Making a papier mache cast of your face.

What you need:
Tissue paper (Not Toilet tissue!)
You can use any kind of paper for papier mache, but youll get far better results from propper gift-wrap tissue paper. News paper and writing paper are a little too thick for detailed work, and toilet tissue / kitchen roll / kleenex will just fall apart.

Glue
A water based, child friendly glue such as PVA or paste is what you want, partucularly if your going to apply it to your skin as i describe. Plese dont use walpaper paste! It has fungicide in it that you *really* dont want to get on your face. Just use your common sence and look for a big bottle of the non toxic stuff.

Also:
Sponge - For applying the glue (you can use a brush if you wish).
Plate - To dilute the glue in.
Water.
Mirror - If your doing this on your own.

One of the best things about making a papier mache cast of your face is that you can do it on your own without assistance. It does take a couple of hours though and its best not to have any interuptions, if only because no one looks their best with a load of tissue paper stuck to their face..

You should try to keep your face still as you apply the paper, so keep a neutral comfortable position and try not to talk or eat.

Before you start, be warned that it takes a while for the tissue to begin to dry.
During that period you will be probably wondering what the hell your doing with a load of soggy cold paper stuck to your face. You may even decide that it's not working. Hang in there! It will eventually begin to dry and tighten up, forming a hard shell over your face. It just takes a while.

If you want to speed the process you can use a hair dryer, but be careful not to burn yourself.

Getting started
Get yourself set up in frount of a mirror with all the stuff described above.
Tear or cut the tissue into strips of about 1 to 2cm (half an inch or so) wide.
Squeese some of the glue onto the plate and dilute it with an equal amount of water.
If you have long hair, tie it or slick it back. And if you have sensative skin, you might want to use a moisturiser.

Wet your face with water and take a long strip of tissue. It should just stick to your damp skin so lay it across your forehead as shown. Damp your sponge and use it to smooth the paper to your skin. This will iron out any wrinkles in it and coat the surface with glue, ready for the next strip.

Take another strip of paper and dangle it across the centre of your face as shown. Now take the glue damped sponge and dab the paper onto your skin, working from the top down. The sponge will push the paper into the dips and peaks of your face, covering it accurately. If the paper tears a little as you push it into the curve of your face dont worry, you can paper over the tear with the next layer, but try not to do this two much or youll wind up with a lumpy face.
Use just enough of the dilute glue to soak into the paper and make the surface tacky for the next piece, dont go overboard. The more moisture you put in the longer it'll take to dry.

Next, repeat the process with a couple of strips down the side of your face.
One across your chin.
And one across your top lip.

Next, tear the strips into smaller pieces and start on covering your cheeks chin and forehead.
Try to avoid moving your face too much as this will wrinkle up the papier mache.

Move on to cover the rest of your face (making sure you dont cover your nostrils or mouth of course, you still want to breath). Take little pieces of paper for detailed areas like the nose and lips, using the sponge to push them into place.

Once you have covered your entire face, start on the second layer. The first layer should still be slightly sticky from the glue you used to slick it down with. So just lay the tissue on dry and slick down with the sponge as before.

As you build up more layers you can use bigger pieces of tissue to save time. In my experience it takes a good 5 or six layers to get it thick enough. You should be able to feel how thick it is to the touch. If you come across any thin areas, just layer on more paper.

Once your satisfied with the thickness, just sit back and try not to laugh.
By this point you should be looking like a cross between the mummy and a mexican wrestler (depending on the color of tissue you've used).
As ive said, drying takes a while, but after 20 minutes you should feel a tightening on your face as it dries. Try to keep patient and wait till its fully dried - you can tell beacause it will be hard and gives a hollow tapping noise when you drum your nails on it.

Start moving your face under the mask and you should feel it coming away, try to get as much as you can off like this, before lifting the edges and pulling it carefully away from your face.

And there you have it, a papier mache mask molded to your face, you may need to add some extra pieces of tissue here and there around the edges to neaten them up, but you should need to put it on again to do so. You can use it as a basis for a mask, or even get a face cast from it.