EVA Foam Mask Part II

Jack of Blades Mask

In the last post I showed how to shape a mask out of a sheet of EVA foam. This post will continue that process and show how to turn that basic mask into THIS!

The finished Jack of Blades Mask from EVA foam. 

The Materials list: 

1. A formed mask (the previous post is a tutorial to get to that point)
2. Mod Podge ( I prefer the gloss, but you may use any finish you like)
3. Various colors of acrylic paint.
4. Puffy Paint (any color will do because you'll paint over it later) 
5. Twine
6. Sharp craft knife or box cutter
7. Paint brushes
8. White Elmer's school glue. 
9. News paper (to paint on)
10. A large nail or drill with drill bit. (poking holes for the twine stitches)
11. Heat gun 

The Process:

To start, you'll want some research images. I know it seems like I harp a lot about that, but they are CRUCIAL for accuracy. I took my EVA foam mask and traced the designs onto it with a permanent marker. I used my old Jack of Blades mask as a reference instead of digging out my research images. 

Once your designs are drawn onto your mask its time to get out your craft knife. Make sure the knife has a new sharp blade. Using a dull blade will cut harder and the cuts will be jagged and rough. When cutting, make slow careful cuts along the reference lines you just drew about 1/8th inch down. These cuts serve two purposes. One: once you start painting the mask you will lose any drawn on lines. Two: the groove created will give a spot for the puffy paint to stick to. 

After the cuts were made take your heat gun and lightly heat the cuts you just made. The foam should expand and turn those slices into "v" shaped grooves. This cool tip was one I picked up from WM Armory, This guy is a genius in foam armor construction. Click HERE for the link to his blog. 

I then gave my mask a coat of Mod Podge to prep for the painting process. 

I started painting with an experiment. I wanted to try out a crackle finish to give the mask some implied texture. To do this you need to base coat the mask in an accent color. This base layer is the one that shows through the cracks in the top layer of paint. I chose a darker gray, and went to town painting the whole mask. 

The next step in the crackle process is to coat the mask in a layer of Elmer's glue. A heavier coat will result in larger cracks, Likewise a thinner coat of glue will result in smaller cracks. Once the glue layer is "tacky" i.e. you can touch it and your finger sticks a little, its time to apply the top coat of paint. 

The top coat of acrylic paint will dry faster than the glue layer underneath; as a result cracks will appear in the surface of the paint. This gives the mask a very cool texture. 

I then started blocking out the colored sections of the mask. My method for painting is never painting anything one solid color. You can base coat in one color, but the layering of colors adds depth to color and gives it life. 

The red areas around the eyes were painted solid red and then darker shades of red and streaks of black were added the closer you get to the eye. This gives the eye a nice shadow that makes them pop. 

Close up of the eye detail. 

I also wasn't afraid of visible brush strokes. I liked how it kinda looked like flames. 

Also, don't worry about the seams between colored sections (talking about he area between the red and the black sections) these groove lines will get filled in with the puffy paint and make that seam look much better. Additionally, to tidy up the transition areas on the mask where there aren't cut grooves like the picture below I just took a paper towel and dabbed it in black paint and essentially dry brushed that seam. this blurred the line and made it look a bit more feathery instead of a hard line.

Once that's done, it's time to paint in the mouth area. 

I added a bit of shading using the same black as the top of the mask to the area underneath the nose. This was also a dry brushing application.  After that I gave the entire mask another coat of Mod Podge to seal in all the layers, 

After that layer dried I decided the "white" portions of the mask needed a bit more aging with a layer of yellow. I watered down the yellow and mixed in some mod podge to make a sort of glaze and daubed it on in the same way I did the black feathering with a paper towel. 

It is now time to apply the puffy paint to all of the grooves you cut, This is tricky and takes a bit of practice. However, because you sealed the layers underneath with Mod Podge; cleaning up mistakes with a damp paper towel is easy and doesn't cause any damage. 

It may be a no-brainer, but don't put any puffy paint in the mouth groove, the mouth is supposed to look like a crack.- Once the puffy paint is dry its time to paint on top of it. I used metallic gold acrylic paint. But if you have puffy paint that just happens to be the right color or a color you're happy with, feel free to skip this step. 

Now it's time to poke the holes for the twine stitches. I used a large nail. the foam and the layers of paint are easily punctured with the nail and makes a nice clean hole that is just the right size to push the twine through. This is the inside of the mask that shows how I knotted the stitching. 

I knotted the ends of the twine to keep it from slipping back through the holes made by the nail. Also, I used the nail to push the twine through the holes. if you have a more ingenuous method feel free to let me know. :D 

I haven't done this to my mask yet, but I think i'll end up gluing a piece of fabric or a slimmer piece of EVA foam to the inside of the mask to make it more friendly on your face. 

This is another picture of the finished product, 

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