Masquerade on a Budget

Today I'm going to tell you how to make stunning masks for your next Masquerade ball without the stunning price tag.I'll be using my masks from this year's Burlesque Masquerade Ball as examples of the finished product.

What you will need:
Some basic masks from your local discount store. For us Kiwi's try $2 shop or Coin Save.
Feathers. I used left over feathers from my Burlesque bustle.
Glitter and glittery paint.
Sequin, rhinestones, other such embelishments.
Hot glue gun loaded with hot glue.
Gaffer tape or other strong tape, cellotape will not work for this as it isn't durable enough.
Newspaper to cover the area you are working on. Be warned, if you aren't careful, glitter goes EVERYWHERE!!!

These supplies will cost you around $10-$20 and can be used to make multiple masks, maybe go in with some friends to make a bulk buy.

Obviously you need to think about the colour of your costume. This will affect what colour glitter you buy. The colour of the mask doesn't matter because if any colours don't match your costume you can just cover them with one that does.

First example:

This mask was originally blue and red. My costume was black and red so I took the glittery paint, painted over the the blue. While the paint was still wet I took a handful of black glitter and sprinkled it over the paint.
When it was dry I simply held the masks upside-down over the newspaper and tapped the back to make sure any loose glitter fell away.
Next I lined one eye with sequins.
To do this, take your hot glue gun and place one drop of glue where you want your sequin, place your sequin over top and hold for a moment so the glue dries.

Do not do a line of glue around the eye and try to stick multiple sequins on at once because the glue will dry too fast and your sequins wont stick. Doing it one at a time takes longer but you can be more precise with placement and it ensures your sequins are secure.

Now for the feathers! You may want to play around with placement before you glue anything into place.
Again, you'll need your glue gun. I also recommend doing the feathers individually just to make sure the glue dries properly around each one.
As you can see, the feathers are glued onto the back of the mask. This ensures people don't see the stalks or lumpy glue.
Once you've attached your last feather, take your gaffer tape or whatever equivalent you have and place a strip over the stalks where you glued them into place. This has the double effect of stopping the stalks poking into your head and also providing extra stability for your feathers.
For my leaves I placed hot glue straight onto the feathers then put the leaves over top. These leaves are actually just woven fabric so the glue came through onto my fingers a little bit, I sprinkled more glitter over the top just to hide the glue slightly.

Second Example:

This mask was originally purple and green. You can still see a little bit of the purple under the red glitter.

Again, I painted over the colours I didn't want with the glittery paint then sprinkled a handful of red glitter over the top of the pant while it was still wet. 

For something different I chose to stick the feathers on sideways for this mask. This also hides the ribbon which holds the mask on.

For the leaves I glued the black one onto the red ones first and covered them in glitter then, once the glue was dry, I made a line of glue from the corner of the mask onto the feathers and stuck the leaves on top of that. 

So there you have it, your very on how-to on making a gorgeous masquerade mask with out the massive price tag!