Mask Building, part two

[merimask]

As I said in the previous entry, there has been a lot of curiosity about my mask-making method.  This entry & the last one is a sort of tutorial, illustrating my technique.

So!  The mask is warm and dry and sculpted.  Next comes the fun part; painting!  I almost always do a base coat of dye.  It cuts down on the amount of paint coats that I have to do.  Also, it provides a layer of color that seeps into the leather, so that if the mask gets scratched there won't be a big streak of raw pale leather showing.  Also, it is another process that stiffens the leather.

Anything that drys leather out, makes it harder.  So, I use an alcohol-based dye.  It hardens the structure further to help it hold its shape even better.  As an added bonus, alcohol-based dyes dry quickly and they tend to not rub off on skin or clothing as easily as oil-based dyes do.  I use a wool dauber to apply the dye.

That's the inside of the mask.  Even though I use an acrylic sealer to prevent dye transferring to the wearer's face, I still try not to get any dye on the part of the mask that touches the face.  I'm careful to color & finish all the parts that stick out beyond the face, so the mask looks cool from behind as well.

Once the dye dries completely (overnight usually), I apply a sealer coat.  It's the last stiffening method in my arsenal.  Basically, the acrylic sealer seeps into the leather & renders it water-resistant forever.

I use Feibing's Leather Sheen.  It's like Tandy's Super Sheen but it doesn't dry tacky.  It's water-based & non-toxic.

The sealer has to dry really well before I start to paint...at least 3 hours or more (overnight it best).  Once it's dry, I start to lay color on.  My favorite paint is Liquitex acrylics...the paint remains elastic after it dries & doesn't crack if the massk is flexed.  Also, it's colorfast & won't fade in sunlight.  This is why the dye is not enough; dyes ALWAYS fade, I've learned.

For this mask, I start with a dark brown base...

This goes all over the mask, into every crease & cut of the carving.

Next, I drybrush a lighter brown over the entire mask...

Drybrushing is my secret weapon.  To "drybrush", you use a rather dry brush, fill it with paint, then work the paint into the brush so that only a little comes off when you sweep it lightly over an area.  Very effective at bringing out textures.  It shows off the carving details and adds depth & light to the sculpture.  A little trick I learned when I was a kid painting lead D&D models...  ;-)

The second coat isn't dramatic enough for me.  I mix an even lighter brown & drybrush that over just the areas that curve outwards or seem like they'd be faded/lighted better.  If I've done my carving correctly, this will look realistic.

I use colors straight from the bottle for my base, but the drybrushed colors are always mixed by me.   The bark looks perfect to me now...time for my favorite part; details!

The ivy and the bugs get their own base layer of color.  Deep green for the ivy, black for the bugs.

This has to be painted on VERY carefully.  If I stray from the carving, I'll ruin all that tedious drybrushing I did.  It can be repaired with a touch up but that just adds to the time, so I'm patient & careful.

At this point...the mask isn't looking "involved" enough to me.  The roots are supposed to be sheltering all sorts of creatures.  I got the "sheltering" effect with the shaping, but there aren't enough critters carved in there...it needs more.  Separate pieces are what's needed.  I stop painting & pull out my carving tools. 

These smaller pieces, I'll make with 3oz leather...much lighter & thinner than the stuff the main mask is made of.  These things need to look realistic & delicate.  I dye a swatch of leather red & use a hole punch to cut out some tiny ladybugs too...even the ladybugs are carved.

 Everything gets "drawn" right into the damp leather first, with a stylus, before I carve it.  I carve some small ivy leaves, a couple butterflies, & (a total improvisation) a salamander!

I have a feeling the salamander is going to be extra-cute.

Everything gets cut out & then, I dye it with my alcohol-based dyes again.  See, anything that dries leather, hardens & sets the leather, right?  Heat & water sets the masks 'cause they are made of thick stuff & can take the oven's heat, but the oven would turn these thinner sculptures into raisins (I know 'cause I've tried!).  So, the alcohol on the dye is what I use to sculpt these little things.  Black for the salamander & the butterflies, green for the leaves.  I shape them by hand & leave them to dry.
 
Once they set up a bit, I dip the entire pieces in the sealer & leave them to dry some more.  This takes a long time, but is worth it because between the alcohol dye & the sealer, they'll hold their shape forever.

Back to painting the mask...I drybrush lighter green over the dark green ivy, & metallic blues & greens over the butterfly & bugs...

I add tiny details too, like gold stripes on the beetles and white spots on the edge of the butterfly's wings.

The little pieces...they are still wet!  Poop!  I can't glue (or even paint) anything that is still tacky from sealer; it'll never harden up.  Beyond that, the glue won't stick.

This is a perfect time for a break.  Time to take Kiba for a walk in the woods.

Kiba LOVES the snow & he loves his walks.

Why am I showing this?  Because it's a HUGE part of my creative process.  Obviously I'm not making a root-maze mask based on anything I've seen in a book.  I get a lot of my ideas from nature.  Things I see during walks with Kiba, or during my bike rides...they end up in my art.

Also, it's important to remember to take time out for yourself.  When you are self-employed, it's too easy to work ALL the time.  I work all weekend, late into the night, when I'm sick, on holidays, on my birthday...even when I go on vacation!  I always work.  So, I try to remember to "play" a little every day too.  It's important to keep your love alive.

Kiba is so joyful...he reminds me to see the beauty all around me everywhere I go, and that's what keeps me going.
 

So, after some miles in the snow I come back to find that the little pieces are nice & dry...perfect!  Time to paint those.  Same technique I used on the mask; dark base coat of paint over the dyed & sealed critters, followed by lighter contrasting coats drybrushed atop.  Except for the salamander!  I remember catching black salamanders with orange spots on 'em in the woods when I was a kid...

When in doubt, use a guidebook though.  I keep a TON of reference books when I want to get the details right...like that Red Admiral butterfly there.  I needed the guidebook for him.

So now that everything is painted I can glue it on...this is the best part!  I use "Goop" glue...it's really strong stuff.  It remains flexible & bonds to ANYthing.  I've tried pulling two "gooped" pieces of leather apart; the leather tears before the glue separates.  Great stuff for adding extra pieces.

Ventilate well or it'll make you loopy & kill precious brain cells.

Everything gets glued & I prop the mask up to dry...

OMG the salamander...it's CLINGING IN THE CUTEST WAY.

A few hours for the Goop to dry, and I spray-seal the entire mask with an acrylic sealant.  Fiebing's Leather Sheen in a  13 oz aerosol can...very nasty stuff.  Again, ventilate (or leave the room) as it will make you loopy & perhaps dead.

Everything dries.  And, the finished Root Maze Mask is done!

Details...

More details...

OMG SALAMANDER!

...and the butterfly/ivy.


 

And there you have it, from start to finish.  A weekend's project.  Not including drying time, about 10 hours of work (I am FAST, though, because I know what I'm doing).   A totally fun, totally unique mask.

I hope this was a helpful couple of entries!  If you have any questions regarding products I use (or just any little thing you're curious about),  just ask.  ^_^

Comments

[wildwose.livejournal.com]

Excellent. I am honored to have the first comment and pleased to say how much I enjoyed this. Your techniques and leather types means that you can do certain creative touches that we can't achieve. Additionally, I can't think of any other mask maker who has ever put up such a detailed tutorial. It is very pleasant to see you do all this. And it doesn't hurt that you masks are so nice either.
Thanks.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

why thank you. ^_^ You know...I never mind sharing my technique because a big part of my technique relies on my own artistic ability. I think everyone could learn to make masks in their own way, but my designs and ideas remain my own so there's no harm in sharing my methods.

It was fun & interesting to really analyze what I do though...I think every artist ought to do that (hint hint!) even if we just do it for ourselves.

[kls-eloise.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Think I ought to photo-doc the scroll assignment I just took? I haven't, because I wasn't sure anyone would be interested.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Yes by all means! I've always thought your work was fascinating. I remember we bonded over a story about some kind of crazy plaster slip you mixed by hand for 24 hours, in order to make the gold leaf on a scroll look 3D. That impressed the heck out of me!!

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I would love to see something like this.

[wildwose.livejournal.com]

We have actually done this before. Just not as a journal entry...yet! The first time was to run a slideshow of the creative process in our booth at a American Craft Council Show. These are VERY high end wholesale shows and we needed to really show off for it. I had one of my old cpu towers under the table and was VERY nervous to have my, at the time, brand new flat panel monitor on the table in our booth running it. It was trick, and looked really slick, and no one knew it was running on a freebie Kodak software on Windows 98!

But I have the pictures and have done another series and will post a set sometime soon. Looks like we are snowed in for a week or so, lots of time.

[ravenedgewalker.livejournal.com]

awesome! thank you for sharing the process.

and the mask is fabulous

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I love the way it turned out (I hope the client likes it too!)

[xothique.livejournal.com]

The end product is fantastic as always. :D
I'm curious about what you 've said about the leather dye - they always fade?
I have had problems in the past with the blue/turquoise end of the spectrum, and no I use paint rather than dye if I'm using those colours - the others seem OK. However, I am now concerned over the quality of my past work. I would hate for people to be disappointed because their masks don't hold their colour... I might have to leave a few test pieces out in direct light for a week or so.
So once again, thank you for this advice, it's very helpful.
Kiba looks gorgeous, by the way. :D

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Yeah...dyes are all varying degrees of no good. Some colors (green, red, black) are more unstable than others. Brown tends to darken, rather than get lighter. Oil-based dyes hold color better, though the red tends to darken to deep brown, & all oil dyes bleed & rub off like crazy. Acrylic dyes are best (but they tend to remain on the surface...paint is better). Alcohol dyes fade like mad. Black goes blue, purple & green go light brown.

I've been making masks for 17 years now, so I see what happens to different dyes over time. Masks/things kept out of direct sunlight age better than things that are used hard (I make my masks to be used, so I have seen some of them completely change color over time which is why I do things this way now).

Kiba thanks you for the flattery, by the way. :-) He knows he is a handsome guy.

[xothique.livejournal.com]

Ah, this is a real pity - because I really like the effects that I can get with leather dye. Red darkening to deep brown over time isn't such an issue, sometimes the faded colours can still look natural. However, I made one lovely vibrant turquoise mask last year, and it ended up a dirty yellow green after only two weeks. Clearly that particular dye is volatile and I'll not use it again. I'll experiment a bit more with acrylic paints and other effects.
I'm still very much a beginner with leather - though I have been making papier-mache masks for 10 years. I really appreciate all of your help and advice.

mask leather

[art-n-coffee.livejournal.com]

where do you purchase your leather and roughly how much does it cost?

Re: mask leather

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I've bought a LOT of leather from a lot of different places. Here's what I've learned.

Avoid Tandy. They're great for tools & supplies but the tooling leather they get is stuff rejected by the shoe & belt industry...even the stuff they say is "high quality". Chemical-burned, old, dried out, cracked, scarred, or too "loose" (fuzzy-backed) to be used.

Weaver is a retailer & the quality varies depending on where they get their seconds. So they are expensive & unreliable.

I go right to the source; I buy directly from a tannery. Wickett & Craig, out of Curwensville PA. An actual tannery so the stuff is always fresh & perfect...even their utility-grade is lovely. They split down from 12oz all the way to 2oz (and they'll give you the splits from your hide for free). Utility varies from 4.39 per square foot (that's a sale they are running on "russet carving special hides" right now) to about 5.30. Sides are 20 to 27 sq feet. Totally worth every cent.

If you just want to try it out before you get a side, I think the bellies are $15 or so...very long & even the bellies are better than the best Tandy has to offer. & when you ask for 7oz or 4 oz or whatever, the WHOLE piece is the same thickness...none of that 7/8 oz stuff that Tandy does.

They'll ship directly to you, one hide or ten, or a hundred. 1-800-TANNERY Ask for Glen & tell him you heard from "merimask designs"...he'll be sure to give you the pretty stuff.

[kls-eloise.livejournal.com]

Very cool. We've talked about it a lot, but it's really neat to see the whole process beginning to end.

I really wish we lived closer together - I'd love to try this.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

I know...I think you'd be good at it too. Plus I'm a very patient teacher. We'll have to get together someday & play around with it.

[ramblinsuze.livejournal.com]

That is SO cool! The added pieces just make it (salamander!). Thank you so much for sharing your process. It's really, really interesting learning about a new type of craft. I'm amazed at the amount of work you go through for each mask. Wow.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you dear. :-) And yes...salamander! When I shaped it to "cling" to that piece of the mask, I actually squeed with delight. It was adorable!

I'm hoping two things come of this; perhaps people might try to make a leather mask of their own. Also, perhaps folks will better understand what I do (& why I charge what I do for it).

[madshutterbug.livejournal.com]

Again, thank you for this series. Nice bit of information.

Do you mind if I tag you onto the list here?

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Go right ahead...I'd be honored. ^_^

Thanks!

[(Anonymous)]

Thanks so much for this! It is a beautiful mask, and though I don't think I'd try a mask right off, the instructions will certainly come in handy when I try my hand at something simple to begin with.
I was wondering what kind of leather you use and how one obtains it.
Also--and I feel stupid for asking--but is it possible to use the leather from old work/cowboy boots for practice...? :D

Re: Thanks!

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Only vegetable-tanned tooling leather works with this method. It has to be undyed and no sealed, so it can take water. Water is essential for leather carving, tooling & shaping.

The old boots are already treated & so they really can't be practiced with. Look in your area for "Tandy" leather company (or "TLC) stores near you...their leather sucks but at least you can try it.

Or call 1-800-TANNERY and see about getting some bellies to practice on ("russet carving/tooling" is what they call their good grade of tooling leather). That's really a good way to go. Start with 6 or 7 ounce leather...8 is a bit much for beginners.

[zannachan.livejournal.com]

Wow. I see how you did it but it still blows my mind to see how you went from the concept in your head to the finished project. Very cool.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I've been doing them long enough now that I no longer say "I wonder if I can make this idea into a mask?" but instead "I wonder if I can make this idea into a GOOD mask?" This one was a pretty tricky concept...there was a chance it wasn't going to work. Very arrogant of me to go ahead & document it anyway (fortunately I think it worked). ^_^

[chibi-kaz.livejournal.com]

That mask is so FUN! Awesome job.

The tutorial is very interesting. I don't know that I could be as free-form at it as you are; I tend to plan my projects down to the last pearl... ;) Fortunately, I'm thinking tooled & painted coronets, not Awesomely Creative Masks. :D (I also intend to use water&heat hardened leather as structural bases for hats.)

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thank you...I used to be more structured in my approach but now I find that bores me. Half the fun of making these things is in not really knowing how they'll turn out (for me). I just get a picture in my head & try to make it.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

Wow. That mask is breathtaking. I mean, wow.

This has been so cool. I love your masks, and to see how you make them is that much more wondrous. Thank you for sharing.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's revealing when you reveal yourself, you know? Writing down the whole process like that...it's like seeing it anew, myself. So much of what we do in life becomes automatic. It's good to analyze it, sometimes.

[drriftwood.livejournal.com]

What fun! (and work!!)..Great tutorial. Thanks for sharing..:)
And Kiba looks adorable- as usual..give him hugs from me..

[merimask.livejournal.com]

LOL...Of course! I remember how much fun you guys had with The Keebinator. ;-)

HOLY COW!!!!!

[ramblingrican.blogspot.com (from livejournal.com)]

My.. favorite.. mask.. ever.. in.. the.. history.. of.. the.. world.. LMAO!!!!!!! Seriously.. I mean I LOVE the dragons.. but man.. if I had the money I'd totally buy that from you.. WOOOOOOOOOOW.. seeing the process also really really showed a lot of cool things I didn't know! "Ventilate well or it'll make you loopy & kill precious brain cells".. Aahahahhaahh oh yeah.. been there done that.. that's hysterical!

Re: HOLY COW!!!!!

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Hee! Really? Thanks! I liked this one too...it's very different from my usual mask "theme" so it was a fun departure.

So now when I tell you guys that I'm "busy makin' stuff!", you'll know what I mean. ^_^

[a-hollow-year.livejournal.com]

Wow, cooooooool! The whole process. Actually getting to see how you do it is awesome.

Also... I think this is one of my favorite masks. I'm not sure if it's because I got to see how it was made, or because of how protective it seems, almost like a talisman. It's a powerful piece of art.

[merimask.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was a fun mask to make...sort of "Pan's Labyrinth"-ish but not so dark.

I'm glad I decided to write down/take pictures of the whole process. I thought it might be boring or too technical but I guess not.

Wow!

[liltigris14.livejournal.com]

Great tutorial and just the information I've been looking for to get started. ^^ Thanks a ton, and your finished masks on Deviant Art are lovely!

[(Anonymous)]

Hi. I got here through your DA entry! :)

Your masks are really amazing, it was fun reading your tutorial. (specifically because you looked happy to share every detail. :3) And your dog, you named him Kiba! Aww... That part of the tutorial made me understand more. tee-hee! Thanks a lot for sharing this! n___n


Kerstie
kkoorime.deviantart.com

Awwwww Salamander!

[(Anonymous)]

I've only just found you on DA, but I'm already a fan. I enjoyed reading about your creative process. Sounds like you really enjoy your work. :)

And seriously, that salamander is the best. I want to hug it.

~Ellira

[(Anonymous)]

beautiful out come. very nice work^^ i wouldnt mind doing this but i would probably end up throwing it against a wall. keep up the good work!^^

My name is River

[(Anonymous)]

this is amazing and sooo awesome but can you let me know the list of tools and that i need to make one