Masquerade!

I mentioned last time that I've been running a summer camp with two friends (GAS craic - that's Guitar, Art and Singing and I teach the art workshops) so I thought I'd show off a little of what we did the second week with the older kids (11- 15 year olds).

During the second week we designed t-shirts, giant posters, treasure boxes, cd covers... but I think my personal favourite were masks. We took our inspiration from things like Lady Gaga, the Phantom of the Opera, animals, celebrities etc, and the kids set to work.

Here's one I made as an example:

They're pretty easy to make and lots of fun, and look great at a fancy dress party or even stuck up on a wall! 

1. Draw out the shape of your mask on a sheet of card (or cereal box card is good too!) and cut it out.
2. Place the cut out shape on to another sheet of card and trace around it - you need to cut this second one out for the back.
3. Before sticking the two together, decorate it front and back with whatever you like - I like collage and sparkly things.
4. Paste glue on the undecorated side of the back of the mask. Place a stick on one side for the handle (wooden skewers or lolly pop sticks are good) and if you want to have some feathers sticking out, go for it.
5. Stick the front of the mask on top (so the stick and feathers and anything else are sandwiched inside).
6. Leave to dry and then cut out the eyes! (If a grown up could do it with a stanley knife that's probably the easiest, if not, carefully pierce one eye part and then cut around from where you pierced it with the scissors)

And there you go! A good one for a rainy day...