Masks and Armor class: maquettes

[labricoleuse]

This semester, the topic of my class is Masks and Armor, and my students have just turned in the first of their projects, maquettes! Maquettes are small-scale 3D sculptures of mask designs, and the first step in working with a costume designer on the making of a mask--it allows the crafts artisan to take an initial stab at translating the designer'

Comments

[ladycelia]

Masks are (to me) just creepy. When doing a maquette, do they work in the same material that they will use full-sized?

[labricoleuse]

No, because sometimes we don't even know what the final mask will need to be made from. These are all made from Sculpey, but i've made maquettes out of stapled-together foam, taped-together posterboard, soft-sculptured wads of stuffing in pantyhose, whatever i think will be an effective and fast way to start a meaningful conversation about the 3-dimensionality of the intended mask design.

[ladycelia]

Ah ha! That makes sense. It's like when I'm mocking up something in cardboard that will later be done in wood (for instance).