- You can make an easy DIY Tobi mask using a balloon and plaster strips.
- Cover half of a balloon with wet plaster strips, leaving room for one eyehole.
- Once the plaster is dry, pop the balloon and add swirls with paint.
Measure the height/width of your face carefully. Measure from the top of your forehead to the bottom of your chin and from cheekbone to cheekbone. Remember not to pull so hard on the tape measure and squish your face. You need the mask to be somewhat comfortable to wear.
Blow up your balloon to as close to your face size as possible. If the balloon isn't proportioned for your face, then blow-up the balloon to at least the height of your head.
Take a Sharpie (or other not-fat permanent marker) and map out your face on the balloon (you might need a mirror to do so). Also make sure you take extra care in making sure you sketch the shape of your right eye. Also, draw the boundaries of your face, just in case.
Cut your plaster fabric into strips about an inch and a half to 2 inches (5.1 cm) wide, but not longer than your face measurements. Remember: the mask only covers the face, not half of your head! Also, if you want a sturdy mask, but not want to use the entire roll of plaster? don't cut all the roll into strips (common sense).
Wet your strips, don't soak them, and lay them over the balloon. You don't need a specific pattern, but try not to glob a bunch of them together or your mask will be lumpy. Also, bear-in-mind the size of Tobi's eye hole. His eye hole is very very tiny. If you don't want your eye hole that small, then don't make it that small.
When your mask is as thick as you like (make sure its pretty thick), let it dry for at a minimum of an hour.
If your mask is mildly wet to damp, its safe to pick-up as long as it looks "sturdy". Place the mask on your face to make sure it's a fine fit. If it fits around the face funny, VERY carefully, mold the mask to your face.
Set your mask outside in a protected area to fully dry. this may take up to 3 days depending on how thick u made your mask. Just keep checking on it if you plan on leaving it out for an extended period of time. bring it inside at night.
if your mask is 100% dry, then it's time to sand it. Use a power sander at a low power to buff-out any minor bumps and smooth the edges. Or you can use regular sandpaper. make sure to use a low-number grit.
Now take a pencil and lightly sketch the mask's swirls. When you get it as you want it, take a sharpie (or any other very dark fine-pointed permanent marker) and carefully outline the swirls.
Now it's time to paint! I started with a dark yellow Tempera base, let it dry, re-outlined the swirls with a sharpie, and then put on an orange acrylic paint coat. Then i took a thin paintbrush and dark brown acrylic paint and re-outlined the swirls. There are many methods to painting the mask. Painting is art and therefore are not rules. Make sure to let it fully dry before applying more coats. But always make sure to use some kind of finish on it. I accidentally used a gloss finish, but i would recommend a Satin finish because pictures of your mask might come out weird, like mine do.
Take your Velcro strap (or whatever you're using, and Crazy Glue one side to the inside of the mask. The further in you glue it, the more supportive it will be, but make sure you have enough to measure around your head. Then when the one side is absolutely dry, put the mask on your face and adjust the other side of the mask. Make sure the mask fits snug; Not too loose, but not too tight. Glue the other side as well. Let that sit and dry.
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