Here I show three different masks made from rubber floor mats, the kind with interlocking edges.

This one uses mostly the edge strips that often come with the mats. The jig saw edges add textural interest. It's also a good way to use up the strips. The manufacturers probably throw them in the package just to give the consumer the disposal problem of the manufacturing scraps -- here's a good use for them.

Assembly is easy. Hot melt glue sticks the rubber together like crazy. Acrylic paints also stick well.

The yarn hair was done by tying pieces of yarn to a central yarn string, and then sticking the whole row down with hot melt glue.

Notice the crazy mouth. It has all the lip and tooth colors, but the jig saw contour lines give it a bizarre effect.

Also, notice the eye detail. The white dots, representing the whites of the eyes, are the heads of sewing push pins.

The mask is light weight, well-ventilated and has excellent visibility through the eye, mouth, nose and other holes.

Step 1: Mask #2

This mask was an experiment in asymetrical features.

There is good visibility from the eye, mouth and four nostril holes.

I thought the eye holes were too big, allowing viewers to see inside too easily. Also, being dark holes, they were not realistically white, so I put a white mesh behind the pupils. The mesh was made with hot melt glue and white yarn on a non-stick Teflon baking tray. The sloppy glue job was touched up, opening the little holes between yarns, with a small soldering iron.

I used latex caulk to fill in the cracks in the skin surface but left the cracks not caulked in the hair area. The cracks more or less parallel the directions that hair might grow, so they tied in, and let me demonstrate the difference between caulked and uncaulked areas.

If you look in the hair area, especially on the back side, you will see some ventilation holes that have been left open.