Giant Mask: Fang!

In 1969 Rankin-Bass, the stop-motion animation studio behind classic holiday specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Year Without a Santa Claus, released their very first theatrical feature film. The stop-motion feature was called Mad Monster Party, and featured Boris Karloff as the voice of Baron Frankenstein. The Baron is planning to retire and has invited all his old colleagues - the Invisible Man, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Wolf-Man and so forth - to his castle for a party where he intends to announce his successor.

In the film, Phyllis Diller provides the voice of the Monster's Mate (essentially the Bride of Frankenstein) and her husband is called Fang. Fang is clearly modeled after Karloff's original Universal Pictures makeup, and even looks a little bit like old Boris.

This giant papier-mache mask, while not intended as an exact replica, is inspired by the Fang puppet from Mad Monster Party.

Step 1: The Build

This is the first giant mask I ever made that wasn't built onto an oversized balloon.

I used corrugated cardboard to build this design, because the Fang puppet I was emulating is quite blocky.

There was no real design to my approach: it was all new to me, and I was just feeling my way through. Using corrugated cardboard, duct tape, masking tape, a twisted up newspapers, I built it. And I tore it down when it didn't work, then built it some more.

What I learned was: this is pretty fun to do, and the materials are very versatile. I love it.

Step 2: Skinning

Once I nudged the puppet head into shape, I covered the whole thing with traditional flour-paste paper mache. The chin section was kept separate, so that I could move it around a little. Like a marionette mouth.

Step 3: Paint

He was given a very simple paint job, trying to match the pale greenish-grey that I remember from TV. Now we

are ready for a MAD MONSTER PARTY of our own!