Coraline mask

I started by scaling up the pattern from the doll. Basically, I scanned the small pattern into the computer. Then I measured the distance from mouth to eye on my head (3 inches) and enlarged the pattern until that it matched that.

It goes together just like the little Coraline heads did. In some ways working at this scale is easier, because I don’t have to convince the paper to make tiny turns. In other ways it is harder, because I have more material flapping around as I’m working.

Because this is going to be a mask, the interior will be visible. I asked Bill to send me a pdf of the book so that I could print out some pages and use them to mache the interior. He sent me the book itself.

This caused the single biggest slow down on the project. I had to prep for a while before I was ready to destroy a book.

You can’t hear me whimpering, but I am.

It makes sense to use actual pages and I know that there are other copies, but oh. Oh. It goes against everything I was taught about respecting books.

Besides the paper, the other ingredient in paper-mache is wheat-based wallpaper paste. Everyone has their own recipe, but this is what works best for me.

The lovely book is now so much raw material. I get a little paste on the paper, and then work it in so that it permeates all the fibers.

Because her forehead has such nice big planes I’m able to lay in large pieces of paper.

I normally alternate colors of paper so I can tell how many layers I’ve done. Here, I alternated text and illustration. When I had my three structural layers in, I went back to add some purely decorative pieces, like making sure that I had a piece that said, “Neil Gaiman” in there prominently.

As the mask dried, it warped. This happens sometimes if something dries unevenly or is unsupported. In this case, the damage happened because I painted it when it was still “leathery.” I didn’t think about the extra moisture I was pushing into the paper.

Fortunately, with paper-mache, one can re-dampen it and coax it back into true. Because I had painted it with watercolors, I could not dampen the outside so I brushed the interior with water. As I held it in the correct shape, Rob hit it with the hair dryer. Voila. A reformed mask.

I used watercolors to paint the head. Here it is with the test head from the Coraline dolls.

I had a moment of panic because the store no longer carried the paper that I’d used for the dolls’ hair. Fortunately, we found a substitute that had the right weight and color. Otherwise, I’d have been forced into taking a white sheet and tinting it. I was not excited by that.

The mask worn. As a mask, it is very difficult to see out. For stage, I could preserve this look and give it more visibility by poking a billion pinholes around the eyes. But I suspect that the primary use of this will be to hang on the wall, so I left it alone.