Bast Mask in progress 2
Bast Mask in progress 2, originally uploaded by midsummermuse.
I am just going to copy the description I wrote for it in Flickr to save time (I have an earlier photo of the mask in progress so you can see the paper mache paste drying.):
Here is the Bast mask I am creating for my Halloween/Masquerade costume this year. I went crazy admiring all these different leather and paper mache masks that people had created on Etsy and E-bay, but then I thought--I can do that! So, here is the point my mask is at now.
I first made a mold of the top half of my face with aluminum foil and then created the base by building up layers of ripped strips of grocery store ads with thinned Elmer's school glue holding everything together.
I added ear shapes cut from an egg carton, and the mouth/nose area base shape was cut from a paper towel roll tube and added with more layers of paper and glue on top. Then I cut out the shape of the mask, including the eyes. (Actually, the ears were added first, then cut the mask shape, then added the mouth area shape and THEN I cut the eyes out.)
I built up the ear and eyebrow ridges and the mouth/nose area using paper-mache paste, then waited FOREVER for that to dry. More like a few days to almost a week because the area around the mouth was really thick and wet with glue. (I think I used too much glue in the paste.)
After that dried, I covered the whole thing with strips ripped from brown paper grocery bags to create a better base for painting.
But now it has this weird white crystylization deposits all over the areas where the paste was underneath (the salt used to retard mold growth, or just too much glue?). I tried to remove it around the mouth area by scrubbing with a small wire-bristle brush I had in my toolbox, and that made it softer but it didn't go away. Will this affect the painting? Should I try to add a second layer of brown paper over these areas, or the whole mask? I still have a couple weeks to finish it, but I really want to start painting!
Sorry you had to almost read a book there, but any suggestions???
Also these are the web tutorials I used as guides when creating:
http://www.essortment.com/hobbies/papermachemask_tunm.htm
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/papermache/a/plmaskcraft.htm
http://familycrafts.about.com/od/papermache/a/eggcpmpulp.htm