Kid's Coraline Mask

My Daughter and I always build complementary costumes and this year we were inspired by a favourite movie of ours, Coraline. We pretty much decided this last year immediately after Hallowe'en. She would be Coraline Jones and I would be Wybie Lovat.

Most of my masks are built with the following list of Materials

1. Some sort of base to build on so that the mask is wearable. (hard hart, helmet)
2. Some type of foam that is 1/2" thick, flexible and easy to cut.
3. Some fleece material from the thrift store.
4. Craft foam
5. Spray Adhesive, double sided tape or contact cement

I have used a hart hat for many of the masks I have built but this year I picked up a free bicycle helmet out of a neighbour's free pile. Arguably it's more comfortable than the hard hat. I used the same template that I used for my Wybie mask. THis shape seems to work quite well. You just have to use spray adhesive or contact cement on the edges to join the tabs together. Once dry, you can attach the tabs and then trim the chin to a uniform curve. Since Coraline has such a flat top to her head, I trimmed the top off of the helmet and then glued a flat piece of foam to the top of the helmet. After testing the fit on my daughter's head, I was able to find the right location for eye holes and a mouth hole, and I modeled them after this reference picture. I also carved a nose shape out of foam and glued it on. This isn't a specific type of foam that I purchased at a store. It was just some packing foam left over from some kind of shipment.

I wanted to make sure my daughter would have good visibility out of this mask, so made the eyes a little larger and chose a mouth shape that would offer lots of expression and breathability. With the eyes and mouth cut out, I proceeded to cover the entire mask in a coat of spray adhesive on the outside. I also add some on the inside of the mask where the fleece material folds into the mouth and eye holes, and also around the back of the mask. I spray the fleece material as well and after they have dried enough I carefully apply the material to the mask trying not to get folds and creases in the fleece. This is a tricky step because you don't want the material to stick to itself. Once that was complete, I started with the eyes. It's just a square cut of white plastic styrene going across the opening of the eye. The opening ends up being the viewing hole for the wearer and simply looks like an eyelid from a distance. I used some red craft foam and double sided tape to add the lips to the mouth.

I used this method for eyes on my Wybie costume. I found some eyes on google images and printed the 3/4" in diameter on my photo printer. I punched them out with a 3/4" punch and used double sided tape to stick them to the plastic. I also attached some eye brows which I neglected to take process pictures for. I simply cut some black craft foam and used a strip of double-sided tape and some thin wire in between so that I could make posable brows and change the expression if needed. I left the wire a little longer so that I could just push it through the foam and fold it over on the inside of the mask. My model was very happy to get her new eyes, especially since they were not black buttons! You can see in this step that I also added some teeth by cutting little strips of white craft foam, and I also mocked up some blue material that I thought I might use for hair.

At this point of the build, we had acquired much of the other items we needed for the costume. We bought the official Coraline bag which was cheaper than many of the bags I was finding at thrift stores. I bought a used yellow rain coat from ebay. Do not buy any of the ones from Amazon. The quality was terrible and sent the one I initially bought back. I aslo got the rain boots on facebook marketplace for $15 brand new.

The blue material that I mocked up earlier was glued on to the top of the head to help hide the top of the foam. I ended up buying a wig on amazon and it worked out perfectly. I just had to snip the inside netting to help fit the wig over the size of the helmet. I used a hot glue gun to attach the wig. I then carved some ears out of the foam and used the same spray adhesive method to cover them with fleece material. We bought the replica butterfly hair clip and stone and key. Again, they were quite cheap which helped justify the purchase. Certainly I prefer to make most of the things, but when you're juggling deadlines, multiple costumes and work, cutting some corners is necessary. I asked my daughter if she just wanted to where a wig and some make-up, she insisted that we build a mask because "buying everything for a Hallowe'en costume isn't building a Hallowe'en costume". I also picked up the NECA replica Coraline doll from ebay to carry along with our costumes. And............I'm just noticing as I'm writing this instructable that we forgot to add the freckles to Coraline's face. A minor detail that we can add later. I added some pics from trick r' treating and in true Coraline fashion, it was a dark and stormy night!!