A Polymer Clay Mask
Behind the Scenes – The Making of “JunglePunk”
One of the things I love about polymer clay is its versatility. This polymer clay mask is make from a base of polymer clay, with hand sculpted polymer clay leaves and jungle themed vines. Want to see how it’s made?
Making the Base for the Polymer Clay Mask
The base is made entirely by hand from scrap clay. The base was hand cut and formed. This base mask was then baked for 60 minutes in my dedicated polymer clay oven.
Because I didn’t know yet how I would decorate my mask, I made holes all along the top in case I wanted to string ribbon through it after it was decorated and finished. I tried several different designs and ultimately abandoned the idea of stringing ribbon.
You can follow the pictures clockwise from top left to see how I made it.
Bringing “JunglePunk” to Life
Once my mask portion was baked, it was time to begin bringing it to life. I really love nature and I love leaves and flowers even more. Leaves and flowers are in almost all of my designs, even my dragons often carry nature related themes. I began making the leaves for my mask by using some basic Christi Friesen techniques [you can get the tutorial here].
Then I began adding those leaves in the center of the mask and worked my way out, layering, adding dimension and texture to each leaf and mask portion. I pulled some of my favorites: vintage crystals and chain (from B’Sue Boutiques), clock hands, gears, sprockets, cogs, and whirl-do-dah thinga-majigs. Once all the pieces were together I added a touch of Mica powder here and there for added shimmer and sparkle.
This is a full sized, wearable mask for an adult. The “handle” for the mask is a bamboo stick and is removable, so it can be hung on a wall as decoration too.
Thanks for joining me today,
