Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

It fought separating a little, but not mask-warping amount - just needed gentle persistence.

-I got a little carried away with the pointy bits.

   

Improvement or too much?

[Buster's Uncle]

Finished.

[Rusty Edge]

I think an improvement. Less ugly, more vain, which seems fitting for the devil.

[Buster's Uncle]

That devil-mask picture above the hound pictures was very festive looking.

Is Dixie a particular type of hound? She looks fast.

Correction to previous answer: she's allegedly a Treeing Walker.

[Buster's Uncle]

SO; thrilling day.  When I made my 1:15 post, I'd been hearing walking around for about 15 minutes.  I had a sudden inspiration.  I went upstairs and said hello to Buster, who was cooking her gramma a birthday cake - (she comes over from time to time to teach herself pastry baking for reasons to do with a neurotic mother, and she never burns or otherwise ruins anything, because she's genuinely gifted and that's not just me being hopelessly besotted.  I'm a pretty good cook now, and I had my momma teaching me, and when I was learning, I'd have burned a couple batches of cookies before this anyway.)

Anyway, I ran back downstairs and returned, announcing "HA! I tricked you!  I bet you thought Birthday Every Day was over!"  -And I laid the nine masks I made last month -besides the two I'd already given her for Bustermas- and just-finished Devil Johnny, and told her to pick one last Birthday Every Day present.

Long story short, the ribs grilled exceptionally well, all Momma's sisters and brother, etc., ate like kings, Momma loved the jigsaw puzzles I got her, and Buster was talking to me today.  Better, I got substantial time alone with her -and we're talking something like over ten years since I had her to myself- and she left with two masks, the Crone and the horned Johnny half-mask -that's bottom center and right, below- so I know she really wanted them.

[Buster's Uncle]

I think an improvement. Less ugly, more vain, which seems fitting for the devil.

Are we talking about the Johnny Devil base shell v. the Johnny Devil mask w/ pointy bits extended?  That's what I was asking, though versus Serious and/or Retro Devil is useful opinion, too.  I'm toying with an idea about glamming up the horns on the latter.

[Rusty Edge]

I think an improvement. Less ugly, more vain, which seems fitting for the devil.

Are we talking about the Johnny Devil base shell v. the Johnny Devil mask w/ pointy bits extended?  That's what I was asking, though versus Serious and/or Retro Devil is useful opinion, too.  I'm toying with an idea about glamming up the horns on the latter.

Yeah, original vs goatee and horns pointing forward.
 
A Walker? I was never a coon hunter as such. But we raised sweet corn for decades, and we would welcome the hunters. Thing is I never got a good look at the dogs because it was always late at night when they were around. As I recall there was some debate amongst the coon hunters in PA as to whether Walkers or Blue Ticks were best. Those Texans on American Hoggers used Walkers to hunt wild boar, but they were eventually forced to add a Catahoula catch dog in the pack for the actual hog capture once the pack leader died.

[Buster's Uncle]

Treeing Walker is a blend of Walkers and Treeing Coon Dog, or something like that.

[Buster's Uncle]

-Just cued up an hour and a half Wagner best-of track on YouTube, and about to lay the base for the Dixie mask...

[Buster's Uncle]

As always, separation strips stuck to the vaseline.  Extra work/aggravation now preempts disaster -and extra work/aggravation- later.  This lot laid flat and stuck way better than usual.

     

Three layers, more around the edges.  I believe Buster has vague ideas about wearing this as part of a costume, so I want to balance accuracy/likeness with being able to fit a human face comfortably in there.  -So I covered way more face that the dog snout needs, just to keep my options open.  It gonna be tricky, getting Dixie's eyes right, but comfortable and you-can-see-out on a young lady who still likes dressing up as animals...

[Buster's Uncle]

Weird thing.

I got a lot of layers on the Mars Face and The Martian yesterday -1.) Johnny and the Crone aren't urgent to finish coating, and 2.) the latex is about to run out, and I wanted to give the Martian bases a Mars-like color, not so pink- and the Martians are easier to coat, and faster to dry, being short on deep nooks and crannies, so I took the recoats out of the rotation temporarily until I get more latex.

I will be dipped if I know how the air got in, but when I started coating the Mars Face last time last night, the latex had apparently pulled tight and away from the surface in most of the deepest indentations from the inner edge of the ledge, especially the eye sockets next to the nose.

So I carefully cut around the face this morning - that's where a seam best belongs.  The coat wants to lay flat on the ledge, and a little fresh latex underneath ought to bind it back to the base just fine.   The face itself will be trickier around the nose and eyes - that's where it didn't lay down tight when I relieved tension cutting the seam.  Maybe crumple in some of the foil I have handy for the armature of the Dixie snout temporarily on top.  I'm going to give my semiconscious a few hours to tease at that, first.

The seam ought to fill back in even just fine - latex wants to sit thick in the low points if I don't carefully spread it out.

I've fixed worse problems on the fly in the coating process, I'm already over the biggest hurdle committing to the cut, I got this, but do wish me luck.

[Buster's Uncle]

-My hindbrain is telling me to cut 1' slits in the deepest bit where the nose/eye/brow meet.  That should let the surrounding hug the face, and new latex will naturally fill in any gap where it wants to collect anyway.

[Buster's Uncle]

The Mars Face repairs left a bigger gap than I expected -as pictured this morning, but I expected it to come back together tighter- but I can roll with that.

-And on a Foul Mood Thread note, I put on shoes, drove to Hickory by myself -Momma's got a thing today, and Mylochka didn't wanna- (that I find such a trivial normal-person-errand worth mentioning is problematic, but I just went and got it off my plate) and am now ahead by two full containers of latex over the pittance I had left when I woke today.

Let's rock.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm glad to report that after waking up before dawn two days in a row -and being short on sleep has definitely held me back- and I ought to be back in gear after lunch.

   

My hindbrain is having anxiety about this - a likeness is a lot tougher than any old original face along a certain line.  But I've played with aluminum long enough, this is about the right size/shape, and detail is for the sculpey stage.  I'll work it out as I go...

[Buster's Uncle]

I decided to mache around the foil core, to hold it down and smooth, yada, etc.

I include this drying shot because The Captain's bliss at getting a face-cuddle amuses.

I went off to do some porch sittin' with Mylochka, and realized a loose mache shell was multiple kinds of mistake, so when I came back-

-I left a little around the bottom, but that most of the wrapping came off in one piece just vindicates backing off from that action.


Turns put I'm still tired from two days of running on empty.  Need a nap...