I talked my daughter into allowing me to take a plaster cast of her face (in return, she took one of mine - ouch) which, in turn, served as a negative mold for a positive mold.  I had applied oodles of soap to the negative which enabled it to be broken cleanly away from the positive and it looks fantastic.  It is going to be painted white, with gold features and decorated with stuffed fabric "hair" in the style of a Venetian face mask.

But now both her boyfriend and her father want one!

In an attempt to save her face, not to mention eyelashes and eyebrows, I thought that perhaps I could make another plaster negative and use it to make a couple of papier mache positives.  But my experience with papier mache is limited to helping kids make faces over balloons.

I want the positive to be satiny smooth, showing detail of eyes, etc.   Do I use pulp or paper strips?  If I use paper strips, would something like tissue paper be better at defining finer details for the first few layers?  What would be the best separating agent to use between the plaster of paris mold and the papier mache?  Should I incorporate wires to help pull the mask out of the mold, or will it just slip out?

Any information would be appreciated.