How to Make a Tribal Mask Out of Air-Drying Clay

I made a decorative mask out of air drying clay, in order to explore and learn how the medium works.

1. 500 grams of Air Drying Clay
2. A roller
3. A cloth on which you can roll
4. A pot(preferably terracotta) to act as a base
5. scratching tool(a small fork, or some toothpicks taped together)
6. A sponge
7. A blunt cutting tool, like a butter knife
8. Acrylic paints
9. Brushes and Palette

Take around half of the clay, and roll it into an even, approximately 2-4 mm sheet using the roller after placing it on a cloth so it doesn't stick to the ground. Make sure the clay doesn't develop any cracks, although with this medium, it is unlikely it will do so. Always remember to keep sprinkling water whenever you feel like your clay is getting a little stiff. Take a small ball, and place your roller along the centre. Roll outwards in soft, repetitive, jerky motions while pushing into the clay slightly, in order to pull the clay out evenly. Do this on both sides for a bit, then flip the slab around and turn it sideways, and repeat. Continue this process until you have got a nice, wide and even slab of clay of your desired thickness.

After you are satisfied with your slab, take it gently off the cloth and place it on a pot or container of the shape which you want your final mask shape to be. If you don't have one, you could also try to make this out of Papier-mâché. To be safe, place your cloth between the slab and the container so as to prevent it from sticking. Terracotta pots generally won't stick though, which is what I used. After placing your slab in a stable way, use a blunt knife to cut out the shape of your mask. It's a good idea to etch out an outline on the slab itself first, before cutting, as small scratch marks can be fixed easily, but cutting your slab too much would mean a redo.

Make a triangular lump approximately the size that you want your nose to be. Then do a preliminary sketch of the approximate area on the slab where you want the nose to go. Use the scratching tool you have chosen and make many small holes as shown in the figure. Do this both on the slab and on the side of the nose lump which you want to stick. Make both sides very wet by either squeezing water from the sponge or sprinkling water from your hands. Push the two sides together, and it should stick well. Make sure the entire surface underneath the nose is covered in scratches so that it sticks well

After sticking the clay, you now have to shape it to look like a nose. Push the clay from the top of the nose towards the bottom to make it more triangular. Make the clay wet while you work if you feel it is getting hard to work with. Merge the edges of the nose with the slab so that there are no gaps. Push in the nostrils from the bottom of the nose and make the nostrils bulge out in the same way. Make sure to depress the portions around the nostril to make it more realistic. Flatten the top of the nose to make a narrow nose bridge. Take note to observe a person's face and work, in order to make it more accurate and add finer details

Make a shape resembling the forehead and stick it in the same method described above. Make the top taper in and push the extra clay from that side forward to make the forehead bulge. At the end of the forehead, make a steeper curve to make the eyebrows and the top of the eye socket. Smoothen everything using water. You can try to slightly push out the eyebrow sections before you finish as well

Make two triangle shaped blocks and make the taper into the slab from the bottom. Stick them as described previously. Don't make the cheeks to think or you will make your nose sink in. Again make it taper more steeply towards the eyes in order to make the cheekbones and eyesocket. Merge the cheek with the nose section in a similar way. Make the depression right around your nostrils remains. After this step the eyesocket will be complete; you can cut out what would be the eyeball at this point if you want to make eyeholes

Make two similar size pieces for the upper and lower mouth. Stick them again as described. Don't make it too think and merge it in on all sides. Pinch out the lips a bit at the gap between the two mouth pieces.

Once you are satisfied with the basic face you can start making small designs. Using a pen cap you can get circles, and by using the back of a paintbrush you can make streaks along the side of the face. Let it dry for a day without touching it after you're done.

To help visualise how you're going to paint it, first draw out the basic sections using a pen pencil. If you want you can label each section with the colour you want it to be to help prevent confusion later on. Once you are done, start using acrylic paints to colour in these sections. Use a palette and mix colours if you don't have the specific colour you want. You can paint your decorations in different colours from the surrounding sections in order to make them stand out. 

Wait for the paint to dry, and you're done! You now have a tribal mask made out of air drying clay.