Monday, June 1, 2009

Green Man Mask

Instead of doing stuff I had originally planned to do this past weekend, I took a vacation from my ever-consuming film projects and made something completely different. I like the image of the Celtic Green Man or Jack-In-the-Green; The human face with leaves for hair and beard. It's a powerful but cheerful symbolic image of the symbiosis between nature and man, or at least it's a reminder that we should be connected to nature.


I thought a Green Man mask would look just right on the staircase wall in my house, so I sculpted one in Chavant clay on top of a plaster cast of a friend's face.

When the sculpture was good enough for me I built a clay wall around it and poured in DragonSkin Q silicone. The silicone was slushed around over the sculpture until it set (in about seven minutes)

I applied some more silicone, with added thickener, to cover all areas properly. I tinted the new layer green so I'd see exactly where I'd put it.

I put a reinforcing plaster shell over the silicone. This shell created a "cradle" to put the silicone mold into, making sure it maintains its shape while the casting process is going on.

Here's the first-ever casting of my Green Man mask in SmoothCast 325 plastic.

And after some clean-up and acrylic airbrush painting it looks like this. Those are my eyes peering through the mask. It was a quick, fun thing to do, although I really should've spent this weekend doing some puppet work instead.

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8 comments:

  1. jriggityJune 1, 2009 at 1:53 AM

    so much talent and knowledge man!

    POWERFULL!

    jriggity

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  2. Richard SvenssonJune 2, 2009 at 12:34 AM

    Thanks! I try my best to enjoy my creativity.

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  3. AnonymousJune 7, 2009 at 12:13 PM

    Wow! I have a greenman mask on my wall too. Though, I didn't make it. Would you be able to share with me how you made the stonework for the mewlip video?

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  4. toytheatreJune 9, 2009 at 11:17 PM

    WOW! Incredible work! Happy to have found your page.
    DJ

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  5. Richard SvenssonJune 16, 2009 at 10:06 PM

    Nofby; Most of the "stonework" in "The Mewlips" was actually photoshopped collages made from many photographs. There is a scene in the dungeon where the mewlips sit and count their gold. That was done in a very simple way. I sculpted a big piece of stonework wall /floor in clay and made a plaster mold from that. I then cast first one layer of latex and then one layer of latex reinforced with cotton. This created a very sturdy casting with a leathery kind of feel. This was then painted with a mix of ProsAide glue and acrylic paint (with some airbrushing). The latex wall / floor casts were the simply glued to a big piece of cardboard (the wall) and a piece of plywood (the floor).

    DJ Dyer;
    Thanks for stopping by! I got perfectly exhausted looking at the work you've done for "Wanted"!

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  6. croweJune 19, 2009 at 4:47 PM

    I really would love to try this method. Can I ask for one clarification though? When you cast the mask in resin, did you have to keep tipping the silicone mold to make sure it was coated evenly with resin? or am I not completely understanding the process? Thanks!

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  7. Richard SvenssonJuly 5, 2009 at 12:35 AM

    Hi, crowe;

    Sorry for my very late reply -hope you still see it. Yes; this is aslow-setting resin designed for roto-castings and such. I poured the resin into the nose area of the mold and then slushed it around. I also used a sponge to move around the resin and to make sure it got into all the little spaces. It took two coats of resin before the mask was ready to be removed from its mold.

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  8. Blue FairyNovember 20, 2009 at 7:57 AM

    Hello,

    Thank you for your beautiful art!

    I am a pagan from The Netherlands and we have a very active and fun group. We love to do creative things too, and when I showed your website, everyone wanted a mask like that too!!
    So we scheduled a day in january 2010 to make these masks together. I have the honour of ´leading´ the workshop *gulps!*
    I hope I can find the materials you used in our town... or order them from the internet. Do you have any tips for me about where to buy the materials needed?
    The plaster is easy to find, but the moulding stuff and the plastic.... ugh...

    I also need to know how much of every material we need per person, so I can order enough of the materials. Can you help me with calculating the amount per material per person?

    Thank you for your time, and keep on inspiring us with your beautiful craftsmanship! :)

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