The giant head masks of painter Jane Filer

Jane lives down a long, bumpy driveway through the trees, in a house she built with her husband John, surrounded by trees.

Jane says bike helmets are too pointy, she prefers the rollerblading or skateboarding helmets, and she picks them up at the thrift store for a few bucks.

Using gorilla glue, she cuts tabs on both ends of toilet paper tubes and uses them as spacers between the helmet and the interior of the mask.

After the spacers are dry and firmly attached to the helmet, she attaches them to the, strips of cereal and graham cracker boxes she uses to make a very light-weight armature. Everything gets taped and stapled together.

She had a friend over to help her.
We discussed the fact that it's hard to find plain wallpaper paste in powder form any more - jeez, it used to be such a staple. Now the big box stores want to sell you pre-mixed wallpaper paste in big tubs. Have we gotten so stupid we have to have a corporation add water to our wallpaper paste and ship it across the country with the water already in it?


She found some of the old-fashioned stuff at Ace Hardware. I told her about the Paperhand Puppet guys using cornstarch and she's going to try that next.

She uses newspaper and soaks it well, she does two layers and lets them dry before doing a bunch more layers.

She covers the dry, finished head with black gesso and then paints it with acrylics.

She likes to put black screening over the mouths so the mask wearers can't be seen.

This lens is part of Chapel Hill Fiddler's Puppets & Masks CollectionPunch and Judy • How to Make your Own Punch & Judy Dolls • Casting a plaster mold to make a paper mache head • Punch & Judy show: the other characters • Bread and Puppet Circus • How to Make a Handmade Parade • Adult Puppet Theater • Make a La Llorona paper mache mask • Scary Masks from Afar • How to make a giant puppet and an El Tigre head • The giant head masks of Jane Filer • Make a space alien head from papier mache • Creep masks for Halloween inspiration • See all the puppet lenses at once • The scary recycled puppets of artist Michel Nedjar