Sakizo's Juliet Part 2: Masquerade Mask

More Sakizo progress. i wanted a break from sewing, so I started working on the mask. I had to do this twice,because I messed up my first attempt.

 This is my base mask. The original idea was to cover it with a non stick substance and layer paper mache over it, then pull it off. This would make a copy of the mask.

 So I covered it with chocolate wrappers and layers of loo roll and glue.

 And it looked hideous. I don't think loo roll is a good medium for this kind of paper mache, because it looks hideous, like burnt skin. Luckily I still had the base mask, so I decided to use that instead.

I cut the eyes to make them the right shape, refreshed the coat of white paint, then began adding the purple paint on the right side of the mask. I used a sponge to paint the gradient, and used brushes to touch up the edges.

 I used brushes to add more details, such as the gold details and purple swirl shapes.

I dried the paint with a hair dryer, then moved on to the left side. I mixed gold and white to make the parchment colour, and dabbed it on. I used markers to draw the lines of the music sheet, then I used a bit of white paint to fade the lines and make them less harsh. I used a sepia marker to draw the music notes. 

I needed to add braid/lace on the edges, and a stick to support the mask. 

 I used E6000 to stick the lace and braid on. I had just enough gold braid, and more than enough lace. It's not exactly like to artwork because I have no Venice lace, but I think it looks pretty.

The next step was to add a stick and some roses to the sides of the mask. The roses were easy to make. You take a strip of poly-satin (or similar), and burn the edges to seal it. Then you roll and fold and twist it until you have a rose shape, and sew or glue it in place. I made 5 fabric roses and glued them to the sides of the mask. i also added some rhinestones to the petals.

The stick was made from an old paintbrush. I removed the metal and bristles, and sanded and primed the stick with acrylic paint. I used hot glue to add some details to the stick, then sprayed it gold. I made a hole in the chin of the mask, and hot glued the stick in there.