Charlotte found you looks good, nice job.
I have joined but not for selling so may catch you in the forum.

Sue

I reckon the minions are in hiding as I keep trying to find them. 

Len I am looking forward to seeing the finished mosque, it is looking lovely.

BBee, good to have you back, I had a little break as I was working on my pirate marionette, as he needed much surgery.  Also have been sewing a lot as well.

I am about to embark on the finger puppet production line. there are 12 odd little grey mounds in our kitchen and Tim is starting to find them too creepy to live with.

Also have a half finished Raven (formerly crow but is going to be living at a place called Ravensnest when finished) sitting in the front window, frightening off the milkman.  My friend Sarah reckons our house is starting to resemble an Edgar Alan Poe story.

I just finished my green mask

and here's two I finished off a while back, they're covered with fabric and then had the side bit painted on.

I just need to photo them properly and then they'll go onto my website.

Wow! Those are really nice!!

How do you get the fabic applied? White glue? Do you gotta stretch it, or keep it from stretching?

If I could paint worth a darn, I'd try those. Those are excellent!

Thanks! With regards to attaching the fabric, I use a watered down glue mix (about the consistency of very thick cream) brush that onto the brush and then the very important bit let it dry until it is tacky. It's probably best if you can use a stretchy material like lycra because it makes cutting out the eyes a whole lot easier. Of course I opted for using a non-stretch fabric just because it was pretty (it's got a gold weft in it thats sparkly).

I'd reccommend The Mask Makers Handbook by James Thurston because thats where I got the technique from.

Perfiditty: Those are so beautiful, where they made out of papier-mache pulp, or strips?

Perfiditty: Those are so beautiful, where they made out of papier-mache pulp, or strips?

Thank you for the replies everyone.

For those particular masks I made a bulk load last year and used a combination of pulp and strips so the masks are like a papier mache sandwich. The strips are the outer layers for a smoother surface and inside is the pulpy paper (the recipe taken from this very website no less! The one by Micheal Favreau I think)

I ended up doing it this way because it dried a heck of a lot quicker than the way I was doing using all layers and I think overall they took a lot less time to make.

I will say though my neighbours must get some funny sites from the back garden, I've had various costumes on the washing line over the years and rows of masks lined up on the wall drying in the sun.

Me? I need a full face mask. I need to rob a bank so I can buy more Gesso! 

Why not go for a nice pair of tights instead of the full face mask? Readily available and cheap too!

No, No, No, the tights are needed for armature cover prior to the application of PM.

  :shock:

I thought that things had gone quiet too, there are a lot of postings in the galleries but not so much in the forum. 

Me, I am avoiding coursework by finishing off another mermaid to try and sell on etsy.  I have about another weeks work on the raven to do and am about to try a papiermache and cloth project.  You know those pop up toys, cat or clown inside a cone that you push up from the bottom with a stick?  I have an idea for one of those which I plan to try out.  PM head and "cone" with cloth in the middle.

I seem to be filling up corners of the house with toys and projects, so I plan to stock pile what I don't sell on etsy and put up a Christmas fayre at out local craft centre.  Anything left can go to the PTA. 

Tim is getting fed up of opening wardrobes and being brained by the waterfall of puppets that land on him!

Have you tried Martin Favereau's recipe in the tutorials section.  He uses the second one for furniture and I suspect that using combination of sawdust and pulp gives it the extra strength.

I have adapted it slightly as I don't have access to the coffee grinder, so I use the hand held blender after boiling and then liquidiser section of my processor (and do it in small volume batches) before draining off the last of the water.  This gives me a lovely fluffy pulp, if you let it dry out thoroughly before mixing up it is fantastic to work with.  I have found that being impatient and using it slightly wet makes it less pliable and it tends to crack more.

Charlotte the Pop up idea sounds good and there are certain selling tactics on Etsy which I'm reading about before I dive in.
Seeria glad the move was ok, the desk project sounds like a biggy.

Sue.

Last edited by snoozysnowshoes (2007-07-02 10:58:57)

So I'm laboring along, loving this BIG pm stuff when I sit down and releaize I made the height of the pm desk too high. DOH. Starting over. I'll try to get some early shots up to show around (not that it's much to see). Long live furniture and banana boxes!!

Hi everyone!

Currently I am working on a piggy bank in the shape of a truck.  My girlfriend is having a baby and I was over there the other night and saw the theme she is going with.  Cars and trucks.  I went online and found her nursery pattern and have created one of the trucks on it.  I'm still in the early stages.  I am using cut up cardboard as my mold and paper strips.  I finished my layers last night and as soon as that is dry, I'm going to add the porcelian finish TP paste (recipe on this site) for the final touches, etc.  I'm hoping to be done in a couple weeks.  I work full time and this week is crammed with errands and a party we are throwing next weekend.