How do I make a Venetian mask?

How do you make a long nose venetian mask?

• I want to make one like this http://www.socaldesignco.com/cart/product.php?productid=16308 I have the plaster wrap, I just need to know how to shape the nose part, like, what materials would I need to make a shape like that?

• Answer:

  Using corrugated card board. The stuff cardboard boxes are made from. This will be your armature to build upon. Cut out a silhouette or side view of the desired form. Then cut out a silhouette of the top view. Slitting each silhouette partially and intersecting the two pieces will give you a rough form. Or you can take paper wadded up into the basic form that you want bind with some masking tape to hold the form then apply you paper mache over that. Both of the processes I'vee offered will however add weigh to the nose causing the finished mask to be a bit heavier in that direction. The original mask as well as your example were probably made using a mold that the paper mache was lain into. Those mask's original purpose was not for celebration and nose on those masks were originally meant to be hollow . During the plagues in Europe doctors treating plague victims did not want to be identified for fear of other patients and people recognizing them as having been in contact with people infected with the plague. The hollow nose was stuffed with perfumed clothe or flowers that gave off agreeable aromas to help block out the odor of death and disease. Today and since the times of plague these masks are used during carnivals as a celebratory mocking of death.