Blue Spirit Mask

The Blue Spirit is an intriguing character - or, aspect of a character, I suppose? - from the amazing series, Avatar: The Last Airbender. In fact, I ended up watching the show because a friend expressed an interest in cosplaying the Blue Spirit. I loved the look of this mask and was curious who or what was behind it! I was not disappointed.

The mask is fairly large on the character, proportionally. To make sure I got it right, I first started with a paper mockup and simply held it to my face to see how it looked. After a few tries, this was the size I decided on.

Because the "horns" and "crown" sections of the mask really needed to be as flat and symmetrical as possible, I came up with the idea of starting with a cardboard base over my head form and building up from there. It worked wonderfully!

Here you can see the mask taking shape, sculpted in my usual medium of Monster Clay, and me using my much-loved trick of pre-crafting a part of the mask that would be difficult to have as part of the final mold (the tusks, in this case). See Tip: Using Pre-made Objects while Sculpting.

I removed the tusks from the final sculpture to prepare it for molding. I also decided to go with a wood-grain appearance for some additional detail on the final piece, though the actual material the mask is made from is never stated.

The molding and casting process is my usual - start with several layers of brushed-on Rebound 25 silicone, and then create a two-part mother mold from FreeForm Air epoxy putty. The only difference here is the scale - I put the mold for another of my full face masks (the Clockwork Masquerade mask, in this case) beside it for scale. The Blue Spirit is quite a monster of a mold!

Here's the piece cast in raw, white Smooth Cast 65D resin and then cleaned up and assembled.

And finally, here are a couple more pictures of my first painted version of the mask. The eyes, nose, and mouth holes are covered with mesh fabric so I can see out and have great ventilation, but am practically invisible inside! Love this stuff.

Categories: Costuming, Discontinued Pieces, Masks and Props
Tags: ATLA, Avatar The Last Airbender, Blue Spirit, cosplay, costume, face, mask, painted, resin, white, Zuko
Live Date: 1/19/2016 | Last Modified: 1/18/2016