Approximate how-to: comfortable, no-elastic no-tie leather facemask
The mask in my previous post was made for my sister to wear to a masked ball one of her friends was having for their eighteenth (I think?). She asked me to craft one for her even though I’d never tried masks before because she is a good sister and believes me when I say “I can do anything!”.
I agreed because I also believe me when I say this, and because I figured it’d be fun. I was right! Skill-expansion is awesome! Awesome enough to share.
I had a great reel of aluminium wire from previous craft-based sculpture experiments (just under half a centimetre diameter (I can’t find the box to check exactly!)) and a blue 80s leather jacket I’d bought with Kenshiro in mind and which therefore had no need for its sleeves; the leather is thin and soft and easy to sew by hand.
Well, I say “easy”. My digit-skin might tell you differently. Callouses!
I basically winged it. I find that a very satisfying way to work, because I am full of i-told-you-so pride and like to feel I have won a vicious ambushed battle, not simply made a thing. I wanted to have a finished product that could be worn and taken off with ease like glasses, because I find elastic and tie-based masks are very often extremely annoying, because they mess up one’s hair. And, at a dance of the like that demands new faux-snake heels, messy hair is not in desired order.
I cut a length of wire that would reach all around her noggin and used my knowledge of the human head to mould a basic ears-cheeks-nose outline that would rest on her face like lower-placed glasses (she looked like she was wearing a retainer). Then I took her head, and adjusted the moulding until it sat comfortably. Aluminium bends really, really easily, so you can just do this by touch. After it was comfortable enough to be forgettable whilst on, I cut out a Ninja Turtle-style mask -
- from the leather sleeve that was definitely wider and longer than the finished mask would need. Seam allowance and so forth, you see? You need a leather that’s soft enough to fold in to the contours of your subject’s face. Draw with a pen just around the inside of the wearer’s eye socket (that is, under the brow bone and along the top of the cheekbone). I cut out these holes.
Having sewed the floppy leather mask-piece onto the front of the aluminium “retainer”, cut another length of wire that reaches from the tip of the nose up and back to the crown. Mould this to the wearer’s profile. The ridge of the nose needs to be closely followed, but the remaining portion that spikes back over the head doesn’t need to lie flat. Do as you will with it! You can remove it, even; it’s not necessary.
The rest, I think, is figure-outable from these pictures. The orange arrows (forgive their sloppiness! I didn’t have my tablet available, and Pixen hates touchpads!) are where there’s wire piped in, the lilac ones are where there’s no wire. Just pinch and add darts or channels where they’re needed, to fit it to the face of the intended wearer. If you want a mask to be worn bare-leather, you’ll need to be more discerning in your thread-colour choices than I was. Upholstery thread is also a good bet for a project like this - you can find it in any craft or fabric shop.
As uncomfortable and sloppy as this looks when worn it feels perfect. If you’re striving for perfection, I’d advise lining your finished mask with felt. Just cut out the shapes the front is ‘made of’ and glue them inside.