Making of the Lion King Masks

These masks were a collaboration with Anne Nguyen who did most of the painted details. Working from images of the original wooden masks used in the theatrical production The Lion King, we crafted ours from cardboard, cut, folded and taped into the shape desired. The masks were paper mâchéd for add strength, then painted and detailed. For the Mustafa mask we used 33 straws and a hand full of pipe stems paper mâché'd in brown butcher paper, detailed with sharpie and raffia, to create the pieces for the mane, hot glued those into place around the head in two layers. And finally added two gold painted ping pong balls for the eyes. I asked an artist friend, Anna M. Sauer to help out with the unusual mohawk styled mane for the Scar mask.