Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

I don't know if I ever posted this here...

[Unorthodox]

Lose that.


Was face to face with a room full of these today at pikes market.  Really nifty and something I hadn’t known about.  https://www.etsy.com/listing/645552713/wooden-mask-tibetan-skull-citipati?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-home_and_living-home_decor-wall_decor-wall_hangings-other&utm_custom1=a158eae5-158d-4b98-a3ae-4896a83e70bc&utm_content=go_270948755_45071285947_194172882714_pla-305562556206_m__645552713&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlNbRy5vU4wIVAdNkCh1yuAXEEAQYAyABEgLUyfD_BwE#

[Buster's Uncle]

Lose what?

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, this is just a rough bulking out shape w/ sculpey detailing to follow, and I need to add another, roughly, 10% on the right, but I got a gratifyingly smooth result with a spitwad/plaster mix this time.

Sitting in front of the dehumidifier now, of course.

I know pretty exactly how I want to finish off the top, the snake on the headband, and the false beard at the bottom - but still thinking over the precise details of the bottom of the headdress...

[Buster's Uncle]

Added the 10% more on the right - and what the heck; put bottom corners on.  It's a representation of a cloth headdress, but those Eye-jipshans worked heavily in stylized and I don't wanna mess with the crap going over the shoulder and have to end at the bottom SOMEhow.

[Buster's Uncle]

I slid a board under it for handling/moving purposes -the spitwad is still damp- and did the detailing I had figured out for sure.

I should have enhanced the lips, too, at this stage.  It's in the oven now, I'll pull it out in about six minutes.

To come is working out the bottom, probably some all down the sides, and a little of that fey eye-liner stuff in relief.

[Buster's Uncle]

…It's more improvement since last night than I fancy stands out.  I bulked out the sides/bottom more, changing the angle of the slopes, rounded off the sharp edges -more forgiving of flaws showing that way- and considerably improved the symmetry.  The flattish part on either side of the chin is more triangular now - triangles hint at Egyptianess for more than one reason.

When I've done a little follow-up on the cobra, and detailed the lips and eye makeup, this'll be ready for a long, low, bake - to speed the drying of all that sculptimold, too.  If I can manage an effective sand/smooth on the perimeter, this'll be ready to enclose in mache and start coating.

Stay posted, and don't spare the commentary - I've been craving that sense that anyone cares, lately.

[Rusty Edge]

Well, this is interesting. When you said you were going King Tut, I assumed a cloth headpiece attached to the mask, but I see as how this is going to look more like a sarcophagus.

[Buster's Uncle]

Sarcophagus.  I like that - good excuse for the departure from the traditional pharaonic nemes headdress that shows ears and lays very differently.

So there's a little story to go with this, but I want to get a fix done and baking before I take the time to tell...  Stay tuned.

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, all of those additions above fought me harder than they should have.  I assume something to do with the face being a bit damp from all the spitwad - and spraying of same during smoothing as it began to set.  I'm especially disappointed in the eye stuff.  Nothing would stick, and I can't do neat work on sculpey that comes up and rolls around while I'm trying to smooth it down and into shape.

So I got it all into what's pictured above -not happy with it, but it'll do- and took it upstairs to pop in the oven.  As I rounded the hall door, I was suddenly facing a sweaty Buster.  "Oh, neat!" she exclaimed looking at what I was holding out, "a pharaoh!"

I didn't know they were around, mowing Mylochka's yard for about an hour previously.  She'd already been in the sewing room and seen her Dixie mask, which I missed, darnit.  I hate being hard of hearing.


-And now it's sunset and the cats are waiting.  Gotta turn the mask base down to 170 to help dry the spitwad, too.  I'll pick this back up in a half hour or so...

[Buster's Uncle]

So I popped it in the oven, and visited with Buster while she started a project.  -She made an excellent wolf costume last year with a foam rubber head under the fur - it was impressive, seeing so much tenacity and patience in a 15 year-old, as she'd try it on, cut a little away with scissors, try it on again and look in the mirror, etc...  So she talked her Principal/art teacher into asking her to make the school's lion mascot, and she started that this afternoon.

Like I mentioned with dessert-cooking a few weeks ago, she likes to come over here to work on that sewing-related stuff, not just because her gramma is a sewing wizard, but because her weird mom gets weird about having someone in her workspace touching her stuff, and Momma's cool with that and tolerates the mess - or at least can pretend to.  This lion project will see Buster back over way more often for a while.

I also got to spend time with Dixie and inspect her ears further, shape and how they're anchored and hang.  Momma actually started talking about doing the cloth ears yesterday, finally -got cloth out and discussed the shape, ect., with me- and of course, conferred with Buster about them today.

Buster loved the Dixie mask.  (Her Fink dad did, too.)  I saw her several times randomly pick it up and hold it to her face when she didn't seem conscious that I was looking.  I believe we can rely on getting some pics of it painted fairly soon.  She took it home - even if the ears had been made in a timely fashion, they couldn't be attached permanently until the paining was done.

So the last pics above were taken shortly before 4, and there went four hours before I got back from popping Johnhotep in the oven...


I had Mom take a good look before I came back, and she observed that the nose was warped.  Johnny has nostrils not alike from casting, but something was wrong with the bridge, now, and that was the quick fix from before.  I didn't go big, wanting to hold on to the Tut-ish boyish face look that was why I chose Johnny, but I gave him an "Egyptian" nose, covering the warping.  Pics soon.

It's only a matter of being satisfied with the drying of the sculptamold -and maybe some light sanding with the dremel- before I'm ready to mache over it all, and begin a new &^%$#@! latex coating cycle for about a week.  Better start thinking about painting, I guess...

[Rusty Edge]

That's a lot of stuff. Snakes creep me out, but I think you did a great job on the cobra part! Will that be a challenge to peel off?
There's been little word of Dr. Mylochka. Is she okay? I would have thought she'd take a shine to the Mars mask project.
Or would it take a Barbie mask? Or a Klingon or something?   Well, that's not to pry, just my general concern for others.

[Buster's Uncle]

Ninja'd.  Response to follow.

So the fix was just to build up the bridge of the nose -and a little more on the nostrils, for symmetry- I think the restrained bump is enough to add personality without adding a lot of years to the face...

This is the first time the spitwad structure has felt dry.  I reckon I'll let it sit overnight -being cautious because I'm still put out about all the give and wrinkles from shrinkage in the first draft of the Mars Face- before I attempt sanding/smoothing and enclosing...

[Buster's Uncle]

That's a lot of stuff. Snakes creep me out, but I think you did a great job on the cobra part! Will that be a challenge to peel off?

If you look carefully at the profile shot, you'll see that I cheated and filled in behind the cobra.  I was relived last night to see that it's fairly common, in pharaoh statuary, for them to leave the fake beard back-filled, like I had already done.  Every detail adds to the difficulty of separation, but that's going to be more annoying to mache over w/o loosing all the detail and/or introducing unintended folds than to slide off that near an edge where I can pry around/against it.  Noses suck partly because they're in the center of the face - this will be easier to get at.  The sheer size of the mask will help with the rest; more room = more flex while I'm prying around the edges with a tool.

There's been little word of Dr. Mylochka. Is she okay? I would have thought she'd take a shine to the Mars mask project.
Or would it take a Barbie mask? Or a Klingon or something?   Well, that's not to pry, just my general concern for others.

She seems to be in a state of near-permanent suck for the last several years.  Headaches, mostly.  She has good days, or at least passible and able to go out and/or do productive stuff ones, but this and that -especially adulting, tending to her dogs, and her ongoing decorating of her own house and yard- burns off all her good time before stuff like my projects ever come up in the priority list.

I keep her informed, somewhat, on what I'm working on, and she seems interested when I actually show her something -she loved Johnhotep, and thinks I should roll with the eyeliner as-is- but never says "paint" and neither do I.  It's less enraging if I just let it go.

[Geo]

Something to make UnO jealous: an Egyptian-styled Halloween.