The Mad Hatter: A Steampunk Transformation

By Anita Alex

The Mad Hatter is a character from the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland that everybody knows and loves. In his first appearance in the story, he explains to Alice that he and the March Hare are trapped in a never ending tea party.  He continues to explain that the reason for this was because he once tried to sing for the Queen of Hearts, but she had sentenced him to death for “murdering the time.” Somehow, he escaped decapitation. However, Time himself, was angry at the attempted murder so he placed the Mad Hatter and the March Hare in a time loop in which it is always 6:00pm (tea time).

The characters from Alice in Wonderland are so distinct and full of personality. This especially makes it fun to dress up as them for any Halloween occasion. This tutorial involves a unique twist of the Mad Hatter. Here’s how to transform yourself into the Steampunk version of the Mad Hatter.

With some shimmery, golden yellow pigment, apply it to the top half of the face, avoiding the lower half. The color may not be very vibrant at first, but the color provides a base to either apply a second layer or darken it with a darker color. 

Use a brass pigment to make the color more vibrant and use a bronze shadow to apply towards the contours of your face. This  will allow for more dimension and a more rusty copper look.

For the lower half of the face, make a line starting from the middle of the ear towards the mouth, across the jawline, and down the neck. Fill all this in with black face paint (including the ears) while avoiding the chin.

With silver face paint, fill in the chin area. Use white face paint to make a thick line near the edge of where the black paint is, and on the lower jawline. Do this to the other side as well. Paint around the eyes also while going down the sides of the nose. Add black eye shadow on top to darken.

With the same white paint, draw in the teeth on both sides of the cheeks. 

In the next step, take some light blue face paint and paint a downward arrow from the forehead to the bridge of the nose. Make sure to blend the blue out with some blue shimmery eye shadow throughout the rest of the forehead.  Add some blue paint also on the sides of your forehead. With a thin brush make some blue lines that go down from the eyes. After the paint dries, you can add some shimmery blue eye shadow over the paint to add more shine. With silver paint, trace over your eyebrows and outline in the same black paint. You can use a black eyeliner for more precision.

Paint the upper lips black.

Paint small circles along the outside of the skeleton mouth area to look like deadbolts.  I used a liquid liner for this for a more pigment and precision.

Use black face paint and a thin brush to create a twirl on the chin. This little chin hair acts as a little personality detail of the character.

Here is the final look:

Put on your Mad Hatter Costume because it’s time for some tea!