Bat Girl Mask

We recently discovered the awesomeness of foam. Did you know that if you heat foam you can mold it and it will hold the shape?!?!

Bat Girl wanted a hood with ears like Batman, but she also wanted a cool mask. The Masks at the store have ears on them, but it was only $3, so we got it anyway. Mostly cause I wanted to try this. :)

Regular piece of craft foam

Apply heat. We used a heat gun, cause Marisa is AWESOME and just happened to have one. But I have also done this over a burner on the stove. Set the heat to med-low or med. When the burner is hot hold the piece of foam about 6 inches over the burner. When the foam goes limp it's ready to mold. It's hot, but not hot enough to burn you. You can put it on your skin if you want to mold it to a specific part of you. (but I don't suggest putting it on a child's skin)

This is the mask I used as a mold

I learned it's easier to cut teh foam down to size before you heat and mold it. I didn't get a smooth edge cause I had too much excess. 

You can see I just pressed it down and used my fingers to get it into the crevasses (it's really a 2 handed operation)

After it cooled (about 15 secs) This is what it looked like!

I also took a black ball point pen and drew some crease lines on the forehead. Gives it extra depth. :)

I didn't trim up the edges cause I wasn't  sure how I wanted to do the nose, but I ended up just cutting it straight across the bottom. 

Now use a glue water mix. I do roughly 3 parts glue to 1 part water. But I NEVER measure. I just pour some in till the glue is about the consistency of egg nog, or slightly thinner.  Paint it on the out side to seal the foam. 

When the out side dries turn it around and to a layer of glue water, then a layer of fabric strips, and then another layer of glue water on top. This keeps it stiff  and helps it hold it's shape.  (I found out that it's easier to cut teh eye holes BEFORE the glue and fabric. So trim it FIRST)

 This is what it looks like dry and trimmed. Pretty awesome huh!

 Then I just sewed a strap of elastic to the back

 And the mask is done. Just think what else you can do with foam!!

Now we have a formed black mask for the costume box. Zoro, Dread Pirate Roberts, super hero, villain  we can use this for a number of things. 

We have plans for storm trooper armor some time in the future with this technique. :) Seriously, now cool would THAT be?!