People have been making masks and wearing masks for all kinds of reasons for thousands of years. We wear them as a form of entertainment like in a play, we wear them to disguise ourselves like in a costume party.
Famous people wear masks or disguises so as not to be recognized. Masks were worn during Greek mythology times. They are worn as tools for telling a story during a rite of passage or recreating an event that happened in the past.
“Halloween is a day in which some people choose to wear a mask… while others finally feel safe to take theirs off.” ― Steve Maraboli
My experience with making a mask as therapeutic intervention?
When I was in day treatment therapy in high school, We had this therapist named Andy. And he facilitated us making masks of our own faces one day. He got out the plaster and a big jar of Vaseline and we rubbed our faces down with petroleum jelly and my partner dipped strips of fabric least with plaster into warm water and pressed it gently onto my face she did this until she covered my entire face with the plaster except for my nostrils.
Then we engaged in a trust walk around the building where she used her words and her Gentle Touch guided me around the building. When the mask was hardened we took it off and we discussed how that process felt for me. Then we swapped places and I made a mask of my partner’s face and did a trust walk with her. There’s so many therapeutic interventions going on in this one activity you can see why it’s so significant.
The second part of the mask making involved decorating the mask as we so chose. I decided that I was going to paint my mask to look just like me. And of course as a sixteen-year-old I wasn’t that good. It was frustrating. I became disheartened and was very unhappy with the product I was creating.
Mask making is about exploring Who You Are
The parts you’re trying to show and the parts you’re trying to hide. This activity can help their clients get to a part of themselves that they will just into their imagination or allows them to represent different metaphors in their life. You might find yourself exploring your personality.
A really great book I read by Mary Pipher is called Reviving Ophelia, Saving the Souls of Teenage Girls, she speaks throughout the book about your real self vs the ideal self and how teenage girls tend to hide themselves behind a mask because they are responding to societal and environmental pressures around them to be who the world wants them to be instead of being their ideal selves.
The activity promotes self awareness as well as self expression. The author says, “the mask,” but often refers to the practical and successful personality that we use most of the time in the workplace and social relationships.
We repress so many things behind that mask. We hide anger, jealousy and other negative emotions and sometimes it hides our creativity and intelligence as well. It begins as kids and we slowly press more and more down either because others have trained us to do so or we are responding to the world and the pressures around us. Like a girl who hides her intelligence because “boys are smarter than they are”.
So, Let’s Make a Mask Already
Mask making works best with two people.
One to be the model and the second to work the materials.
Here is what you need:
Vaseline or other petroleum based cream
Plaster wrap rolls (you can buy in bulk or get a package from a local craft store)
Bowl of warm water
A few towels, shower or hand
Scissors
DIRECTIONS
Step 1. Cut the wrap into 1-2” strips that will go across your face.
Step 2. Prep your model by having them cover their entire face with petroleum jelly. I usually add extra on top of any areas that have facial hair.
Step 3. Have your model lay down somewhere comfortable with a towel laid flay under their head and shoulders.
Step 4. Fill a bowl with warm water and place it on the towel near your models head. Begin dipping one strip of plaster into the bowl and gently pressing out the extra water.
Step 5. Lay the strip across the forehead of your model and gently run the plaster so it sticks to the face.
Step 6. Continue pressing one strip at a time across the model’s face. You may cut some strips shorts or narrower in order to reach certain areas. (If you are covering the eyes with plaster make certain you have petroleum jelly on the eye lashes.)
Step 7. Make sure you have at least 2 layers of plaster on the whole face.
Step 8. The plaster needs about 10-15 minutes to dry before removing.
Once the mask has been removed from the face of your model they can remove the petroleum jelly and dry their face.
You can then decorate your mask! The more materials the better!
That’s about it! Have fun with it! Use it as a fun exploration into your comfort zone, patience, trust etc… Or just do this for fun! Happy Arting!