Introduction: Majora's Mask (from the 'The Legend of Zelda- Majora's Mask' for N64)
Always wanted to be like the funny Skull-Kid gone crazy (because of an evil Mask it loves to wear) from The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask?
Well, good for you, because I did. I love this old N64 game and I built my own mask. In this jolly instructable I will show you how you can do the same.
Step 1: What You'll Need
Here's what I used for this project. Not everything is absolutely necessary, but it's what worked out fine for me.
Tools & Equipment:
- Scissors or X-Acto knife
- Glue
- Rubber gloves!
- respiratory mask & safety goggles!
- sanding paper with different grit sizes (I also used a Delta sander)
- old clothes, newspapers, plastic foil
- glasses/cups and sticks to mix the resin and body filler
Material:
- .pdo-Files
- Paper (150g/sqm or heavier)
- Resin (epoxy resin or polyester resin)
- fibreglass mat or cloth
- Body filler
- Primer
- Paint (acrylic paint)
- Patience & creativity
Step 2: Let's Go: Papercrafting
First of all, I built the mask based on a Pepakura-file (.pdo) which I did not create myself! I browsed the Internet to find a good one (not too detailed, but still detailed enough) and finally found this one. I don't know where exactly I found it, I think it was from the facebook-group "Pepakura library". But there are many files, just google "majora's Mask pepakura file" and you'll find something nice.
To open and print this .pdo-file you'll need the freeware "Pepakura viewer". It's quite easy to use. Doubleclick on the file you've downloaded and you'll see the 3D-model on the left, and the single parts on the right. I recommend to turn on the "Edge ID" before printing . This will add small numbers on the edges of the single parts and will help you a lot while glueing together the mask. You can try puzzling together the piece without the IDs if you have time to kill (but seriously, don't! I once made that mistake and forgot to turn it on and I almost went crazy!)
For printing you should use thicker paper than the regular 80g/sqm. I think you should at least use 150g/sqm or even heavier. Otherwise the built is likely to be deformed or will just collapse. Cut out the parts with scissors or a x-acto knife, fold them on the printed lines (there are two types of folds in pepakura: mountain folds (---, folded down: ^) and valley folds (-.-.-, folded up \/) and glue the whole thing together. You can use regular glue for that. Take your time here and be pacient.
After gluing together all the parts you'll have a polygonal mask. Congratulations, the first step is done. This will be the basic structure of your project.
Step 3: Fibreglass & Resin - Stranghten & Harden
Now that you have your paper model you need it to be more solid and hard.
To harden the paper, you have to resin your piece. On this mask I used polyester resin, but I really recommend to use Epoxy resin.
Be careful here and only work with this outside! Don't use it inside!
These are some serious chemicals and espacially polyester resin develops fumes which will definitely do no good to your health. So just use it outside and maybe even use a respiratory mask and rubber gloves while working. You also should put on some old clothes here, you won't get resin out of your clothes and I bet you don't want the brand new shirt that you love so much to be ruined. Also you should cover the ground/table with newspapers or a plastic foil so your terrace, table or wherever you're going to work on your piece is resined, too.
Read the manufactor's instructions on the resin and use it just like they say.
If you decide to use epoxy resin (doesn't smells so bad like polyester resin) you have to be very careful with the measurements. Exactly mix the Hardener and the Resin like the guide says! Otherwise it won't harden at all. (Resin is not the cheapest stuff, so I've read about some alternatives to resin, e.g. wood glue mixed with water or even flour mixed with milk, but I don't find these strong enough to get the same result as I got with epoxy or polyester resin.)
So when you've mixed your resin, put it all over the mask.
I prefer to do this in two steps: Outside - let it dry - inside. Let the resin soak the paper and be careful not to deform your piece and keep it in shape. When the resin is dry it will be quite hard to get out any deformations. When the first layers of resin are dry, you'll notice that the paper now feels like thin plastic.
Now it's time to strengthen it with fibreglass. I used fibreglass mat (300g/sqm) and cut it into small pieces. Also soak them with resin and put them on the mask. Only put this on the inside, not on the outside! Be sure you cover every part of the mask and let it dry. You can put on several layers to make it even stronger. When it's dry you'll see that the mask is now no longer like paper. It's like thick plastic and not bendable anymore. That's how you want it to be. If it's too thin, put on some more covers of fiberglass.
Unfortunately I don't have pictures of this step, but it's the same way done like in my other project ( https://www.instructables.com/id/Skyrim-Dragon-Priest-Mask-Pepakura-Papercraft/ ). (I basically just copied the text from there because it's exactly the same working process :D).
Step 4: Shaping Majora's Mask - Body Filler
Once your piece is fully dried, you can start making the mask look like it's supposed to.
Now you'll need the body filler. You can get it in hardware stores or stores like walmart. Normally it's used to get dents out of your car or something like that. I used some cheaper stuff from the internet. (A even cheaper alternative to body filler is paper-maché, you may know that from your days in kindergarten ;). But I don't like working with it because it does not come out that hard and not so easy to sand.)
Apply small layers of body filler to fill the polygonal shape. Don't put on too much, otherwise you'll probably never will finish sanding it later ;).
Mix small badges of filler like the manufacturer says and just put on the amount that you need to cover the edges and make it look smooth.
In the picture you can see the way it's NOT meant to be. I put on way too much filler - don't do that. Put on less, and if it's too less you can add a new layer whenever you want.
Step 5: Saaaaanding
You'll need to get the surface nice and smooth, so you've got to sand it down until you're satisfied. For the first rough sanding I recommend using a delta sander. You can do it by hand, but it's easier if a machine does this first step for you ;). So your hands won't be tired before you've even really started.
Use safety goggles and the respiratory mask to protect your eyes and lungs, this is step going to be quite dusty.
Sand it down until you're satisfied with the surface and use different sanding paper, fro rough to fine.
I think I sanded up to 240 sanding paper, but you can even go finer and wetsand it with this extra-fine grit paper (2000 or whatever). While sanding you'll notice thousands of little bumps, holes and other spots in the surface. So mix a new badge of body filler and, well, fill them up ;). You will have to repeat sanding and filling and sanding and filling a few times. Be pacient and do so until your result is like you wanted it.
Step 6: Primer and Sanding Again
Now you've got your filled and sanded mask.
To get a better impression on how smooth the surface really is and to prepare the surface for painting, you should spray Primer on it. Spray an even coat on the mask and you'll notice that there are more errors left in the surface than you've thought.
You can now go back and repeat sanding and again filling the small spots or you can decide to leave it like that. I repeated sanding and filling a few times and then decided to leave it a bit rough and uneven. The original mask is made of wood, so it's not that smooth ether (plus, I really wanted to detail and paint this thing). ;)
Step 7: Details
Now it's also time to add some details to the mask. I painted the lines on the mask with a pencil.
You can add higher spots with more body filler (and of course sand it smooth when it's dried) or carve in some lines or holes. For this I used a knife and a drill.
When it looks like you wanted it to look, prime it again. Check one last time for errors in the surface you want to correct.
Afterwards go on to the final step - painting!
Step 8: Painting!
For painting I used acrylic paint. The structure of the brush stayed in the paint and it kind of looked a little like wood - a nice side effect I think.
You can try out different kind of paints, different colors and experiment a little.
Don't forget to weather the mask a bit, make it dirty is some spots where the dirt would sit if it were worn by a skull-kid.
When you're satisfied with the painitngjob let it dry and put it on your wall. :)
Hope you enjoyed this little instructable! :) I would be very happy about some comments.
