Saturday, April 7, 2018

African Queen

A New Series: African Masks

Just a short while ago I purchased a book on African Masks because that's just another thing that I have a fascination for. The reason I bought the book was for inspiration so I could make masks myself out of metal. 

Today I made the first one.  I started out by cutting the shape out of a sheet of 1/8" in sheet metal.  After that I used my blacksmiths forge to shape the head just the way I wanted it.

Next I cut out the eyes and the mouth which was followed by welding on a nose.  I needed hair and I remembered that I had this neat brush made of horse hair.  I was able to fabricate that to the back of the mask.  The next thing I did was to add a bunch of grinding in just the right places.  The only thing left was to add some colour and some triple glaze shine.  Add a hook to the back and I'm done.

This mask is grotesque.  It sure won't be everyone's cup of tea, in fact it wasn't Laura's that's for sure.  Matter of fact, she said that it will not hang on the fence where I have some of my other sculptures.  Well, that's ok... because not every one of my works can be loved.

Now I'm inspired to create a whole series of masks.  Tonight I'll get down to the books and research masks. 

What do you think of this?  Please leave a comment..

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