WIP-Moose Mask

I have finally started on Zach's mask. He has his first home game on Friday and I would like to get the mask done for the game. The team will also be wearing their new jerseys that have this logo. After taking the mask apart and putting the pieces in a ziplock bag, I mask the back using 3m masking tape.

My next step is to sand the clear off the mask. This is a brand new mask so I do not need to do any extra repairs or prime. I will just sand using a grey scotch pad. Once sanded, I clean the mask using a degreaser and wipe off with a tack rag.

Next using blue I spray my first coats. I let it dry and then go over the mask again with a pearl blue and finally a darker mixture to give it depth. I did not go too dark here because I did not want to overdo the color. I will come back at a later point to darken if required.

The first step is to start the transfer process. I decided to use 3m transfer tape as my mask material. Using my light table I put the tranfer tape over a inkjet print of my design.

Here you can see the image that I traced out on the transfer tape. Be careful when you peel the masking tape away from image. This will give me the exact image that I want to paint.

I have placed the 3m tranfer tape on the mask making sure it is properly aligned. The toughest part of any mask is designing around the mask holes.

I prefer using xacto knife to cut the mask. Here you see the moose color areas, all cut out and ready to paint. I use autoair paints for this entire project.

Once the color is painted I and completely dry, I pull the tape material off and get ready to paint the black. I lay another piece of transfer tape on the mask area and cut out the black areas. I pull away the pieces that will be painted and I start the paint process again. It is important to make sure the paint has time to cure before you remask.

So here we are. This is all I plan to complete for today. Tomorrow I will continue the painting as there are a few more hours before I can clear.

The most important part in any project is your plan of attack. If you don't properly plan your painting/masking process, you could put in a lot of extra hours in a project. Unnecessary hours will kill your profits. 

I will post progress in the next day or so.

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