How to Make a Mick Thomson Slipknot Mask

Creating a Face-Fitting Mask Base

Decide whether to purchase a mask base or make your own. If you make the mask base using the instructions in this section, you'll have a mask that conforms to your face, letting you concentrate on building the Mick Thomson mask shape on top of it. You could skip this section instead, and purchase a plastic face mask from a craft stores or toy shop. If you do this, take notes on which areas of the mask are too small for you. This will help guide you as you build on top of the base. If you have a friend to help you, you can make a plaster mask instead of either of these options.

Make a stack of aluminum foil. Lay out eight to ten layers of aluminum foil on top of each other, in a rectangle large enough to cover your whole face. This may seem like a lot of aluminum, but a thinner stack is likely to tear before you're finished making the mask. Since the Mick Thomson mask has a tall, exaggerated jaw, use a sheet of foil that extends past your chin to give yourself more room to work with.

Scrunch the foil, then flatten it out. If the foil is smooth, crumple it slightly to give it a texture, then flatten it out again. Pushing in from the sides to make a few peaks in the foil should be enough; you don't need to crumple it into a ball.

Flatten the foil onto your face. Press the foil over your whole face. Press down onto each of your features to turn the foil into a 3D outline.

Cut the mask. Cut the eye holes first, so you can look through the mask into a mirror and use a sharpie to mark where the mask needs to be cut next. In addition to the eye holes, make the following cuts: Cut a flat line high above the forehead. If you don't have long hair like Mick Thomson, you might want to use a more rounded line around your forehead. Cut the mask into two pieces. Cut the foil in half along the upper lip. This gives you more control over the shape of each section.

Sculpt the mask. Put on the top half of the mask and press the foil in under the nose, around your nostrils. Sculpt the lower half to the sides of your jaws, but extend the chin down in a narrowing rectangle, to roughly mimic Mick Thomson's mask.

Tape the mask. Use masking tape to keep the layers of aluminum together around the entire outline of your face. Tape the two halves of the mask back together again, now that the nose and jaw are sculpted more accurately. Continue on to the next section to start building your face mask into something worthy of a Slipknot concert.

Making the Plaster Mask

Set up your supplies. Purchase plaster cloth, or plaster tape, from a crafts store. Put a layer of newspaper over a table to catch spills, then lay out your mask base, a cup of water, and the plaster cloth. Keep the water in between the two objects, or off to the side, so you don't drip over the plaster cloth you haven't used yet. You can use homemade papier mâché instead, but plaster cloth is usually easier to work with and less messy.

Dip a strip of plaster cloth in water. Gently dip the cloth in water, then wipe it against the edge of the cup as you pull it out. This technique makes it less likely to bunch in on itself, and removes excess moisture that can make a mess and increase the drying time. Cool or room temperature water is recommended, since warm water may make the plaster cloth stiffen up faster.

Rub the cloth onto the mask. Lay the wet strip of plaster cloth at any position on your mask base. Rub it onto the surface, until the strip is smooth and the fibers have flattened out along your base mask surface. If the strip is drying out before it is smooth, add a dab more water with your fingertips. If water is pooling on your mask, soak it up with a paper towel. Try to use less water for the next strip, since the plaster can wash away and become less effective. If the cloth rips or leaves loose strings, cut the fray off.

Cover the entire mask base. Add more plaster cloth to the entire mask base surface. Repeat until you have a covering two or three layers deep. Once this dries, you'll be able to remove it from the foil base and use it as a sturdier, more comfortable mask.

Cut the mask, then let dry. Use an awl or hole punch to punch a hole on each side of the mask, above the ears, so you'll be able to wear it. Cut two small holes for your nostrils. Let this dry until it no longer feels cold to the touch. If you are using a store-bought mask, see the next step for an additional instruction before you continue to the next section.

Change the shape of the mask (optional). This step is only necessary if you are using a store-bought mask base, instead of a mask base you made to fit your face. Before the plaster has dried, bend the areas of the mask that are too small for your face, such as the nose or chin. Crush the partially dried plaster in these areas, and use new wet strips of plaster cloth to extend the mask into a shape that you can wear.

Adding on a Mick Thomson Slipknot Design

Look at reference pictures. It's time to turn this generic mask into Mick Thomson's terrible visage. Keep several pictures of Mick Thomson's mask handy so you have something to base your design on as you work. Mick Thomson has gone through several mask designs. Pick your favorite and use reference pictures of that model, or you might confuse yourself looking at multiple different designs.

Make the nose. In most Mick Thomson masks, the bridge of the nose is raised and rectangular, and the sides are also flat and angled out sharply. You can make this using plaster cloth strips as before, but you can save time and reduce the masks' weight by building a rough base of this design using corrugated cardboard squares. Tape them on top of each to imitate this design. Cover them with plaster cloth as before, until no cardboard is visible.

Form the cheekbones and cheeks. This portion of the mask is also made of flat, angled sections. Build up the cheekbones with overlapping strips, making them thicker toward the front. Make a significant angle change between the cheekbones and the cheeks, by building up the top of the cheeks beneath the cheekbones, then pressing them into a sharp angle.

Add the mouth vents. Use triangular strips of plaster cloth, pinched together at the wide end, to build the vertical strips of "metal" between the mouth vents.

Add other details (optional). You can continue making as many adjustments as you like, to imitate the furrowed brow, the raised eyelid corners, or other features that have shown up on some Mick Thomson masks. Remember, when using plaster cloth, you are building up on top of the mask. To make a furrow, you'll have to build the plaster cloth around it, as you did with the mouth vents. You can also leave these finer details until the steps below.

Let the mask dry. As before, let the mask dry until it is no longer cool to the touch. Since there are now thick sections of plaster, this could take several days, depending on climate conditions and how wet the plaster was.

Paint the mask. Use a paint brush to cover the mask with metallic silver paint. After this coat has dried, use a black or dark grey to fill in the "holes" in the mouth vent, and to make the furrows around the eyes, cheekbones, and cheeks more obvious. Continue on once this paint has also dried. Optionally, you can mix streaks of grey paint into the silver to make a "grittier," less shiny mask.

Add a strap to wear the mask. Tie a heavy string through each hole on the side so you can wear the mask. To put it on, tie the other ends of the strings together around the back of your head.