The New York Times - USA (2020-10-25)

THE NEW YORK TIMES, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2020 D 11

This Halloween, make a mask to go

over.... your mask. All you’ll need is

some flour, water, a balloon, paint and

the newspaper you’re holding. Doing

papier-mâché over a balloon is a fun,

easy technique and yields a sphere that

can be cut into two mask bases and

transformed into any animal or creature

you can dream up. Cut off the corners of

recycled food boxes (like for crackers or

cereal) to make snouts and ears, or

horns and saber teeth. Treasures from

your recycling bin will provide inspira-

tion for a whole menagerie of critters.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

1 cup flour; 1 cup warm water; mixing

bowl and spoon; a newspaper torn into

1-inch strips; balloon; scissors; craft

knife; a recycled thin cardboard box,

like one used for cereal or crackers; hot

glue gun; primer, paint and paintbrush;

ribbon or string

STEP 1Mix flour and water until all the

lumps are gone. It should be the consis-

tency of thin pancake batter.

STEP 2Dip a newspaper strip into the

mixture, use two fingers to squeegee

off excess and smooth it onto the

balloon. You can steady the balloon by

placing it in a colander

or a bowl.

Keep covering the balloon, overlap-

ping the strips in different directions.

You can leave an opening around the

knot. After you have covered the bal-

loon, add one or two more layers. You

shouldn’t be able to see the color of the

balloon through the newspaper. Place

the balloon on the colander to dry for

about 24 hours.

STEP 3Once the papier-mâché is dry,

pop and remove the balloon.

STEP 4Draw a line around the sphere

vertically and cut it in half to create two

mask bases. Cut an inch or so off the

bottom (knot side).

STEP 5Cut eye holes: You can create a

template for eye placement by holding

a piece of paper against your face,

pinching the paper where your eyes fall.

Use a pencil to outline the eyes. Fold

the paper in half and cut out eye holes

to create a stencil. Mark the spots on

your mask and cut out eyes with a craft

knife.

STEP 6Make a snout: Cut a wedge

shape out of the side of a cereal or

cracker box so that the corners of the

box will make the sides of the snout.

Taper the top by folding the sides in and

forming a rough triangle with your own

creases. Hot glue the bottom flaps to

overlap each other, underneath, where

the nostrils will go. Trim as needed.

Make ears: Cut two V-shaped

pieces off the other corner of the box,

on the fold. Bring the two bottom tabs

together to overlap and hot glue them

in place. Fold in the ear flap on the left

or right side of each.

STEP 7Hot glue the features to the

mask base and paint the front with

primer.

STEP 8When the primer has dried, snip

some furry edges around the sides of

the face. You can cut room under the

snout for your nose, if needed.

STEP 9Paint fur color and let it dry.

Then paint on other features — stripes,

a pink nose, whatever your animal

needs.

STEP 10Turn the mask over and hot

glue a ribbon to either side at eye level.

Hot glue a small square of scrap card-

board over the ribbon to secure it.

Send us photographs of your com-

pleted masks or ideas for crafts

that involve newspaper. Email us at

[email protected].

CREATE THE BASE FOR YOUR MASK

ADD ANIMAL FEATURES AND PAINT

123

45

6 78

910

Craft a Mask

To Celebrate

Halloween

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JODI LEVINE

FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

BY JODI LEVINE

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTIONS

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Solve These Crosswords

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Don’t worry, these puzzles will never know.

EDITED BY JOEL FAGLIANO

LAST WEEK’S SOLUTION

PADS

NO L I E

OL I VE

VACAY

ARENA

RAG

ARL ES

GAUZE

UBERX

DAY

GL I B

CH I NA

HANDS

AND I E

DATA

OAS I S LOP

RH I NO ORE

SACA J AWEA

TORPOR

TRUTH

STEERS

USSENATOR

PAT EL I DE

ERS RENEW

1234

5

6

7

8

PUZZLE BY ZHOUQIN BURNIKEL

ACROSS
1 Identifies in an Instagram post
5 Sasha Obama’s big sister
6 Face with a stuck-out tongue, e.g.
7 Thread holder
8 Ump’s call

DOWN
1 Florida city nicknamed
“The Big Guava”
2 Standoffish
3 Hasbro action figure
4 Travel by boat
5 Muddle

123

45

6

7

8

PUZZLE BY ANDY KRAVIS

ACROSS

1 Downside

4 The “D” of PRNDL

6 Kvetcher’s cry

7 Egypt’s capital

8 NBC show that inspired “30 Rock”

DOWN

1 The “C” in A.C.L.U.

2 All done

3 “Miss Independent” R&B singer

4 Dropbox files, casually

5 Gosling of “La La Land”

1234

5

6

7

8

PUZZLE BY YACOB YONAS

ACROSS

1 Scoreless Scrabble turn

5 Final Pixar film before its

acquisition by Disney

6 Fret

7 Wee bit

8 Wee, informally

DOWN

1 “Move over!”

2 Clichéd features of witches’ noses

3 Lineup

4 “Gangnam Style” rapper

6 Predecessor to the Nintendo Switch

PUZZLE BY SAM EZERSKY

ACROSS

1 Potentially offensive, in brief

5 Man ___ (trendy hairstyle)

8 “Beat it!”

10 Game with Skip and Reverse cards

11 Daniel who explored the

Cumberland Gap

12 ___ for tat

13 Cause of needless anxiety

15 Like, totally huge

17 Upper or lower bed

18 Frontman for the MGs

20 Sandwich similar to a club

21 No-no

24 QB Manning

25 Blue cartoon character

26 Microsoft Word creation,

informally

27 Proofreader’s “leave in” marking

DOWN

1 Type of charging cable

2 Many a mil. enlistee

3 Microorganism consumed for

health benefits

4 Vancouver hockey player

5 Exasperated lead-in to an objection

6 Washington D.C.’s ___ Station

7 Against the rules

9 Daughter on “Family Guy”

14 J.J. who directed

“The Force Awakens”

15 Receded, as the tide

16 Chicken at a taqueria

19 Space creatures, for short

22 Mined find

23 ___-times (frequently)

1234 567

8910

1111 12

13 14

15 16 17

1818 19

20 21 2222 2323

24 25

26 27

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