How to make a Leather Mask

topic posted Thu, August 14, 2008 - 9:22 AM by  Amanda
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Hi there,
I was just wondering if anyone has any good tips or knows of a good website on how to make Leather masks? Iv always been intersted in how they are made and I've seen some amazing masks in the photo gallery and I'm getting all inspired!
Thanks :)
posted by:
Amanda
United Kingdom
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  • Re: How to make a Leather Mask

    Thu, August 14, 2008 - 11:46 AM
    Hi Amanda!

    I've found this link helpful. It is a day-by-day, step-by-step process description of the 10-day leather maskmaking workshop directed by Sr Paolo Consiglio, a celebrated Florentian leather mask artisan.

    Straight from the source: www.csu.edu.au/faculty/ar...cycle/mask/


    • Re: How to make a Leather Mask

      Fri, August 15, 2008 - 3:24 AM
      wow cool thanks so much for posting that. I had a quick look, i never thought it would be easy (i really dont know much about how to make them) but i didnt think it would be quite that hard! takes alot of work! and a work shop. lol i dont think its something i can do while im traveling around. guess i better just stick to makeup for the time being, but hopefuly one day il be able to give it a try!

      Thanks heaps :)
  • Re: How to make a Leather Mask

    Mon, August 18, 2008 - 10:36 PM
    I've got up a brief description and pictures of a leather mask I made on this page, hubpages.com/_costumes/hub/making-masks

    It was so much easier than I expected and a lot of fun to paint and polish at the end.
    • Re: How to make a Leather Mask

      Thu, August 21, 2008 - 4:35 AM
      Your instructions are great, Rae, and everyone seems very helpful here, but I still have some questions. I am attempting to create a leather mask and am having trouble figuring out how to make the eye holes match up on my pattern. I didn't do a spectacular job creating a block form. I made it before I found this tribe. I took a plastic mask blank that I found at at my local art store, sealed up the eyes, nose and mouth holes and then mast a plaster positive from that. Not ideal, I'm sure, but I am hoping it will serve me well for my first mask experiment. I drew out a design that I like, but I am having real trouble on how to appropriately place the eye-holes in the paper pattern. Am I going about this all wrong? Is there some formula or trick to this? Be gentle... it's my first time. And Thanks!
      • Re: How to make a Leather Mask

        Thu, August 21, 2008 - 8:52 AM
        I'm not sure exactly what you mean when you say you can't get the eyeholes to match on the pattern. Are you talking shape? Placing? Either of those can only be fixed with practice and redrawing until you get something that works.
        • Re: How to make a Leather Mask

          Thu, August 21, 2008 - 1:11 PM
          Rae your instructions are really good. And using a blank mask as a block would diffantily save alot of time and be a good starting point to making a mask, rather than carving one out of wood. At least until i get a bit of pratice untill i have the means to make a wooden block.
          Thanks everyone for your help :)

          oo also does anyone know any good places to get some leather?

          manda x
          • Re: How to make a Leather Mask

            Fri, August 22, 2008 - 10:13 PM
            You need something really hard to push the leather against and pull it over, so if you use a mask blank, you'll probably want to do something to fill it so that it's really solid and firm.
        • Re: How to make a Leather Mask

          Thu, August 21, 2008 - 2:01 PM
          The placing was my bugaboo. I did a little trial and error... I have the design all cut out in leather, now, So I'll post a picture if all goes well. Thanks for the reply.
      • Jil
        Jil
        offline 5

        Re: How to make a Leather Mask

        Sat, August 30, 2008 - 10:53 AM
        For formed leather masks you can also make a blank of clay-- use the #4 Roma Plastilina-- it is very stiff-- so be patient with it. Then FREEZE it, stretch the leather and burnish it-- you will only get one mask out of this blank. Less sculptural masks can be achieved by cutting a mask shape out of veg tan leather and wetting it-- then folding and twisting and pinching the edges to the form you want. You need to wait until the leather is not sopping wet and not completely dry-- some experimenting with a scrap will show you when the magic moment is. This method does not give you a ton of time to work on the piece, if you MUST you can rewet the leather a light mist on the suede side works best for this. Beware though, you risk marking the with water marks which will show depending on how you finsh the mask and undoing some bits that you have the way you want them. Hope this is helpful!

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