African Masks. Greetings from The Gambia. How are you all? Do you recognise us?

AfricanMasks

Greetings from The Gambia. How are you all? Do you recognise us?

We are at the Museum of African Culture and there are examples of many different types of masks from all over

Africa.

Masks are very important in African culture. Masked

dances form part of many traditional ceremonies like weddings, funerals and the

naming of newly born babies.

Masks come in many forms depending on

which spirit they represent and each

mask has a particular dance and music

associated with it.

It is believed that the person wearing the mask goes into a

trance and becomes a representative of that spirit

on earth.

We are going to show you how to make your own

African Mask. This is the design we are going to use.

These are all the things you will need to make an African Mask. A piece of cardboard, felt marker pens, scissors, some drinking straws, some old newspapers, some glue, some big and

small brushes and some paints.

First you will need to choose a design for your mask and then draw it on to a piece of cardboard using a

thick black pen.

You will want to mark out where you are going to cut

holes and stick drinking straws and paper to raise

it up.

When you have finished drawing the masks you

need to carefully cut it out

What do you guys think of the mask I

have drawn?

Next you stick drinking straws along the lines you want to raise up

on the mask. Or if you want bumps you screw up little bits of paper and stick them on. To make a nose I cut out

some thin card in a nose shape, folded it down the middle and

stuck it on top of some screwed up bits of

paper.

I am enjoying this very much.

Making masks is fun!

You need to cut holes in the eyes, ears and mouth. You may need some help

with this.

You tear up the cardboard into

pieces the size of very large postage

stamps and you stick them on to your

mask.

You need to put 2 or 3 layers of paper onto the

masks. Make sure you let the glue dry before you

put on the next layer and be careful not to cover the holes in the ears, eyes and mouth. When it is finished it will look like this. Now

it’s ready to paint.

First, I am giving it a

good coating of

black paint.

Next, I am painting the

raised up bits with red or

yellow paint.

And here is what my finished

mask looks like. Do you

like it?

Well, we hope you liked learning about African

masks. Next time we are going to send you about

what we are doing to look after the

environment by re-using and re-cycling things.

Leegi Leegi(That means see you

soon in Wolof)