Your own paper head mask

October 18, 2010 8:13 AM

Remember that amazing giant head papercraft Halloween mask from last year? You can get your own now.
posted by Dragonness (25 comments total)

I would totally do this except for the fact that it would scare the absolute shit out of my son.
posted by MustardTent at 8:20 AM on October 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

I would totally do this except for the fact that because it would scare the absolute shit out of my daughter.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 8:23 AM on October 18, 2010 [6 favorites]

Yeah, I'm waiting for the one where when someone takes the mask off they find out that I'm not behind it, and instead there is a heap of tightly wrapped together live snakes mimicking my form. Because Halloween needs the scary.
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:23 AM on October 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

Because Halloween needs the scary.

“Daddy, I had a bad dream.” You blink your eyes and pull up on your elbows. The clock glows red in the darkness—it’s 3:23.

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“No, Daddy.”

The oddness of the situation wakes you up more fully. You can barely make out your daughter’s pale form in the darkness of your room.

“Why not sweetie?”

“Because in my dream, when I told you about the dream, the thing wearing Mommy’s skin sat up.” For a moment, you feel paralyzed; you can’t take your eyes off of your daughter. The covers behind you begin to shift.
posted by empath at 8:33 AM on October 18, 2010 [46 favorites]

Nice, but no. The genius of the original it is is the wearer's actual facial features on the DK head. Now, if someone were selling software that would require me to take a dozen digital photos of my head from specified angles and then generate one of these personalized for me, then I would fight to give them my money.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:42 AM on October 18, 2010

The reason children fear monsters is competition.
posted by srboisvert at 8:43 AM on October 18, 2010 [7 favorites]

Nice, but no. The genius of the original it is is the wearer's actual facial features on the DK head. Now, if someone were selling software that would require me to take a dozen digital photos of my head from specified angles and then generate one of these personalized for me, then I would fight to give them my money.

They're not selling the software, but it would be your face. You upload the photos to them. But it's only the face they'll do, not the full oversize head thing.
posted by l2p at 8:46 AM on October 18, 2010

Now, if someone were selling software that would require me to take a dozen digital photos of my head

Reading the site, it looks like it's only two photos.
posted by underflow at 8:47 AM on October 18, 2010

The ultimate expression of our narcissistic culture, dressing as yourself for Halloween. Dear adults, you're doing it wrong.
posted by ND¢ at 8:48 AM on October 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

Real horror: Sammy began to laugh. His horrible laugh was even worse than his horrible voice.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 8:49 AM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

(btw, before i get credit for that, that's just a bit of classic copypasta)
posted by empath at 8:52 AM on October 18, 2010

They're not selling the software, but it would be your face.

By God, so it is. Okay, I like this now.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:55 AM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

One year, I went to Halloween as a friend of mine. Wore clothes that I thought he'd wear, made a mask from a photo I had of him. He was at the party already when we showed up. Laughs were had.

The following year, my brother went to Halloween wearing a mask of himself.
posted by Plutor at 9:18 AM on October 18, 2010

When I was in college, a guy went to the theatre dep't Halloween party dressed as me. He was a little taller, but lanky like me. At the time, I had long dyed-black straight hair, small round glasses, wore a fedora and a trenchcoat everywhere, all of which are apparently easy to find in Wal-Mart's costume section.

I, the antisocial guy I was, spent the night at home and blew off the party.

Several people were apparently confused as to why I went to the party with that guy's girlfriend and didn't bother to dress up.
posted by AzraelBrown at 9:28 AM on October 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

The original guy-dressing-as-his-own-giant-head costume is awesome, because it gives everyone around him that weird sense that things are the same and yet they're wrong. Even the pictures of the partly assembled head are unsettling. It's a delightful piece of art, in the sense of "things people make so that other people will see them and feel something."

I'm not sure what the effect will be from a regular-size mask of yourself -- possibly just as weird? Or it might just come off as an egotistical joke. Where it really starts getting interesting is if couples get them and switch ...

By the way, if you want to make papercraft models yourself, Sketchup has a super easy learning curve. Once you build the 3D model, you can flatten and print it with Flattery. I recently used this approach to design a cardboard fish costume for my bike (with only about 18 faces, instead of the 300+ this guy used), and it saved me time over pencil and paper the first time I picked it up.
posted by jhc at 9:29 AM on October 18, 2010 [12 favorites]

The ultimate expression of our narcissistic culture, dressing as yourself for Halloween. Dear adults, you're doing it wrong.

Or it could just be goofy fun. Jesus.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:53 AM on October 18, 2010

Now dressing as goofy fun Jesus, there's a good idea.
posted by ND¢ at 9:57 AM on October 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Might order a 2x one of my dog and a 1/2x one of me, and then we can swap heads for the day.
posted by randomination at 9:58 AM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

This'll one up all those people who don't dress up for Halloween and, when asked where their costume is, they answer "I'm going as myself."
posted by TheZimp at 10:06 AM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm going to make one of these, and then put on a bra, pants and fishnet tights and go as "sexy me".
posted by dudekiller at 11:03 AM on October 18, 2010 [2 favorites]

I've become fond of making plaster masks for Halloween. Last year I tried to go with "classy Venetian" and everyone complimented me on my phantom of the opera mask. >\

so this year I ordered a bunch of taxidermied animal bits. fiance asked what I was making my mask into. I said, "I really just want to spoil people's evenings." I'm going as the most terrifying thing I can imagine. Some nameless, horrible abomination. phantom of the opera. i'll show them.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:12 AM on October 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

I'm going as the most terrifying thing I can imagine. Some nameless, horrible abomination.

posted by Baby_Balrog

It's funny how we always become our parents.
posted by jhc at 12:08 PM on October 18, 2010 [10 favorites]

I am racking my brain trying to think of whose pictures I want to submit-- it sure as heck won't be me. Maybe I will go as my wife and my wife will go as me?

One idea would be to do big-heads of Reagan, Nixon, and Ford, and go rob a bank.

(on preview: randomination and I are on the same track)
posted by joshwa at 2:26 PM on October 18, 2010

I fucking love Metafilter...
posted by fantodstic at 3:08 PM on October 18, 2010

Perhaps there's just a way to print this out mega sized if you take the file to a local Kinkos? It probably wouldn't look as good as the drool inspiring original, but it might be a rough approximation.
posted by QuarterlyProphet at 5:11 PM on October 18, 2010