Create your own carnival masks.
Carnival, or Mardi Gras, is traditionally celebrated on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday at the beginning of Lent, but in countries like Italy and Brazil the festivities can start up to a month earlier. Wild costumes and masks are part of the fun. You don't need to spend a fortune buying a mask when you create your own. Start with a blank mask bought at a craft store. Add decoration and imagination and you're ready to party.
Fun With Feathers
Feathers are a popular and eye-catching addition to a traditional carnival mask. Choose a brightly-colored, plain mask as a base for your design and buy a bag of feathers from the craft store in a selection of contrasting or matching colors. Experiment with the placement of feathers around the mask to add height and width and alternate between long and short feathers as you glue them around the edges. For a dramatic mask, add a single plume of tall feathers from the left side of the mask in a contrasting or matching color to the base. The addition of curled ribbons hanging from the same side of the mask makes an elegant effect. Add feather "eyelashes" to the eyeholes for an interesting effect. Or you could even add a thick layer of yellow feathers in a circle all around the mask to produce a sun-like effect.
Decadent Decorations
Africa tradition also adds natural objects to carnival masks such as beads, shells and scraps of fabric. Make a mask to remember by gluing or sewing a variety of objects onto the plain base. Think about the overall effect you want to create and sketch out a rough outline of the placement of your decorations before you start. Then have fun choosing your embellishments from a craft store and get to work on the decoration. Try glitter to make a sparkling mask for an evening celebration. Choose a dark colored mask for a base and use a glue pen or gun to create designs on the mask. Apply the glitter while the glue remains wet. Fake fur around the edges of the mask creates a soft effect while spiky shards of foil or colored paper are more dramatic. Sequins are a cheap way of brightening a plain mask and can be added to the entire surface or in patches to catch the light. Beads also brighten areas of the carnival mask. Finish off with colorful ribbons cascading from the edges.
Perfect Paint
Painting your mask with colors or designs is a simple yet effective way to get into the carnival spirit. You can be as wild, intricate, imaginative and original as you like when painting your mask, depending on the time you have available and your artistic skills. If you're confident, paint with a thin brush and craft paint directly onto the surface of the mask. Add swirls, starbursts, crescents and circles. For a more precise design, copy a pattern or make a template to paint through. If you're short on time, paint a whole facemask black for a devilish look. Or divide the mask in half, painting one side white and the other black. Geometric designs in bright contrasting colors can be bold and effective.
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