Georgia State’s Royal Ball theme, Phantom of the Opera, is a classic and it definitely brings out the inner dark and mysterious. If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, a mask needs to be on your ‘to have’ list for this event, but do you really want to spend money on a glorified mask when it could be going toward your dress, suit or shoes?
If you really insist on wanting to buy one, I recommend PartyCity for a simple lace mask ranging about $7 going up to more detailed masks ranging about $20 for both men and women! But I mean, unless you’re going to another Masquerade any time soon, it’s okay to claim being cheap at this time and make a personalized one instead, so I have a couple of options for you.
What you need:
- Blank mask (I got my empty white one from PartyCity for about three dollars and it cuts in half after the nose)
- Paint and paint brushes
- Hot glue gun
- Glitter (you can use glitter glue pens or a bottle of glitter will do you justice)
- Craft items(these items may vary, but here are suggestions):
- Feathers or replace with fake flowers (You can buy bundles of fake flowers at the dollar store)
- Small round beads (used to make bracelets)
Option one
For guys and girls — Start with your blank mask. If you have acrylic paint from previous art projects, go ahead and paint it on the mask. I highly suggest sticking with one solid color, especially if you’re not too crafty and want something simple, but go crazy if you’d like.
If you still see white showing through the paint, give it a nice second coat and let it dry. While you’re waiting, heat up that glue gun and have your glitter bottle ready with some newspaper underneath to lessen the mess.
Once your paint is dry take your glue gun and work from the edges of the mask in-ward, preferably left to right for righties and right to left for lefties (this is only to prevent you going back over the glue with your hand and messing up your design). Draw swirl motions with your glue gun and quickly pour glitter over the hot glue, while it’s still hot of course. Don’t be afraid of the glitter, dump enough to cover the hot glue.
Option two
For guys and girls — If you’re not feeling the glitter, don’t fret. You can still paint the white mask with a solid color and do the same steps with the hot glue, but this time let the glue dry fully, give it roughly five minutes. Once dry, paint over the the dry glue with a contrasting color that will pop from the background color you’ve chosen. So don’t have a solid black with a royal blue as your design color, it won’t show. This will give your mask an embedded design effect.
Option three
For the girls, but partake guys! While waiting for your base paint or glue to dry, pick out what craft items you want on your mask and where you’d like it on the mask. The design here is really up to you and how you think the colors are working together, but if you need a starting color scheme the classic Georgia State colors: Blue and white will be a great guide. For crafts, my suggestions are to put bigger stuff at the top following your hairline or on the sides (corner of the masks), so that you won’t have feathers or flowers poking your eyes out while jammin’ on the dance floor. This is optional, but if you want to hold your mask, add a wooden craft stick to one of the ends of the mask to serve as a holding rod.
Share your finished creations with us by uploading to Instagram and tagging us @gsusignal. Happy Homecoming Panthers!
- 2016 Homecoming Royal Ball at Americas-Mart.
- Friday, Oct. 21 from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
- Dress is formal and tickets can be purchased through spotlight.gsu.edu.
- All GSU Campus student tickets will be $10.
- Limited to one guest per GSU student, guest tickets are $15.
