How To Create Your Own Bird Mask Using Real Feathers

Making your own bird mask can be a really fun project. The instructions here are about how you can create your own bird mask out of papier-mâché and real bird feathers. The first thing you need to do is buy the feathers and paint. Then make sure that you have one cup of flour in your house that you can use for the project. You are also going to need a balloon, a pair of scissors, a marker, some old newspapers, glue and some cardboard.

The first thing that you need to do is make the papier-mâché past and mold the mask.

What we are going to do is use the balloon to mold the mask.

First make a papier-mâché past using one cup of flour and three cups of water.

Put the flour in a sauce pan and add some water to make a past. Begin heating the past over a medium flame and add the rest of the water slowly. When it starts to boil lower the flam and continue to mix until you have a smooth and even past and remove from the flam.

Now inflate the balloon until it is just a bit larger than the size of the head of the person that will be wearing the mask and tie it closed. Use a bowl as a stand for the balloon putting the knotted part on the inside of the bowl. Rip the newspaper into strips about one inch thick. Coat each strip on both sides and start to cover the balloon. Make sure to smooth out any ripples and that the strips are slightly overlapping. Apply three or four layers, making the first layer vertical, the second across and the third vertical in order to strengthen the mold. Let the mold dry for two days.

When your mold is good and dry you can pop the balloon and get to work. First cut around the bottom in order to even out the opening for the head. Put the mask on the persons head and with the marker mark the locations for the eyes and mouth. Remove the mask and cut the opening for the eyes and mouth. If there are any parts of the mask that you are not going to cover with feathers you should paint it before you start to put the feathers on.

I would suggest you use feather plumage and cover the whole mask with it. Start from the bottom around the opening for the head and glue the feathers on upside down meaning with the stem part upward. Glue the top two inches of the feathers to the bottom edge of the mask. Glue each feather so that it is just touching the feather next to it. The next row up should be overlapping the one underneath it and the feathers should be placed in between the feathers underneath them. Row by row cover the mask. At the crown of the mask over lap the feathers in a circle to cover the area.

For the beak cut a wide triangle out of cardboard, paint it, fold it in half and glue it to the mask above and around the mouth.

VWALLA you’re done!

Have fun and comment to let us know how it works out for you.