Yeah, the glitter must be added first to incorporate it into the mask smoothly. You can use epoxy for this although it may be softer/harder compared to gel coat. Epoxy can be colored with pigments the same as ester resins&gel coat. Some sort of opaque layer would be desirable to hide the fiber weave. Glitter can be added later however it will be rough in texture. (Jim Snyder does this to the seams of his boats) Good luck. Maybe this could be a new thing for mysteries....who was that masked man...

Captain Nemo (fellow denizen of the deep)

: Hi there,

: Slightly off topic project, but it's going to be the same skills, right? I'm
: planning on making myself a face mask (for a ball), and thought I could do
: far worse than to use glass fibre. I've done loads of patches and fills
: and things on my old river racer/squirt boat, but I've never made anything
: from scratch. The intimidating part, then, is realising that I need a
: mold. What do I make the plug from and then how do I take the mold. I've
: made bang plates for my river racer using gooey blue release wax, friends
: have used cling film, but I'm not entirely sure.

: Also, to put on an outside layer of glitter (I'm a squirt boater - glitter's
: the only reason to undertake the project ;-), is the best way to lay in a
: layer of gel coat first, then put the glitter in that before laying on the
: cloth layers? I've got loads of glass mat, epoxy and mold release - how
: essential is gel coat to the project.

: I figure that if I get a reasonable result, I'll start some larger projects -
: squirt stix?

: Thanks for anyone who takes the time to help out. If there's a FAQ website,
: I'd much appreciate a link.

: Pete