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How to Make a Juliet Mask

Though William Shakespeare wrote the love affair of Romeo and Juliet in fair detail, he did not include a detailed description of Juliet's appearance. A mask that represents her will not necessarily have a particular look, but it should allude to the plot and spoken lines of Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet." The choice of mask can allude to a plot point: Romeo and Juliet met at a party; therefore, an actress portraying Juliet can wear a decorated masquerade mask with a black base, for "never was there a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

Things You'll Need

  • Black fabric half-mask
  • Two pieces blank, unlined, white paper
  • Small glow-in-the-dark stars stickers
  • Scissors
  • Fine-point, silver-ink permanent marker
  • Fabric glue
  • Fine-point, white-ink permanent marker
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Instructions

    • 1

      Trace as many outlines of a black fabric half-mask onto one piece of blank, unlined, white paper with a pencil as will fit on the paper. Use the drawn masks to practice sketching and deciding placement of mask decor before you put anything on the actual mask.

    • 2

      Attach small glow-in-the-dark stars stickers along the mask's brow to represent Shakespeare's references to stars. Those references include: "a pair of star-crost lovers" and, "Two of the fairest stars ... do entreat her eyes to twinkle."

    • 3

      Cut a small, crescent-shaped moon from blank, unlined white paper, and color it silver with a fine-point, silver-ink permanent marker. Attach it with fabric glue to an edge of an eye hole in the mask to represent the play's line, "O, swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon."

    • 4

      Write "Romeo" along one side of the mask, where it will be at the mask wearer's temple. Use the silver-ink marker to write the name in cursive letters. Write "Capulet" on the mask's opposite temple area in cursive letters with the marker.

    • 5

      Draw the outline of a hand with a fine-point, white-ink permanent marker on the mask with the mask's nose as the middle of the hand. Draw a pair of lips on the mask's nose to represent the line "palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss."

    • 6

      Write "Paris" with a line through it on one cheek area of the mask using the silver-ink marker. Use the same marker to place "Romeo" with hearts around it below "Paris."

    • 7
      Vials of potions contributed to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

      Draw the outline of a vial, or bottle, on the mask's opposite cheek area with the white-ink marker. The vial represents Juliet's faked death and Romeo's subsequent real death.

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