Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

Finally some real progress.

   

   

   

There's smoothing and symmetricalizing left to do, but I reckon that's basically it.

[Buster's Uncle]

Hey, all of y'all on Facebook:  I think everyone I know of there in these circles has 'liked' the JKStudio page, but just a reminder that I'm not making a post a day there lately to impress my cousins - I'm flogging the free innerwebs marketing against the day we finally get set up to sell things.  -And that takes hits and Google ranking, etc., yada.

So if you haven't seen any of my mask pic posts on there in your timeline in the last month -I don't see much anymore but inane and/or offensive posts by relatives- please look up the page -follow the link above- and like and share and all that all you can stand to -it really does help, incrementally, every little bit, the way the 'nets work- and continue to do so when the stuff returns to your timeline...  Thanks.

[Buster's Uncle]

Hmm.  More difference here to last night's photos than is obvious.

I took Dixie upstairs to show Momma at lunchtime, and she was impressed.  Mylochka showed up and liked it in detail.  I worked on it a little bit more after cat lunch, and began to suspect that the faint symmetry problems couldn't be fixed without starting over with a different aluminum core, and that I was past the point of diminishing returns with my eyesight and fingers the size I have, and I was just making fingernail marks as fast as I smoothed them over.

I took a set of photos and went to bake Dixie, then dithered, because I knew I'd spot things I wish I'd tweaked before baking while I processed the pics -and I did- but Mom egged me on to just commit, so I did.

All but the last shot embiggen a little.

   

   

   

   

   

I'll go retrieve Dixie from the oven now, but I think I'll let her sit on my desk for a while and let my hindbrain decide if I need to correct the slight asymmetry in the nose from a certain angle with the dremel.  Everything else I can literally paper over in the mache coating...

[Buster's Uncle]

Hmm.

I decided to leave the nose be, and did the mache enclosing -and building up the thickness/strength of the human face parts.  That was hours ago, and it's drying now.  -But I just realized, looking for no reason at a collage I made of the Dixie pics, that I made her nose too square.  The leading edges of actual Dixie's actual nose taper/round significantly, to the extent of being a distinguishing characteristic.

It's not too late, and there's room, to grind down the difference w/ dremel.  I need to bake the base some in the oven again, anyway -I added a little raw sculpey at the outside edges of the brow ridges before enclosing- and I can add some sculpey back if I need to, w/o it being extra work.

[Buster's Uncle]

I've been keeping Buster posted, of course, with pics taken and it written up for this thread anyway.

She looks jaw dropping-ly gorgeous! Her snout looks exactly like the real thing!

[Buster's Uncle]

Guess where I'm going with this.

[Buster's Uncle]

I did take the dremel to the leading edge of Dixie's nose this morning, added a pinch of sculpey underneath, mached over everything exposed, baked the shebang for about 15 minutes, and this is the third coat of latex just applied.

So roughly a week of that with something else - and need to take extra care the latex doesn't fill in details like the crease that runs down the middle, or the nose slits.  Still, I'll come out of it with a very good hound base...



The Mars Face is doing the same inflation trick again.  It's not nearly as bad this time, but I haven't decided whether to do the same surgery again, or what to try otherwise.

[Buster's Uncle]

Guess where I'm going with this.

Anyone?

[Buster's Uncle]

Stitches.  I reckon, if I can get the loose bits on the Mars Face glued back down,  I can sew them down with single stitches in three -maybe five, as I should get the corners of the mouth- key low points -it's nothing but mache under where the problems are- keep it simple, and they'll get buried in subsequent coats the same way the seams filled in.  Just gotta be careful not to pull the stitches too tight, or they'll make a pucker.

-This came to me when I was waking from a mid-morning nap.  No guarantee other spots won't develop them same problem, but it should keep these spots from spreading.  Gooooo HINDBRAIN!

[Buster's Uncle]

SIIIIGH.

(click to show/hide)

   



   

-Looks sorta thin Thanos, or at least, Thanos and Loki's hats had a kid...

[Buster's Uncle]

I saved these at full size, so they'll embiggen, if you want a closer look-

-If not embiggen to the size I saved them.

Ended up needing 12 stitches to tack down problem spots - but like I said before, it'll all cover over.  I've already dabbed on a lining repair -I was going to dab the stitches anyway, just to glue the knots, also to close the holes I made- and over the surface spots.

This doggon base has been one crap-up after another.



-In related news, I think The Martian is about ready...

[Buster's Uncle]

GUESS!

(click to show/hide)

WE ARE COMMITED TO DOING OUR BEST FOR YOU!

[Buster's Uncle]

And what parched Martian
Its hour come round at last
Slouches towards Cydonia to be carved?

   

 

Done, and probably coated a lot thicker than needed - masks ought to pop right off that streamlined shape, for the same likely reason the Mars Face is giving me trouble.

Of course, I'll have to choose whether to leave in the top of the head or give up it functioning as a mask an Earth adult can wear...



This gets the coating rotation back down to five pieces, and I think I'm declaring Johnny finished.  The Crone is a much trickier and difficult shape, with nooks and crannies irritating to get latex on, but needs a few more days, I think.

Latexing brings out my rice-puller tendencies to overkill, at the same time as the tedium urges me towards 'good enough'.

The Mars Face ought to be even easier to pop a mask off, with the regular shape and give of the slopes leading to a shallow slice of face, but I worry for the coating holding up for obvious reasons, and need to get the stitches smoothed over/covered.  Dixie is tough to coat, but I'm motivated (and told Buster about a week), and the new horns are small & easy.

So I'm slowly digging out from under this coating heck, and have no new projects in mind until the Mars Face is done to make a pharaoh over.  Maybe if Mom's in a better mood today, I'll start that full-face base of me...

[Buster's Uncle]

I decided on a whim to take a picture of every layer of a mask.  I'll probably lift this wholesale for another page on the website - and vamp pics for a week on Facebook.  -One of you is a true friend, BTW, and 'liked' every post I've made on the JKStudio page in 2019 while I was having supper; very much appreciated.

-Usually when I cram two to a row, you can click to enlarge, like here.


So I greased my alien friend with Vaseline and covered most of it in strips from the yellow -for easy identification after demasking- pages.

It looks like a sloppy mess because it is - and this streamlined face cooperated far more than most, as it seems to do in all phases so far.


The first layer went far more smoothly than I'm used to, so I decided to do a second in construction paper.

 

I'd already begun the second here; the green strip down the middle and the radial strips around the (lack of) chin.


Second layer complete.

   

Third layer, regular newsprint.

I just paper over the nostril holes, and punch a blunt tool through each layer as I go.

This layer was super-easy, even though I was using strips over an inch wide in the middle of the face.  Noses suck.



Well, I broke off here for supper; my mommy was calling.  Thought I'd share what I had so far.  The rest will not show such obvious progression, of course, but back to work and taking photos of work.

I might stop at five layers because of the extra construction paper.

You may have realized I went for covering the entire base.  That would be troublesome for de-masking on a normal face, and I'm eager to find out if I'm right to think it won't be a problem here...

[Buster's Uncle]

Between supper and making the last post, the first three layers got nearly two hours to dry.  Cat time after the fourth layer was about a 45 minute delay.  This harms nothing as long as the lower layers aren't too messed up - in fact, the mask will be drier in the morning for it.

The first three layers were more of less covering the perimeter and working my way towards the center.  This one is more systematic, with strips all laid left-right across the face.  It's easier to keep track that way, and not miss any spots.

   

Strips running across the previous layer encourage what's under to lay flat, holds down converging ends -note how they do so on this layer at the top and bottom of the head- and ends converge -as they must for rectangular strips of paper to lay flat when they follow a curve- in a different place on the mask, thus not thickening the mask all in two spots.  It's cross-bracing in action.  It's just easier to keep track, alternating horizontal and vertical at 90 degrees.

I was having fun -crafting is serenity- so I did do a sixth layer next.

Horizontal again, with a vertical strip on each side to hold the ends down.


There isn't a lot of trimming to do, aside from the eyes, which I'm working on deciding what shape and how big.  However, I'll probably do a second mask tomorrow, trying to rig it to work as a mask on a normal face, leaving the top and bottom out...