Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

Work on the Mars Face has commenced.





I added a goodly dose of white glue to the paste before I began, of course.  When I took the paste to put back in the fridge after finishing, I added some water.  One downside of the heavy glue in the paste is that, during a long macheing session, some dries up on my hands and rolls into hard bits - you don't want hard bits of anything getting in the way under the paper, so the best paste is pretty thin.  The paper dampens and softens better, too, and I have more control squeezing the excess off.

The next stage tomorrow when the shell's dry and I'm ready is, lots of aluminum foil crunching for the core of the dune edges, and look around for where I put the spitwad.  Mom wants to do a Hobby Lobby trip around noon, partly to get us both out of the house for two hours while she bug-bombs the kitchen, so I'll pick some up, if I need to, while I'm getting latex.

Meanwhile, bedtime is 23 minutes ago, but I gotta dab goo on four things first...

[Buster's Uncle]

I did secure the latex today, and 18 ft. of candle wick while I was at it.  Nothing much else to report -we managed to burn off four hours to let the poison work- save that I'm about to do a third layer of latex on forms before bed.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna cross my fingers that it's thick enough on Johnny to do a mask for Buster.  No way I'll get to see her on Bustermas Tuesday, so dunno when I'll get to hand it over, but need to be ready.

[Buster's Uncle]

So, maybe ready -



I figured I could get off an easy half-mask promptly and dried by mid-afternoon, and I'd have something serviceable out of the way.



Next, I'll do a full-face...

[Buster's Uncle]

I reckon when these appliances are dry, they're pretty much ready.





PBS here shows Lawrence Welk reruns Saturday evenings - I sometimes watch and enjoy laughing at it whenever they cover a Beatles song.  Figure Kitsch Devil masks will be fun like that.

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, good luck; I just found out Buster's supposed to be by for supper today.  That's just enough time for the half-mask to dry and be trimmed and finished...  Good thing I started early with a just-in-case..

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, they showed up before three, when I was expecting four or five or later.  I had gotten the half-mask off the form about 2:30, left the inside turned towards the dehumidifier to dry more, and commenced the full-face mask.  Halfway through that, I noticed my brother outside my window mowing grass.  Great; they're already here.

I kept working on/finished the mask, and decided I had enough time to finish up trimming and coating the half-mask before supper-



-and miss a bunch of precious/rare time hanging out with Herself.

1.) It ain't her birthday 'til Tuesday.  I'm still ahead of schedule and this ain't my fault.  2.) When she was little, she liked for every day to be a birthday party, and the last time I visited her in California, I gave her one (1) item from my goodie hoard of mask and plaster castings a day for the 12 days the visit lasted.  She loved that.

I decided, 16 or not, I'd give her the plaster face now -it was already wrapped- and send her the trimmed and finished (but unpainted) half-mask to her Wednesday with Mom, who will see her at church.  -Then the full-mask next Sunday, ditto.  Bet she still loves pacing it out...

She loved the face, wasn't faking, and immediately said something about painting it, which is what I'd had in mind all along.  I think this ends up best possible outcome, I spent the time for the best, and the pressure's off/I've got 'till Tuesday/Sunday.

I'm pretty happy; it's very rare to get to eat with her, rarer that I get to see her open a present from me in person, rarest of all she doesn't fake (badly) liking it.

I think I can suck her into mask-making; she's the only other one in the family with a gift for sculpture like mine..

[Buster's Uncle]

Finished.



Don't think I'll worry about full-face Johnny before tomorrow.

[Buster's Uncle]

[Buster's Uncle]

I did a crappy job on the Kitsch Devil mask in progress, BTW.  I got it off the base okay, but it didn't feel very strong, and there were too many flaws on the outside; it's re-drying from a new layer on much of it.

I've also worked on a fix for the weakness of the bottom edges of the Skull shell this afternoon.  I did five layers of the outside edge of Mylochka, now drying, and I'll glue that in underneath and trim to match.

The full-face Johnny mask has been waiting for finishing work since last night.  I reckon that's next.


I've been posting a progress shot of the Crone base every day since shortly after I began work - this morning I made it up to beginning the latex coating, and had nothing to follow.  -So I decided to get a better shot of it finished, and make a mask on it for illustrative purposes.





I'll take another pic when it's dried, trimmed and lined, of course.  That'll take me to Thursday.  Friday, I begin with process shots of Johnny as it went.

While I'm generating pictures of work a lot faster than I'm posting, just as well keep up the daily posts...

[Buster's Uncle]

Finished.

-And I'm still ahead of schedule, but didn't say anything about getting rushed, and if she still enjoys a little birthday every day, I look thoughtful - so pure win.

[Buster's Uncle]

-Johnny wasn't ready yet, BTW.  Blisters, mostly on the right side, where the coating pulled up when I separated the full mask, which wasn't a major prying job.  I need to wash him carefully -remnants of paste, vaseline, and traces of newspaper ink aren't going to help more latex to bond- and start dabbing goo again.

Because I love dabbing goo.  And waiting.  And doing it again.  And getting specks of latex on my clothes.

[E_T]

A work of Love...

[Buster's Uncle]

Yes.

I'm playing the movie of Jesus Christ Superstar on YouTube while I work on this and that.

The fix on the Skull shell is drying.  The Kitsch Devil mask is almost done - I dampened around the eyeholes for shaping purposes and needed a quick dry before final polish.  The Crone mask was still faintly damp this morning - I've turned it a few times now, and will pry it off and get to work after lunch...

[Buster's Uncle]

The Crone put up quite a fight coming off the form.  Repairs are drying now.  Retro Devil very soon, if the creeks don't rise.

Just finished the movie and switched to the Broadway cast album, a superior version of everything, IMO.  I was especially glad to not be watching floppy poolside Herod during You are the Christ...

[Buster's Uncle]

Dunno about this - I meant to cock the horns a tad, but they came out cocked a lot more.  I'm considering making new horns that fit this forehead on the bottoms -and ought to therefore slide around and make extra work hiding the seams less- and trying again.

Also, I'm not sure it looks silly enough -besides the cocked horns- which was sorta the point.  The nose may be too good.  The sinister eyehole trimming didn't help, either.

Thoughts from the group?


Up next, the Crone is sitting on my desk, ready for trimming.