Black Fox Mask

Here are a few pictures of my Black Fox mask.
As you will see, I was not paying attention to the other side of the leather when I cut this one, and managed to get the pricked id right across the face (something the manufacturer does). Oh well, that just means I get to keep it!
I wore this one for two days at the Maryland Fairy Festival, and it was very comfortable, and stood up well to the uncontrollable sweat from the heat on Saturday.

New Product Announcement!

A few weeks ago, while toiling away on my leather masks, I had a flash of inspiration. I had a sudden vision of a glowing, jewel encrusted wire mask, that would mold to the contours of you face, enhancing not hiding your natural beauty.
It took almost a week to construct the first one, but here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what this new product line is going to look like:






I have a really unique feature that I have never seen done before: instead of wearing this mask with ribbon ties or elastic, it is worn like a pair of glasses, with adjustable arms that hook around your ears. Being tie free, it will not interfere with your hair style or other headdress items.
This mask is woven non-tarnish artistic wire in three different gages and accented with tiny clear irridecent seed beads, fire-polished and swarovski crystals. It is also light as a feather, not feeling much heavier than say, a large pair of sunglasses.
:)

Such Goings On

First of all, the FAEteam has a new exhibition going on called Visions of Atlantis. Please stop by and check out all the fabulous watery themed handmade art by the Fantasy Artists of Etsy!

Second, it is time I introduced you to my new baby: my beautiful Sony digital SLR. It was a surprise present from my dad-he thought I needed to take better pictures of my work.
It is a marvelous new toy-I love being able to make minute and huge adjustments on the fly instead of spending a ton of time in Photoshop afterwards. I didn't realized how much I missed the chink-chink of the shutter snapping open and closed. It brings back nostalgic memories of photography classes in college, a slightly happier but no less stressful time.

And lastly, I finally finished the new leather masks I have been working on for the past month. Note to self, keep the mask runs to 10 at a time! Here are a few images snapped with my nifty new camera:

Pain for the sake of Art-yet Again...

I spent eight or nine hours on Saturday cutting an molding new leather masks. I had planned on making it a weekend project, but I over-worked my poor hands and could not get more than three done on Sunday. So here is a preview of eleven new unpainted masks:
They have been cut, tooled, molded and hardened and await a coat or two of luminous paint.
The white faces you see are plaster casts I made of a plastic face form I got when I first started mask making. They are sturdier than plastic and don't move around when I am working the leather. I did have to seal them to prevent plaster dust adhering to the masks and the bottom has a layer of felt or foam to keep them from marking my table.
I am looking forward to my time off next week: my next mask project is to design masks for people who wear glasses.

43rd Annual Media Arts and Crafts Festival

On Sunday, June 1st I spent the day on State Street in Media, PA for their annual Arts and Crafts festival, sponsored by TownTalk, the local newspaper. It is a juried show for local artists and artisans to exhibit and sell their handmade works.
Here are some pictures of my set up: I LOVE my EZ-up tent, it is huge, sturdy and easy to use. The only problem with it is that you need at least two people to set it up. So I dragged my sister, Carisa, out of her warm bed at 6:45am to help me set up.
My crazy set up takes a minimum of an hour and a half to put together. A few years back I decided to lash together some coated wire shelves to hang my wings on-it was the sturdiest thing I could come up with on a shoestring budget. I use metal shower curtain hooks to hand the wings and curtain pins to hang the masks.
I had so many people walk by with their mouths hanging open-I suppose this isn't something you expect to see at a local craft show. They are usually even more flabbergasted when I tell them, "Yes, I did make all of this myself." And then there is the question about my wings that never gets asked at fairy festivals: "But what are they for?"
But even with my colorful display of wings and masks and a table full of glittering crowns, tiaras and crochet wire jewelry, the most eye-catching and crowd stopping thing at my tent was the flower decorations I hung from the tent frame.
I took these giant daisy-like flowers my mom gave me a few years ago, popped out the centers, strung them with looped wire and tied on ribbons to hang them from the tent frame so I could have an up-side down garden inside. I had no less than a dozen people ask me how much they were so I guess next year I will have to make some to sell!

I am the Favorite Find of the Day and Mask Making Madness

Charmaine the High Desert Diva, was kind enough to feature my Water Element Leather Mask on her blog, which can be viewed here.

Mask making is something I learned in the past few years. I remember seeing my first leather mask at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire years and years ago. I was entranced by the shapes and modeling that was possible in the medium. So a few years ago, my ever-so-thoughtful boyfriend gave me a kit for my birthday that contained a few pieces of leather, a face form and a video on how to make leather masks. I was overjoyed! I could finally unravel the secrets if those beautiful masks I had so long admired. Unfortunately the instructions provided and on the video were very vague about certain important points. I spent about a year developing my own techniques for making super sturdy, yet delicate masks and various ways to finish them.
The Raven mask pictured here is a relatively simple design that molds close to the wearer's face and has an long beak. The beak is a design element that must be planned for in the design stage to ensure that enough leather is cut to create the correct shape.
After I had my technique down, I worked on creating designs that would test the limits of the material and myself.

The Forest Spirit Mask, pictured here in Autumn coloring, was created using scraps of thin leather that were hand cut into leaf shapes and scored with the vein pattern. The individual leaves were then applied to a simple domino mask base of a medium weight leather. I took a great deal of time molding each leaf to look as natural as possible. I applied the paint with my trusty airbrush, carefully applying color in light layers for a natural look. I wanted to convey the feeling that you had scooped up a handful of fallen leaves and pressed them to your face. I think that I was pretty success full.
In my continuing efforts to push my personal envelope, I decided to recycle a piece of rabbit fur into a mask. I chose the basic domino as my base, and after I molded it to the shape I desired, I glued on the rabbit fur with leather cement. I had to seal the edge with something that would mot de-laminate so I used glittery fabric glue because it dries into a tough plastic. I've never seen anyone else use fur in this manner, so I hope everyone will have a little respect and not copy the idea!