Two-Face Fancy Dress Costume

#813 | Posted Sunday 9th November 2008 at 10:30pm by Andi Smith

Or how to become Two Face.

I decided pretty early on that I wanted to go as Batman villain Two-Face for Ian's fancy dress Halloween party. The only problem was that it's not possible to get a Two-Face costume or mask, so I was going to have to make one.

It didn't take me long to decide that I wanted to base my mask off of Two Face in The Dark Knight, and my suit from Two Face in the Batman cartoons as I felt this would give the most visual impact.

The Two-Face Mask

As we were going to have to plaster the entire left hand side of my face, the first step was to remove any hair so the plaster mask was not painful to remove. This meant I had to shave off my beard and sideburns, but using a swimming cap meant I could avoid shaving my head (and could cover my ears). We drew a big line down my face using one of Amy's make-up pens.

We then applied petroleum jelly all over my face to ensure that the mask did not stick, applying extra over my eyebrows and lashes. I lay down on the towel covered dining room table ready to spend the next two hours of my life laying there on my side with my eyes and jaw closed, feeling pretty uncomfortable.

We made a bowl of plaster of paris with warm water and Amy applied plaster strips into the mixture before applying them to my face. We started on the outside of the face and worked our way in, making sure each piece overlapped the last.

Amy had to apply the plaster around the whole of the left side of my head, hence why I lay on my side, and this added an extra degree of difficulty to the mask. It took a loonngg time for the mask to dry.

Once it had dried, the results didn't seem to great. The eye line seemed wrong, the nose didn't appear much like a nose and the following day, the mask was feeling fairly brittle.

Undeterred I began to paper-mache on top of the plaster mask. I was going to become Two Face, whatever it takes!

The paper mache mix was one part flour, two parts water heated on the hob until it began to boil. This first coat was to hold the plaster together by covering each and every part, especially the edges. Round the back of the neck, I curved the paper mache in a little to allow for it to grip to my face whilst on. The hair dryer was my friend here, allowing me to quickly dry layers and apply more.

Once the first layer had dried, I painted over the mask in white using acrylics, and then pencilled in features. At the time of making the mask, The Dark Knight was not available on home release, so I found myself having to refer to the single Two Face Dark Knight photograph that was leaked on to the Internet before the cinema release.

I got a little impatient at building up layers and decided to start creating one of the lower layers of the mask - the mouth.

The gums were made up of a base coat of red/black acrylics, and then the teeth were made of Blu-Tak. I carved out the shapes I required in Blu-Tak and then painted over them in white. I then stuck them onto the mask using a little bit of glue. I used some more red paint to give the blood splatter and dabbed it with my fingers for a more realistic effect. Finally, I used Amy's white nail varnish to give the teeth a gloss and a teeth-like feel.

Again using paper mache, I began to apply shape and structure to the mask. I fixed the nose; created an indent in the chin for the bone to show through; raised the eyebrow; created the now famous Two Face gum line and stretched ligaments, and added some detail to the ear. As it's difficult to see in the photograph, I have highlighted these areas in red.

I then painted the mask, but I wasn't too happy with the shine given by the acrylic paints. The mask needed some texture if it was going to look like the Dark Knight's Two Face. So, in came the sand and glue.

First, I glued the areas where I wanted to provide a rough look, and then I sprinkled sand over them. Once the glue had dried, I shook the loose sand off of the mask and proceeded to paint over dabbing my paint brush and constantly cleaning it as it got covered in sand.

The end result was a very gritty, grungy Two Face mask that even Batman himself would be scared of. Exactly what I was looking for.

As the mask had been modelled to my head and curved slightly at the edges, it actually fitted and stayed on without requiring any kind of clip or band.

The Two-Face Suit

Primark was my friend for the suit. The suit was actually based on two ties - one white, one black (£4 for both); two shirts - one white, one black (£4 each) and one pair of black trousers (£12) as I had difficulty finding similar ones in white. I also bought a suit jacket, but decided against destroying it as it was a little bit more expensive.

The Two Face tie was made by cutting the black one into two and then covering one half of the white tie with the black side before sewing it on.

The shirt was made by cutting both in half and sewing them together at the back.

The Two Face trousers were actually painted, using white acrylic paint, and acrylic polymer solution. Acrylic is very difficult to remove from clothing, and the polymer solution gives it a bit more stickiness to fabric, while retaining the flexibility of clothing. The trousers required a couple of coats before they looked pure white.

The shoes were the easiest part - one black shoe, one trainer.

My hair was sprayed with grey temporary spray. Two Face in The Dark Knight movie had grey hair on the normal side of his face, while Two Face in the Batman cartoons had grey on the toxic side of his face. I decided to go with the film, as it gave a good contrast against the mask.

The final result

After all that work, I was keen to show off my costume. I did have to use a straw to drink all night, and the costume didn't prove to be award winning. But I was proud of my efforts.

So, ladies and gentlemen, the final Two Face costume: