Masks and other Art

[Buster's Uncle]

They do look familiar - without actually looking much like Curious George.  That one could have used a more sophisticated painting, but I no longer recall who painted it.  I definitely made the mask, and Momma sewed the hood; I can tell that from looking.  I've handled a LOT of sticky strips of newspaper, though, over a lot of years.

We should have done something clever with Velcro to make the hood work better.

[Unorthodox]

Just oversize the cowl a bit and have the mask up inside it more for a good Halloween look. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Dunno.  The hood was a bit too small on Buster's Daddy and a bit too big on Buster, but it exposed the forehead in the same spot on both.

Something might could have been done almost as simple as a drawstring around the face - though George, IIRC, having a widows' peak (and two more on his cheeks) complicates things.

[Rusty Edge]

Thread juxtaposition begs the question-

"Did you ever do much in the way of masks for dolls?"

Now I'm pondering whether that would make them more or less creepy, and I conclude it would depend upon the particular faces involved.

[Buster's Uncle]

There are photographs.  I will take it to Mylochka right now.

[Buster's Uncle]

I mentioned it, but nothing yet.  Insane number of balls in the air - and I ain't found all my mask supply boxes yet; there's one in there.

---

That looks like a grumbledawg

He totally was.  He said he ruled me.  He certainly bit me enough times.

---

Below, a paper mache casting of the crone plaster mask - heavily latexed, and looking a lot like the all-latex version.  There are advantages to each, but this one was less work and would obviously be easier to put on...

Less obviously, I'm not colorblind; I made this one years ago, and the latex has darkened/yellowed considerably in the long run, making it much orange, unlike the peachish I painted it.

[Buster's Uncle]

Here's one of the skull masks Mylochka hung on her office wall for years.

A lot can be done for individualizing shape with the trimming, and since the latex is water-heavy, it softens the mask and I often cheat the shape a little while applying the protective layer inside and out.  It takes a painting on top surprisingly well, though I usually rely on the paint job for humidity protection.

[Buster's Uncle]

Not a very good mask, but pretty good paintjob...

[Buster's Uncle]

An undecorated Diego.  -Like this, you can see it obviously would make a good more-realistic old man mask.

Also obviously, the time in boxes hasn't been good for the shape of the masks...

[Dio]

Here's one of the skull masks Mylochka hung on her office wall for years.

A lot can be done for individualizing shape with the trimming, and since the latex is water-heavy, it softens the mask and I often cheat the shape a little while applying the protective layer inside and out.  It takes a painting on top surprisingly well, though I usually rely on the paint job for humidity protection.

I really like the color pattern on this particular mask more so than on some of the others. It has more bright contrast on it. The contrast of those particular colors give it a tropical feeling  .

[Buster's Uncle]

There's a similar one from the same set in the pictures I have in queue to post, only pinker and looking even more like a giant DotD candy skull.

[Buster's Uncle]

Here's a monkey mask, undecorated - and again, life in the box has not been good for the shape around the edges.  This was obviously from after I cut a great pile of paper strips on an office paper cutter, but before I realized I needed to used torn strips on the top layer if I didn't want those straight edges poking out so much/showing.

[Buster's Uncle]

Not a mask, but a sculptural project -which is what the masks are to me- of a carving I did in the head of a dogwood cane/staff.

-Which I can't find, so far, but here's a lead casting, copper-plated chemically with instrument polish, of the same face that hangs on my bedroom wall.

I gave my perfect niece a bunch of plaster castings of same, among other things, as part of a gift-a-day goodie horde on a visit.  We painted one together on the porch of her house, rainbow, her favorite color besides pink, and I told her "Jesus is full of love and rainbows".  -Guess what was the first thing she said to her mother when SHE got home.

The camera really fought me about taking pictures of this palm of-your-hand-small work in-focus...

[Buster's Uncle]

A Japanese Oni mask.

For a wonder, has done very well in the box; for some reason, the finished-and-stringed ones tend to.  Note the profile of the nose - created for Mylochka's Mayan folktales-and-tourism show in the late 90s.  The horns --- I think she asked for to make oni masks.  The straight cone shapes are pretty easy to get out of the paper maché, but a girldog to get to sit in place on the smooth plastic generic half-mask I use as a base until I've got a few strips of paper on them holding them still.

People notice the DoD skulls in our work, but I may be proudest of the fairly-simple Onis.  Those horns look great, and I've always been proud of my noses.

(-I should do a Jesus mask, come to think of it.  That would need to be a full face base, not some appliances -- maybe.)

[Dio]

A Japanese Oni mask.

For a wonder, has done very well in the box; for some reason, the finished-and-stringed ones tend to.  Note the profile of the nose - created for Mylochka's Mayan folktales-and-tourism show in the late 90s.  The horns --- I think she asked for to make oni masks.  The straight cone shapes are pretty easy to get out of the paper maché, but a girldog to get to sit in place on the smooth plastic generic half-mask I use as a base until I've got a few strips of paper on them holding them still.

People notice the DoD skulls in our work, but I may be proudest of the fairly-simple Onis.  Those horns look great, and I've always been proud of my noses.

(-I should do a Jesus mask, come to think of it.  That would need to be a full face base, not some appliances -- maybe.)

In my amatuer opinion, I think that the Oni mask appears well painted  .