In Progress…

Rivetted bird...thingy.

This is my next mask, in progress. The design is actually based on a mask my mother made when I was quite young–she made these gorgeous felt bird masks for Halloween one year, one of which I kept. It’s based (very loosely) on a monkey-eating eagle. I had to stylize it down even farther for this, but I think it’s a neat look. (Those little bolts are actually papercrafting brads–they’re not terribly structural, but they’re neat lookin’, and glue will hopefully do the rest.)

Lessons learned:

A) Cut the beak out, and attach that separately on the next one. Getting the good bend I wanted was impossible, and (probably because it’s really crappy leather) I couldn’t get a very clear separation on the…err…nares, I guess?

B) Brads first. Glue later. Either take the brads out and glue and reattach, or apply with a toothpick around the edges. Do not attempt to punch holes through a layer of glue. This is a mistake.

It looks pretty neat now, and with better leather, I’d be tempted to leave it, but the surface is so coarse, I’ll probably use red ink for the main mask, and black for the back ruff and the eye-pieces.

Originally published at Tea with the Squash God. You can comment here or there.