Curse of the Death Eater?

I have this working theory that every time I mention a work-in-progress here on Epbot, I doom said project to utter, catastrophic failure.

So back during my Death Eater mask tutorial I mentioned that my own mask was already to the decorating stage. Naturally, that meant I got about 90% of the way before realizing it had stretched during sculpting, and no longer fit my face. Not a big deal, except the eyes were so wide set that, when I wore it, I looked like a cross-eyed Death Eater.

Which was hilarious, but not terribly Death Eater-y. (Death Eatery? Think anyone would eat there? "Cake or DEATH?!" "Um... cake, please!")

Ahem.

So then I paper mache'd a new mask.

Which we accidentally left in the oven too long on the final sculpt, warping it beyond salvage. Oops.

So I made a THIRD one.

That burned down, fell over, and THEN sank into the swamp.

No, sorry, the clay just re-wet the paper maché so much that it warped, shrank, and cracked - again, beyond salvaging:

DANG IT.

At this point I realized my original tutorial needed amending, so I went back and added that the paper maché might shrink, so you should try it on in-between layers, and that it should probably be sealed before applying the paper clay. I'm truly sorry if any of you had similar problems; for some reason John's mask was just so easy! Grrrr.

So, for my fourth attempt I went back to a pre-made craft mask, and had John use his heat gun to bend in the sides a little. Then I just sculpted a new nose and eyelids:

(Double the mask up for stability, and then prime it so the clay will stick.)

I sketched a design I liked directly on the mask, used tissue paper to copy it, and then folded the paper in half to make a symmetrical template:



I cut that from thin craft foam, plus a slotted mouth grate piece:

 With this mouth piece I didn't have to sculpt over the mask's lips. SCORE.

I wanted my mask to have a different finish than John's, so instead of bronze I based mine in Metal Effect's iron paint. Aaaand since we live in Florida, the iron already had a light coat of rust by morning - no activator needed.

The foam pieces got about 3 coats of silver liquid leaf, followed by 4 coats of silver Rub n' Buff, to give them a metallic shine:

At this point I've lightly aged the silver and added Rust Activator in a few spots. I still have more aging to do, but here's where I'm at after this weekend's work:

I don't think it's quite as creepy as my first one, but maybe after I darken it up around the eyes... ? (Then again, John think it's incredibly creepy, so I like to set it up to watch him while he's working. :D)

So, to sum up: I screw up my projects as much as anyone, if not more. Ha! And if you're able to start with a craft mask, I'd recommend that over paper maché. (If your face is too small or too big, though, then paper maché is still the way to go.)

Meanwhile, John's costume is completely finished and gorgeous. (I do love to see my man sewing!) So while I griped and groused over my mask, he was busy building us two light-up wands from stuff he found around the house. SO COOL. (Wait, did I just doom those projects to failure by mentioning them here? NooOOOOooOOo!!)


Oh, and this Thursday and Friday John and I will be in Miami for SuperCon, so if you are, too, then be sure to tweet at me so we can say hi! Or just troll the art aisles; I'm sure you'll spot us.

We're skipping Saturday & Sunday at the con because I'm pretty sure the crowds will be INSANE, and the new convention hall this year has no parking garage, so they have to bus people in. ACK. Here's hoping it won't be so bad the days we're there, though - and if it is, we can always park ourselves at Versailles and eat amazing Cuban food all weekend. Mmmmm.