Hi everyone! I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, but I'm finally back and with a DIY this time. I'll write a blogpost on why I've been MIA, which will go up tomorrow, but for today I will show you how to make your own lace mask, perfect for masquerades or just for good fun.
First a list of items you'll need to create your own lace mask:
1. Lace, of course.
2. A mask, which is allowed to get dirty and will pretty much get ruined.
Make sure the mask you're using is able to withstand water and won't transfer colour.
3. Sugar Water, recipe down below.
4. Needle and thread, preferably the same colour as the lace.
5. A ribbon, I used a felt one.
6. Not in the picture, since decided to add this later, but another small piece of fabric, I used felt again.
7. Also not in the picture, because I forgot, my apologies, Sewing pins.
8. A small pair of scissors.
9. Fabric glue or Wood glue.
The first thing you'll need to do is to make the mixture for the sugar water. Start with boiling some water. Whilst you're waiting for the water to boil, add a 100 gr of granulated sugar to a clean bowl. Once the water has reached its boiling point, add 100 ml of the boiling water to the sugar and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Wait for the mixture to cool down to room temperature. Stir regularly whilst waiting for the mixture to cool.
Whilst you're waiting for the mixture to cool down, you can begin with your mask. Start with cutting out the desired length of lace. Measure the longest point, which is the top of the mask, by placing the fabric onto the white mask and decide how big you want your lace mask to be. When you've decided the length, cut. Because the bottom part of the mask is smaller, cut out a small part on both sides of the lace, like in the picture above. Make sure the shape is as symmetrical as possible, since this will give you a better end result.
Next I separated the different prints of lace, but kept them attatched in the middle, where the nose would be. See the picture above for reference. (Depending on your type of lace, you can decide if you want to do this as well, or if you want to skip this step. Since my piece of lace was quite small I needed to do this. But if your part of lace is larger, you can just cut out the entire shape at once.)
Next up I pinned the lace onto the mask using sewing pins.
By separating the lace I've created a gap, which I will now need to fill with more lace. I put the piece of lace I had cut out over the gap and pinned it onto the mask. I then cut off the overlapping parts but left a bit of room to sew the two pieces of lace together later on.
(If you didn't do the previous step, you can of course also skip this step, since you don't have gaps to fill).
Next I cut out the eyes. I left the lace pinned on the mask whilst cutting so I could see where to cut. I used the eyes of the mask as a guideline but made the holes a bit bigger on the outside to give the mask a feline, flirty effect.
Next up I sewed the entire mask together using my needle and thread. To finish of the bottom part of the mask I cut out a bit more of the half circled lace bit and sewed it around the mask, from the red pin on the left to the red pin on the right (indicated by arrows and a red line).
When that's all done and the sugar water has cooled down you can move on to the next step. Put the lace into the mixture. But before you take out the pins, trace a line around the lace onto the mask with a pen or pencil, so you know exactly where to put it again once it's soaked in sugar water.
When you've done all that, take the lace and put it in the bowl with sugar water. Leave it in for a few seconds making sure it's completely soaked. Then put it back onto the mask and pin it.
It's very important to pin around the nose, since you want your lace mask to be nicely shaped around your nose. There is no such thing as too many pins at this point. Better safe than sorry. However whilst pinning, try to pin the sewing pins in already existing holes of the lace, so you won't create new ones. This way the lace will stay in it's best shape.
Leave your mask to dry for 3-4 days. You might want to add a bit more of the sugar water on the second and third day when the lace has not yet hardened. Just grab a paintbrush and give your mask a coat of sugar water. The sugar water can still be used after a couple of days, just remember to stir it from time to time (3-4 times a day will suffice).
Once your mask has become hard and isn't sticky anymore you can take out the pins and take your lace mask off. It will have adapted the shape of the white mask.
This next step is optional, but I thought it would give the mask a nice finishing touch. I cut out two pieces of the felt fabric and placed them onto my lace mask measuring the holes of the eyes. I cut out my desired eye shape using the white mask as reference. When you do this, make sure the pieces you cut out are symmetrical.
Then stick the felt onto your lace mask using fabric glue. I used wood glue, because I couldn't find my fabric glue, which worked perfectly well. By adding the felt around the eyes, the attention will be drawn towards your eyes and the feline shape of the mask will be accentuated.
Next I cut the felt ribbon in half and attatched them to the mask. I sewed them on, but you can also use glue. When you sew the ribbon on, make sure you pull the needle through already existing holes of the lace, because the lace has gone so hard, you won't be able to create new ones.
If your ribbon is prone to fraying, you can add a little bit of glue to both ends to stop this from happening.
And then you're done! You've made your own lace mask, perfect for a masquerade. Now it's time to put it on and have loads of fun! And if you don't have a masquerade planned, just wear it anyway and make loads of pictures. I went a little overboard with photoshop, so my pictures are way over edited, but I had good fun.
The possibilities with making these type of masks are endless. I used black lace, but you can of course use any colour you want. You can glue on rhinestones or add some glitter, even flowers or feathers would look nice. You don't even have to use lace! Cotton would work as well. I told you: Endless possibilities!
Will you be making your own mask? Let me know in the comments below! And if you do I'd love to see them so take a photo and tag me in it on instagram or twitter, username: @SickChicksblog or hashtag it with #SickChickMask.
I'm exited to see your creations.
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