Operation "Raise The Bar" going swimmingly...
I've been knocking myself out, making these augmented mixed-media masks...so far it's being a smashing success. The cat below is still in my shop but drawing hits and visits every day.
The funny thing about raising the bar; it creeps into other aspects of my maskmaking.
For example, this cat has wonderful whiskers made of nylon beading wire. I figured out a way to knot and cement them in place and they are so realistic...I don't know why I never tried it before. My goggle customization is getting better too. I found a way to use the actual clock gears on spindles that I dismantled from a broken old clock and they look much better than single gears...more layered and dimensional.
So I thought about it and realized that steampunk and tentacles go hand in hand (or...glove in...sucker-covered appendage...eww), so I made this guy below and called it "His Noodly Appendages". Part tentacle mask, maybe a bit of Cthulu and Flying Spaghetti Monster thrown in for fun.
It was also a big success and sold out of my shop pretty quick. I see places where I can improve it greatly...for example, the tentacles are too "fantasy", because real tentacles have neat rows of suckers instead of random ones. Also, suckers are raised and not just recessed circles like the ones I tooled.
But I am a smart house ape and I've already figured out a new customization for the next version of this...which I plan to build today. It's going to be stunning. :)
My latest mask was also my favorite, and the best one so far. I called it "Draco Temporis"...dragon of time.
I think I've finally found a perfect balance here between the mechanical and realistic elements. It almost looks like an armored dragon to me. The clock part embellishments throughout the whole design really made it dimensional and special.
My favorite part of this mask was the monocle-goggle. I really am getting much better at customizing them. I bought jeweler's magnification loops online; they're really quite inexpensive, but they come with very plain, ugly alligator clips (so you can attach them to a pair of regular glasses). I removed that part, added spacers of various bits (to maintain spring tension so the arms would swing up and stay in position), added caps to the ugly plain arms, added an assemblage of various parts to cobble a custom "clamp", and there you go. It's something you can't buy anywhere and it looks much more "Victorian" than the modern clip. Most people online seem to use nothing more than a simple hose clamp to bind the loops to the goggle cap...I think this is less industrial-looking than that and MUCH more fun to make.
The first time I figured it out, it took a whole day. But now I know what parts I need; I can build one in about 30 minutes. Yay, ingenuity. :)
I just sold "Draco"...I was actually very sad to box it up. Usually I'm perfectly fine with letting the masks go, but this one was special.
So far, every single Steampunk "critter" mask I've made has gone viral on DevArt, almost within an hour of posting it. I have almost 7,000 hits on "Draco" and it was never a Daily Deviation. I've had over 4 million impressions on that design since Thursday. All this free publicity can't be bad.
Taking things to the next level, here.
The funny thing about raising the bar; it creeps into other aspects of my maskmaking.
For example, this cat has wonderful whiskers made of nylon beading wire. I figured out a way to knot and cement them in place and they are so realistic...I don't know why I never tried it before. My goggle customization is getting better too. I found a way to use the actual clock gears on spindles that I dismantled from a broken old clock and they look much better than single gears...more layered and dimensional.
So I thought about it and realized that steampunk and tentacles go hand in hand (or...glove in...sucker-covered appendage...eww), so I made this guy below and called it "His Noodly Appendages". Part tentacle mask, maybe a bit of Cthulu and Flying Spaghetti Monster thrown in for fun.
It was also a big success and sold out of my shop pretty quick. I see places where I can improve it greatly...for example, the tentacles are too "fantasy", because real tentacles have neat rows of suckers instead of random ones. Also, suckers are raised and not just recessed circles like the ones I tooled.
But I am a smart house ape and I've already figured out a new customization for the next version of this...which I plan to build today. It's going to be stunning. :)
My latest mask was also my favorite, and the best one so far. I called it "Draco Temporis"...dragon of time.
I think I've finally found a perfect balance here between the mechanical and realistic elements. It almost looks like an armored dragon to me. The clock part embellishments throughout the whole design really made it dimensional and special.
My favorite part of this mask was the monocle-goggle. I really am getting much better at customizing them. I bought jeweler's magnification loops online; they're really quite inexpensive, but they come with very plain, ugly alligator clips (so you can attach them to a pair of regular glasses). I removed that part, added spacers of various bits (to maintain spring tension so the arms would swing up and stay in position), added caps to the ugly plain arms, added an assemblage of various parts to cobble a custom "clamp", and there you go. It's something you can't buy anywhere and it looks much more "Victorian" than the modern clip. Most people online seem to use nothing more than a simple hose clamp to bind the loops to the goggle cap...I think this is less industrial-looking than that and MUCH more fun to make.
The first time I figured it out, it took a whole day. But now I know what parts I need; I can build one in about 30 minutes. Yay, ingenuity. :)
I just sold "Draco"...I was actually very sad to box it up. Usually I'm perfectly fine with letting the masks go, but this one was special.
So far, every single Steampunk "critter" mask I've made has gone viral on DevArt, almost within an hour of posting it. I have almost 7,000 hits on "Draco" and it was never a Daily Deviation. I've had over 4 million impressions on that design since Thursday. All this free publicity can't be bad.
Taking things to the next level, here.