Removing the "brains" from the mask!

Why does it look like this boy on the left is punching that bag?  The truth is, he's not.  These bags are those that were used for mask armatures, as described in my previous blog post.  The boy is just widening the hole that I cut for him in the back of the bag, so that the "brains" (actually the newspaper that we used to stuff the bags) can be removed, as is being done by the boy on the right. 

By the time all the newspaper was removed, there remained a LOT of newspaper to either discard or save to re-use for future papier-mache projects.  After all the newspaper was all removed, the backs of the bags were cut off to make the front of the bags, which had been covered with papier-mache, into masks.  And of course the kids had to immediately try them on!

These masks are large!  We painted them with a nice bright white coat of gesso, to provide a beautiful surface for painting.  The added bonus is that the gesso provides an extra layer of strength. 

 Next step will be to paint these beautiful masks, and then finish them with embellishments using a wide variety of materials.

I'll be back to show you the masks when they are painted.  In the meantime, my DragonWing Arts students are also working on some other really fun faces based on the theme of "Masks and Crazy Faces".  I'll be sharing those with you too!!