Here is the plague doctor mask I made for this year's Halloween. I started off with a cheap plastic beak style masquerade mask I got for a dollar. I was a perfect fit over my glasses so that was a bonus. I did have to modify the basic shape to get what I wanted.

The first thing was the cheeks jutting out too far so the clear plastic lens I got from the scrap bin at work. So I cut notches in the mask to flatten it and used hot glue to keep it flat. I then cut down the lens on the table router (hairy experience as it kept getting caught on the blade and jumps out of my paw). Then I smoothed it out the best I could with a belt sander. Got it shaved down to fit on the mask.

I didn't like how the beak upturns at the end so I snipped a series of triangle-shaped notches to bend it downward. Again I used hot glue to secure it in place. I originally wanted a nice, smooth downward curve but got that small "hump" section that I actually liked better. The beak did end up bending slightly to one side. I tried to bend it back but it is still there. Just part of the look now.

The mask only had the top part of the beak with the rest open. I wanted a fuller look so I took regular white glue and mixed it with 50/50 parts water (I actually added more than 50/50 water but it still worked) and used it to affix a sheet of that blue shop paper towel, soaking it with a brush. Kinda like paper mache but with a different texture. The sheet was too short to reached all the way to the end of the beak. I planned to add another sheet but I liked the exposed part in the end so I left it (plus I am lazy).

To get the bottom part of the beak to "puff" out, I stuffed it with tissue paper since that is what I had at the moment. I can easily pull it out and use something better in the future but for one day, it was fine especially it didn't get wet or anything.

Once dry, I hot glued two scrape metal rings I got from work on the lens, sanding off the marking on the rings first. The are a little off-center, facing inward for better, forward facing vision.

The whole thing got a few coats of flat black paint, achieving the look I was going for. I only spent two weekends working on and off on the entire costume (not counting time buying the various pieces here and there). Overall, I am happy in the end result. Of course, I wanted a lot more but for the limited time frame, I did enough to be convincing methinks. Well, enough to scare some people at work so at least that was a success.

I primarily made this mask for Halloween, hence the paper materials I used. I'll switch to some sort of plastic or form if I wanted something more permanent. Or made seal the whole thing in something waterproof.

I am going to post more on the mask in the coming days. If you have any questions on it, let me know.