Papa-Razzi

New mask!

Dont want to write too much about it, i am not overall pleasaed with the result. but i finished it and tried out a lot of new methods!

Sheath!

The very Talented Nuax (www.nuax.dk) wanted me to make him a Sheath for his very cool handmade knife. This was a challenge, because i have never made a Sheath before.

I started out by taking my leather, and soaking it in water for 15 minutes. This makes the leather very shapeble. I then cut a big piece of leather, and start shaping it over the knife.

This made a rough mold for the front part of my sheath. and as seen on the next to pictures, the mold is actually quite great:


Then i cutted the leather with a 1cm space along the edge, to make room for the seem for later:



I then took my blunt swivel knife, to really get the mold sharp and crisp. Then i cutted the backpiece, colored both pieces and sew them together. I made a Cross using a leather stamp.

I also tried to make edge patterns, these didnt turn out so great, it is very hard aligning them with each other.



I thought i was finished then, but then Nuax told me that he wanted a belt strapped, ment for a 5cm wide belt. this proved a problem, because i only calculated with a 3.5cm wide belt. however, after som thinking, i came up with this solution:



All and all i am very satisfied. it fits perfectly, and the crooked shape is really cool and suits the knife really well.

Super cool Retouch

Someone made me a great little Retouch on my three masks!


I Love it! ^^

Maske #3

I have been working a while on my mask no. three. and think it turned out really well. The Vacuum tubes are suppose to have lights in them, however for this to work, i have to drill a small hole in them. and so far i've cracked 4 tubes (at 4dollars a piece) so for now, they will have to stay unlit.

Aaaaaand one more picture of the Mask #1 :)

Steampunk First Division? :)

Mask no. 1 - Revisited

As it turned out, i wasnt quite finished with my first mask.

I wanted to do something with the eyes, and bought some wide leather strips, with i decorated the trim of the eyes with. i was quite pleased with the result:


I also never planned on the mask being the white color, so i bought some Fiebings Antique Leather Stain. And must say i am quite pleased with the result:



My Mask no. 3 is well under way, if only my damn vacuum tubes would stop bursting! -__-'

Pest Mask

My first attempt on a pest mask! - this proved a little bit more challenging than the first mask, because of all the curves and the beak, also because of the eye holes. that had to match my metal eyes.

I wont bore you with a lot of process pictures, because it is basically the same procedure as last time.
All of the pieces drawn on my leather.








All though there is some flaws, i am pretty satisfied :)

Masks

Its been a while since my last post, because i have not made anything in a while.

I have however, fallen a little in love with Leather work, after looking at the very talented Tom Banwells work my methods and inspiration is all credited to this man!

I wanted to start out with something simple, and after practicing a lot with some thin inexpensive leather, it was on to the more expensive stuff.
I started by making a Cast of my face, this was very painful, becouse i did not use enough Vaseline in my hairline and beard, so first lesson; lots of Vaseline (great life advise in general)

I then filled the cast with modeling plaster, however i ran short of the plaster, and so i was forced to model a free hand base of the back of my face using clay.

This is my base for my mask designs, it gives my something to work from, and lets my easily get a overlook, as to where eyes and th mask line is gonna be.

I then use Decoration clay to mold my mask, this is very inexpensive, and works very good (i think)

My design for this mask was very simple, i didn't want to make an elaborate design, if it turned out that my modeling technique didn't work.

I then wanted to cover my molding with Masking tape, however it could not stick to the clay. Luckily, i had some cast left, an instead of covering my mold with masking tape, i casted it instead.


After the cast set, i drawed on to it, where i wanted my stitchings, and then gently peeled it of the clay. The clay hadn't dried out, so i bag it and hopefully will be able to recycle it (inexpensive!)

I then cut the cast out into the patterns i had drawn.

I actually only use half of my mold (the three part on the left) the top part i drew on to a pierce of paper, reversed, and drew in extention, so the forehead piece is one big piece. this insures symetry (if i had just cut the entire forehead piece of, the mold might have been crooked in the left side, making the final mask crooked. I also only use the left half of the bottom piece, and mirrored it at the middle, instead of using the triangle piece as is lays on the picture.

Then i first cut out the pieces in paper, to make sure the pieces fitted. then in my very thick expensive leather; i stitched them together and Viola:




The straps are measured in free hand, and again highly inspired by Mr. Banwells work.

Now all i need to figure out is what to do with the eyes, and if i need to color it.

If you like Leather masks, i highly suggest that you visit either Banwells Blogspot site http://tombanwell.blogspot.com/ - or his Etsy site, where he sells all his amazing work: Etsy Site