facial features of the mask are cut,  draw whatever shape you want around the eye, nose, and mouth.  The shape could be curvy, zig-zag, or both!

When the main part of the mask is cut out,  begin to design with markers or crayons.  With older kids you could talk more about symmetry by making each half of the mask the same.  For example: If there is a red circle on the top left,  then make sure there is  a red circle on the top right of the mask!

After the marker designing, C added feather with tape on the back of the mask.  She also added foam shapes for more dimension.  You could also simply use construction paper scraps or whatever else you want  to embellish the mask with!

Here is the mask ready to wear or display!

To make the mask wearable,  I simply put a long paper strip of thick paper on one side, measured C's head, and attached the other end with a second staple on the other side.  I stapled near the eyes so the strip kinda rests above the ears.  The mask can be slid over the head to be worn.

Inspiration to Create a Mask!!!!

***Most children think masks are just for Halloween, but it is great to share with children the variety of masks that there are from all over the world. Children love looking at masks and love talking about them too!  Here are some links about all kinds of masks with pictures.

Masks of the World (including Japan, Peru, Greece, Egypt, China, and more!)

Masks from around the world (a great site with masks you can purchase that are from South America,
Bali, North American Indian, Mexico,and the list goes on....)

Or just do a Google Image Search of: Masks From Different Cultures and you'll get a fabulous display of masks!!!!

Happy Mask Making!!!

This post is linked to: It's Playtime