Leaf Mask

The Leaf Mask

Finished Leaf Mask

Perhaps my most successful mask, this was created purely on a whim.

 I sketched it on the back of a 4oz chunk of vegetable tanned leather.

With leather so thin, I was not sure the wet molding would take,

but it did. I later wax hardened it to make it a little stiffer.

The Drawing

The only real requirements in the drawing stage for a mask are size limits;

How far apart are the inside of the eyes?

Do you want to cover the mouth and/or nose?

How high up the forehead and/or around the sides

do you want to go?

Most masks stop before the ears and below the hair line.

Wet Molding

This is easily the best part. While you are always nervous

that you will wreck it at this stage, you get the see the piece 

take shape here. Generally the flat piece looks wrong because

you've made the eyes a little wider than they need to be, and

everything has a little extra on it, which gets used up by the curling

and shaping, and it you've done it right, ends up looking proper

when you are finished.

 

Finished
 

Being done is almost a disappointment. The creative part is done.

This made will fade and darken slightly with time,

which will give it more character, and it should last for

many years, if oiled periodically. No special effort was

made in the dye coloring. The shape of the mask guides

dye application and encourages the dye to build up in

certain areas.