progress on the masks

I started my attempts to make the masks on August 1.

The first approach tried was to make a mask from 'panels' of clay. It proved impossible to achieve a self-supporting structure by this means. This might be a problem of inexperience and poor manufacture than a quality of the material.

The next approach was to try and create the mask by coiling the clay. I experienced difficulty ensuring there were no gaping holes, and even more problematic the part of the mask already created tended to spread. It gradually got wider and more shapeless. All these problems were certainly exacerbated by lack of experience and skill in handling the material. Another problem was the decision to start at the open, bottom, end of the mask. I suspect if I'd started from the top, the crown of the head, I'd still have failed to make the mask, but the problem wouldn't have been so bad.

Having already worked with chicken wire I then decided to make a frame and build up the clay over it. Initially the results while pretty crude were more promising:

Detail of the mouth:

Detail of the nose:

Detail of the right eye:

Detail of the left eye:

Detail of the right ear:

But within a couple of days the clay dried and shrank away from the wire frame, cracking across the whole surface. At this point because I had a few other things on I left the mask alone for around a week. But I got a number of photographs capturing the cracks.

The advantage of this cracking was that the clay was easy to break off the wire frame in small pieces to be damped and reworked. Before I cracked the clay off I was surprised by how light the mask had become in the process of drying.

Another learning point was that if you're planning to wet and remix air drying clay with your hands it may be best to wear gloves. Otherwise you may end up doing what I did and force an amount of clay up under your fingernails further than it really wants to go.

I'd ensured that I'd bought a large plant pot as a kind of form to try and shape the mask over. I didn't bring a bin bag, or roll of clingfilm to sit between the clay and the pot and make the mask easier to remove. As it happens I didn't need it.

But first a few photos of the basic mask (to be decorated after removal from the form):

At this stage I thought it looked fine. The next day though the mask was cracked in four large pieces. Apparently either drying too fast or shrinking around a form caused the cracking. Or perhaps a combination of the two.

I broke the mask apart again and reworked the clay. I now used the inside of the plant pot as a form. Again I had no bag or clingfilm, but I felt there was a chance the mask might shrink away from the sides.

When I spoke to a friend she suggested that drying too quickly might be a factor in the cracking and that I should place a bag over the piece to slow the drying.

The next time I was in the studio a day or two later there were some minor cracks but the mask was drying more slowly. I repaired the small cracks, damped the surface of the mask, and placed a bag over the piece.

Since then I have not looked at the piece although I have been in the studio. I don't expect it will be dry enough to attempt to remove from the plant pot until probably the end of the week. It is also likely that the piece will be cracked and unfit to develop further, so I may end up having to restart.

In the meantime I'm attempting to create designs for the mask that are obviously the product of a contemporary, 'developed', urban world rather than a pastiche of something 'exotic'.

More on this and more photographs to come.