Costume Craftwork on a Budget

SECTION TWO Masks

Masks can be made from either closed molds or negative open molds that have been made from various materials. The main difference between making masks from positive versus negative molds is that a mask created on top of a positive mold can only be duplicated once because the positive mold (the clay sculpture) will often be destroyed when it is separated from the mask. Detailed impressions will diminish as more layers of materials are added to the mask. The advantage of making a mask from a positive sculptured mold is that you can create a mask that involves undercuts, crevices, and dramatic or extreme shapes (such as a large jaw), which are hard or impossible to create and separate from a negative mold. For example, the bird ...