Last year I was contacted by a client that wanted me to make a unique mask for an art campaign that she is doing focused on empowering women. While I wait for the collaboration to bare fruit, I decided to completed the test mask that I had created to get the basic shape down for her mask. I was extremely happy with what came out of it. I called it ‘ Midsummer Nights Dream’ based of the Shakespeare’s Play of the same name.
The leather was dyed a dark mahogany, while jewelry chains hung from the twisted leather prongs that protruded from the top of it. I had also fixed small charms, bells and glass beads to bring the delicate details into play. A flower crown of sakura blossoms, ivy, ferns, berries and leaves adorned the top giving it an organic feel. I really enjoyed making this mask and I know that the client that purchased it from my Etsy Shop left me 5 star review and wore it to her fall masquerade ball.
But it left me wanting to make more. When I finally got a chance, I created a few more bases to work from. One was a faun mask, complete with ears and spiraling horns. I knew I wanted to do something with winter, since it was December and moving into January, but I wasn’t quite sure what. I started by dying it a navy blue and began to doodle on it with gold and silver metallic paint pens. I shined up the horns with gold rub-n-buff and started finding the icy flora to fix atop it. I worked through the night, I just couldn’t stop. It’s addicting just letting these things come to life. And when I finally finished I was quite happy with it. You can see it below in the gallery. It’s currently on it’s way to a client in Utah.
So I started another one, almost immediately after the other one shipped out. This time I wanted to try a fall theme. I fashioned the mask after a maple leaf, blending yellow and red stain, and then using a gold paint pen to highlight the beautiful veins of the leaf. Again I hung chains from the twisted leather prongs at the top and adorned the crown with colors of the chaining season, along with fall ferns and autumn leaves. At this same time I made a Forest Spirit Wolf Mask in the theme of summer. I stained the wolf mask a java brown and used the gold paint pen to mimic the look of woodgrain. I attached the summer ferns to the crown along with twigs and nuts. Both of these are currently in my Etsy Shop.
I can’t wait to create more of these unique one of a kind masquerade leather masks. I also have simpler masks at the shop, as well as plain raw masks for you to create your own work of art. You can find all my leather mask listings here.
