This week's starts... 



two small balloons for cat masks

 cardboard form for tribal mask

 detail view of forehead stuffed with bubble wrap

 front of round cardboard mask

back of round cardboard mask

taped sections will allow me to make it rounded on the sides

This one is done!   

Desert Kiwi Thief Catcher 

Refer to Jan 11 for construction steps.

Pig coming along.

This started out as a balloon. Built the face with cardboard. Now it has paper mache goop all over. 

Wait until you see the next step!

Maori ma

sk from the internet New Zealand

Ahhhyiiii eeahhhh!!!

http://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/haka/

MARCH 2016! WOW! IT WILL BE SPRING SOON!

I experienced a little glimpse of spring this past weekend in Raleigh, N.C. The temperature rose to 65-0 and I saw redbud trees blooming, daffodils, and dandelions making their appearance.
The maple trees and pine trees and numerous others are busy spewing pollen into the breeze. AHHHCHOO!

Exciting things are happening. I met with the staff at The Clifton Forge School of The Arts last Friday to discuss details for mask making workshops CFSOTA http://www.cfsota.org

Workshops will begin toward the end of April and we will kick off with one person show featuring ME.

WOW I'd better get busy!

The gallery space is huge, so I need at least 20 wall pieces and there is room for a few freestanding and hanging pieces.

For classes, I will be using the painting room that is adjacent to the gallery. It is spacious and well lit with a sink and storage space for works in progress.

So far the plan is for one 90 minute session each of 4 weeks. We have not yet nailed down the days and times but we will plan for after school hours unless enough adults who wish to take a class during day hours indicate that they would participate.
The classes will be limited to six members-ages 12 to adult.

I will buy the supplies and give the receipts to the staff so they can plan the class fee and supply fee.

In anticipation of Con of The Mountain, participants will have the option of creating character masks.

The first of the series will offer instruction for constructing a wearable or ornamental mask using cardboard and paper mache. You can Google either kind and see plenty of examples.

My other job

When I am not making a mess in my workshop, I am dressed up in business casual clothes and working at the Writing Center at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.

I just started a blog there:
http://sites.vmi.edu/drakemp

THE WINTER BLAHS GOT ME!

Since I've sick most of January and so far all of February, I have worked sporadically in my workshop but neglected to take pictures.

I will have some this week!

Here are some masks I'd like to imitate and do variations of each.

The cat mask is finished!
You can refer to my posts on Jan 30-31 to see the early steps.

The Rainbow Maker mask is finished.
You can refer to posts on Dec. 15, Jan. 5, and Jan. 10 to see the earlier steps. 

 

 I really like these muncher things. The maker calls them human fly traps.
I wish she had posted the finished critters. I think I will make a few.

http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-and-step-by-step/94596-my-take-human-fly-trap.html


Here's a link to one of my favorite paper mache artists, Dan Reeder. He works really hard on details
I like the part of this tutorial on adding hair and fingers.

http://papermacheblog.com/older-paper-mache-projects/paper-mache-dark-butterfly/

The home site for his blog is http://papermacheblog.com/

The home site for his work is http://gourmetpapermache.com/


I just bought two of his books. What fun! he writes in a humorous manner and the directions are super simple. Anyone could make a monster with his directions. Both books have great photo galleries of his finished works. Both are available in a variety of formats on Amazon.

Make Something Ugly for a Change

The Simple Screamer