Since I discovered instamorph last year I wanted to make a full face mask.

For this year's Halloween birthday party I finally got around to do one. A clown mask is quite easy to recognize which offers the opportunity to be creative and make it your own.

Instamorph (or polymorph) is a fantastic product with unlimited uses. Once heated to around 60 degree it become soft like play-doh and very easy to shape. Once it cools it's hard and firm, but will not shatter or break. It can be reheated unlimited times.

Step 1: Apply Instamorph to Face

Heat some instamorph. I used roughly 250g for the entire mask.

At this point it's the easiest to heat the pellets in a pan and roll it flat. I used an empty bottle of wine, but you can use anything that's round. But to make the job easier you can use a bottle with a cap and add some hot water (sorry can't remember where I got the tip).

Once the pancake of instamorph is big enough apply it to you face. BEWARE this stuff can be quite hot, if it's completely transparent it's most probably going to be too hot for it to be comfortable. Also remember to cut a hole so you can breath. I used a scissor it is by far the easiest way to cut it.

Take you time and get it nice and close to your face, you'll be exaggerating the facial features later, but for now make it look natural. Try and hold the biggest grin possible, the instamorph will take a few minutes to harden, so resist the urge to remove it before it's nice and hardened.

Instamorph will stick instantly to itself as long as it's hot, so don't let it touch itself unless you want to start over (it did this a few times).

Step 2: Time to Clownify the Face

I started with the eyebrows by rolling thin rolls of instamorph. At this point I mainly used a heat gun it makes it a lot easier than heating the entire thing in water.

BEWARE instamorph heated by a heat gun is very similar to hot glue and could cause some nasty burns.

Instamorph does not stick too well to itself if one of the two parts is cold, but it works temporarily. I just placed the hot roll where I wanted it and used the heat gun to heat the entire area. This works very well and the two parts fuse together quickly.

You can go in any direction you want here, I was going for a full mask with a big mouth with lots of teeth. Just remember the few facial feats that makes a clown recognizable and you can't go wrong.

I exaggerated the chins and the eye brows but kept the nose somewhat close to my own.

Step 3: Add Some Nice Big Teeth

Start by rolling a piece of instamorph flat and start cutting some triangles in different size.

Make another flat piece and start adding the teeth in any pattern you like. Since the mask was for a Halloween party I wanted to be able to drink and eat with the mask on, so I decided to leave a hole in the mask and simply go with face paint around the mouth.

I also added more facial features to make it look a bit more evil - remember it's far easier to add than to remove once it's fused together - so go slow!

Step 4: Clean Up the Irregularities and Add Paint

Adjust any irregularities and cut the mask to fit. I recommend heating the mask where you want to cut and use a scissor to get a nice clean edge.

You can use a sharp knife if you like, but I found it works better for me to heat and clip.

You can paint instamorph with acrylic paint or even spray paint.

This is the step where you can get really get creative, my painting skill aren't really good, so I just went with a sort of minimalistic joker-from-the-dark-knight inspired look :-)

Step 5: Add Some Mismatched Clothes and Face Paint

I painted my eyes black (as my wife didn't have any dark blue eye shadow) and mouth area dark with white teeth.

If you're into it you can add some fake blood, a bloody knife or whatever prop you fancy :-)

Hope you like it. And please don't forget to vote for me in the Halloween competition :-)