Goat Skull Mask – a Unicorn Wish Come True

My family encountered a unicorn recently at the PA Renn Faire. My two young boys waited in line to hug the unicorn and get a single “unicorn wish”. The next day my 10yr old was digging through the covers of his bed looking for something and, being a helpful dad, I asked what he was looking for.

Him: oh… I’m looking for my unicorn wish

Me: yeah? It’s in your bed?

Him: maybe, I am really hoping it showed up

Me: ok. What are we looking for?

Him: a goat skull mask to wear on my face like an orc.

Me: 

Him:

And thus began this instructable.  

Cardboard boxes

Paper bag/light gauge carboard like cereal box

Hot glue

Paint of your choosing

Picture of a skull for inspiration

Aversion to sun on your face

An interest in pillaging

I started with my favorite template material, a brown paper bag and sketched out something that I thought might look skullish. 

It didn’t, at least not anything that would have survived birth. 

After some tweaking of proportions, you will likely come up with one that looks pretty decent.  Cut it out and put it on your face. Modify and repeat as needed. Ours are not 100% accurate but as I explained in my concrete skull tutorial, I am not a professional skull maker…yet.  

I shouldn’t have to say this… but make sure the eye holes line up with your eyes so you can see.

Because we don’t throw away carboard during the run up to Halloween we have a number of cardboard types to choose from. I chose a box of medium thickness and pliability with a nutty smell and a hint of cinnamon at the finish.

I’m kidding, its cardboard, any one will do.  

After making 4 of these (yes, my whole family wanted in) I found that lining up the cardboard corrugations from nose to forehead is better than from ear to ear. 

Trace the template onto the carboard and break out your trusty serrated cardboard knife.  

Once you have the carboard cut to shape pre-bend the sheet so it rolls evenly and wrap it so it fits around your face. The bottom nasal bone pieces are going to roll all the way around to touch each other underneath creating the “skully nose tunnel” (or nasal bone and premaxilla for you sciency types)

Plug in the hot glue gun to preheat. Once it is finger scorchingly hot the magic happens.  

Roll the skully nose tunnel up and glue at the bottom.  Hold it until the glue cools down, it will be hot and you will likely get burned but Orc style takes commitment.

Dart the top of the skull in 3 places to allow it to conform to your still human face a little closer and glue those together. Your fingers will be tougher by the end of this.

You can make it a little easier to wear by adding in a “skull cap” of carboard along the top and glue that in. It is not 100% necessary but we found it does help the skull from falling down and blinding you mid axe swing.

Decide what kind of beast you want to wear to terrify the locals. Do you want bull type horns, horns that evoke the God of Mischief Loki, or like my youngest… boar tusks.

Horns are easy but they are tedious. Cause it’s cutting a bunch of strips to make tubes. Enlist your little Orcs for help.  

I started with 20cm long pieces and each successive tube was 1cm shorter so they fit inside each other nicely.  Orcs and the rest of Middle Earth use the metric system, maybe one day the rest of America will get on board. For the stubborn ones a “cm” is roughly 3/8 inch.  

Take the tubes and glue them together in a shape that appeals to you and your Dark Lord

So far the shape is good but it is missing something… So I suggest painting it. Choose your motif and roll with it. 

We had 2 bleached bone colored ones, a freshly fleshed yellowed skull, and my youngest son who painted it “so that it looks like it has dried skin still on it”

They’re creative little fellows.

Customize your mask with some bone crack marks, some shading around the eye sockets, and your lord’s mark.  

Here I am sporting the Blood Hand of my Sorceress Queen and my youngest with his "skin on" boar skull.

I made my Orclings some wooden weapons, they wrapped themselves in chewed up dog blankets and leather scraps. My Sorceress Queen broke out her wool cloak and I my chainmail and longsword. Are the masks perfect? No, but by the time someone is that close you can wack them with your pole axe.

Tonight we set off to lay waste to a neighborhood undoubtedly full of Marvel superheroes, Disney princesses, and inflatable dinos

Here’s hoping it doesn’t rain, Orcs hate rain and it’s harder to pillage with an umbrella.