Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

Oh - and my part of this is finished.

After watching some of the TV series recently...
Drop the ears and slight modification, you'd have some of the lesser quality planet of the apes masks.  (not meaning your quality is lesser, but some of those ape masks were completely stiff and non-articulating)

I think I'd make a base from scratch for that...

[Unorthodox]

[Buster's Uncle]

That's basically something to build over the skull mask - same shape...

[Buster's Uncle]

Mylochka asked for more doll-scale half masks this morning, so there.  They dry pretty fast, so I'll be able to get one or two more dashed off before bedtime.

The nose halfmasks have gotten three layers of latex, and the one above is almost ready to begin with that.

-She also asked for an old man face, but the base for that has gone missing just recently - I'm sure I've seen it in just the last few weeks while I was rooting through masks and supplies...

[Unorthodox]

I can't imagine doing doll size.  My hands hurt thinking about it. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Here's the third drying.


Really, the only challenge at that size is needing thin paper strips.  I can knock off a nice thick copy in little time, 'cause it's not much area to cover.  The face is roughly 18" doll size - not incredibly small, and the base is low detail w/ gentle curves, which is easier to work with and dries more smoothly.

[Buster's Uncle]

-Besides, it's my neck that's been hurting since I took this back up - all the time spent hunched over something, and size doesn't matter...

[Buster's Uncle]

The fourth of the day, just put down to dry...

[Buster's Uncle]

The fifth, drying.


The first three, finished.


The old face, 3/4 version:


The original I wanted to do it on that's gone missing...

[Buster's Uncle]

The three that I finished today:





-And the oni horn mounting commenced and drying:





-Coating of the other facial appliances continues...

[Buster's Uncle]

There's an open house thing at the gallery, and we're supposed to do demonstrations - Mylochka pointed out that the sculpture part of what I do ought to be a lot more interesting than the paper mache, so I'll be working on that ape thing.  It also has the virtue of involving a lot less mess and supplies...

[Buster's Uncle]

Almost time to go -it's a pain when you google a thing, and there's a more recent version you don't want polluting the image results- and I'm taking the camera.  I've never been to this place...

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm back - it went well, and I got something worthwhile accomplished in a new base.  Photos forthcoming...

[Buster's Uncle]

Okay, I've got some pictures of our booth and the storefront and Buster and Buster's Daddy's work, but that's for later.




I didn't think to take a before shot prior to beginning work - first thing I did was fiddle around with setting up while I thought about the job.  The latex coat holding the cracked original skull appliance together was in bad shape anyway, and needed to come off for the new sculpey to bond.  I'd only began actual crafting shortly before Mylochka asked about the camera and snapped a few shots.



Her painting setup with me working in the background.

Note the tatters of the latex coat to my left and right.




The basic shape roughed in.  If you look closely enough, you can see where I whittled down the cheekbones a bit.  -I only had thrown in an exacto knife with the tools and supplies in the shoebox by chance. for the heck of it. 

I was really noticing at this point that the nose wasn't coming out right; I'd always thought the need to leave room for a whole nose underneath was the weakest part of the skull base, and for this, it was positively in the way.




-So I began whittling, and ended up removing that whole business...



And while I was filling back in to get the shape called for --- it hit me that completely nose-less would make for a great alien face, in the style of Jim Starlin in comics, or, Buster tells me, Cad Bane from Star Wars: Rebels.

This is back in the shoebox - and then I wanted a profile...






...I hope I can devise a workable chimp nose as a separate/addable/removable component to make (Planet of the) ape mask.  I'm kinda excited about the inspiration and how it's turned out so far.  More as I refine this....

[Buster's Uncle]

Our booth:


All the wooden stuff was made by Buster's Daddy.  The little fairy dolls are Buster's work -she made one today for the open house demonstration- and the knit toboggans are Mylochkas's work.







This is a crap way to display the masks.  I'm going to have to talk to Mylochka about what can be done in the available space - I think something could be rigged with poles and lines or netting across the back to hang some on, which would greatly increase the visibility of the booth.