Although you can pretty well use any paper or material to make a mask here are three basic types of common paper you can use.  Number One is black and white newspaper.  (Try not to use coloured newsprint as it sometimes bleeds through.)  Number Two is Japanese paper which is the one I now prefer to use.  It requires less layers and has stronger fibres that mesh well.  Number three is construction paper which is strong but sometimes hard to mold smoothly.  (Use two different colours so that you can tell when you have completely finished a layer.)  

WIG HEAD

Take a wig head and cut the nose off so that you can mold easily.  Cut the back of the head flat so that it will sit on your work table without rolling over.

First cover the surface of the face with a fairly smooth layer of clay.  (You can also use plastercine if you want.  I find clay easier to mold.)  The thicker you make the layer, the deeper the mask and therefore the further it is from the face when you are wearing it.  You can then start to shape the features of your mask.  Try to make the surface of the clay as smooth as possible for when you begin to glue the paper.  Take your time molding the features.  Make the features larger so that when you finish layering the paper they will still stand out.  When you are building off the positive image as we are here then remember that the finished mask feature will be thicker than the original layer.

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