Death Masks

I was invited to teach a workshop in death masks as part of our library's summer program for Teens - 'Own the Night'.
Friday afternoon, 9 kids, a librarian and I got together with plaster bandages and liquid latex to make castings of their living faces.  I caught some of the action to share with you.

Faces had to be coated with a glaze of Vaseline prior to application of the plaster bandages.

Hair was pulled up with bands in some cases to keep clear of the plaster.

People worked in teams of two.

The plaster was quick drying, but you had to sit very still until it dried.

We covered the eyes last, and left the nostrils clear, covering them after the cast was pulled.

Completed plaster casts were compelling images in their own right.

A thin coating of liquid latex was poured into the dry plaster casts.

Since it is so humid on our Island, the latex had to be left overnight to dry.  I am excited to see how they turned out!

If you are interested in details of the entire process (which is actually dead easy - hee hee), there is a good tutorial here.  Thank you, Evil Slaughter 13.

Three Ring Circus

Whew!  The days sure flew by this week, kicking off with a wearable art workshop I taught through our wonderful local library.

I had one student, J, a very focused third grader who brought her own recycled fabrics and great design idea drawn up in her sketch book.  Very impressive!

headband sketch by 8 year old student

While my librarian friend and I cut out flower shapes for her, J stitched away on her project, attaching the flowers to her t-shirt with buttons and beads and sequins.  

She designed this charming headband to accessorize her outfit (see sketch above).

After 2 solid hours of determined hand sewing, J's wearable art was complete. She was pleased and we were amazed at her tenacity.

Back at my studio, more wearable art is evolving as I develop a second 'look' for next month's show.  This one will be modeled by a young friend of mine.  

The base for the head piece is 16 ga. wire bent to encircle the head and rest on the shoulders

Cardboard shoulder pieces being attached to the wire frame with paper mache.  (My paste recipe is 1.5 parts flour to 1 part cool water plus .25 part white glue, stirred smooth).

These silk yoyos will adorn the head piece, along with leaves fashioned from the velveteen I dyed last week.

Hand-dyed rayon with Dynaflow textile paint vines and leaves.   (These are incorporated into the skirt).

I also spent some time wandering through my fabric deciding on a split complementary palette for the next Fiberactions challenge.  All in all, a great work week.  I like the three-ring circus approach, do you?

Chinese Lanterns #1

Next Thursday I will be teaching a little painting workshop for 8-years-and-up people at our nice library as part of their summer Art Camp program.  We will be decorating Chinese Lanterns, nylon ones from Dharma, with acrylic paints.  I spent part of my day starting mine so I had an example to show the group.  Very FUN!  My theme is the Moon's face in four seasons.

This is summer.

Autumn

 Winter Moon

These are 10" diameter lanterns.  It seems to work best to not draw on the lantern blank with pencil but just plunge in with the paint brush.  I think I will encourage the kids to do some preliminary sketching on paper to develop a design prior to working on their lanterns.

I saved the Spring moon to demonstrate in class.

Look for a post of the workshop end of next week, and enjoy your Saturday!

Teaching

They were the best group ever: fearless, focused, and fabulous.  I began Wednesday afternoon with a demo of low-water emersion processes.  A couple of hours later, thrilled cries of delight were coming from the sinks as people rinsed out their first-ever hand dyed fabrics.

The next session I introduced the class to thickened dyes and some of the ways of working with them including monoprinting and stamping.  They experimented intensely.

 As the week went on, visions began to form and finished pieces emerged from chaos.  I thoroughly enjoyed my role as cheerleader, soda ash solution preparer, title suggestor, and guide.

 

I find that the most helpful question an artist can ask is “What would happen if…”.  My workshop students were all examples of the wonderful strides in self-expression that can be made when this question is asked and answered.

 

 

 Finished work at the gala art exhibit and awards ceremony Saturday night.