Fall Foliage Wood Nymph Leather Mask

September's Art Elements Theme Challenge is Foliage, chosen by AE team member Caroline. In spite of wrapping up loose ends before going home for a few weeks😁💗, I decided to take part in this month's Challenge. So many possibilities & I knew exactly what I wanted to do .. or did I?

So, after an eventful month of daughter💖visiting; finishing a Bee Penannular Brooch for The Southern Sassenachs online auction (psst, #4 top row); listing most of my Bee themed collections and a couple of made to orders, I finally started on the project Thursday afternoon! Yes my dears, 2.5 days before the Reveal ... but that's okay my inside voice said, I know what I'm making & will get it done in plenty of time.

The Go-To Slide Barrette, ready to transfer & carve .. UNTIL?! 

Then I changed my mind. At about 2pm Friday 😬😲. And then realized that I had cut the previous project out of the leather piece I wanted to use for this new brainstorm. YIKES, I needed the whole 8.5 x 11 piece & the weight was perfect! But, being a tad stubborn & persevering no less, I figured out my Plan B....

Several months ago I needed a large piece of veg tan leather that was on Super Sale by Tandy and boy, did it come in handy. Only thing is that it's several thicknesses (4-6mm) & sizes throughout the piece. I wanted 3mm so found the thinnest parts that fit my pattern, and cut. No going back now ...

This piece is about 7 feet long. Found the sweet spot that fit my pattern almost smack in the middle!

I basically followed a tutorial by a refreshing, talented young artist who's on You Tube, Yvonne Williams. I even used her template, which ended up being a lot different by the time I mangled my too-thick leather with: 1/a Utility Knife; 2/ Kitchen Shears; & finally what worked the best 3/ metal shears! Hint: Case (wet) the leather thoroughly, let dry a few minutes and it cuts like butter with metal shears, no need for fancy schmancy leather shears. Sorry folks, had some trouble with phone sd card so no photos got saved of THAT scenario.

Then I played MacSkiver, using a ... skiver, which is a contraption with a slightly bent razor blade. One presses and drags it across the suede to reduce (hopefully) the thickness. And not so patiently took off small, really small, layers of the back side. I gave up and called it good enough after about 40 minutes & the calipers still said +-4mm. Then I had to take over MomCare & left it until Saturday morning. It was either that or abandoning said project ... I did say I was stubborn, n'est-ce pas?

I somewhat brushed ALL the little 'skivees' (that's 'I' like eye 😉) into a somewhat neat pile

Saturday 7 AM: after a few Espressos I attacked the transfer, carving & tooling of my mask. Not too bad, I told myself :) . Hey, I think I finally learned how to use the beveling tools correctly.

Top: Halfway through Texturing & Beveling.
I added an Oak Leaf and a Butterfly. And decided to paint in Autumn Colors.

I went out and gathered a few maple leaves to study the color changes and just went with the flow. I used acrylic paints, splattered some black on there & then used Antique Gel in a light brown on front & back.

Before slathering on the Antique Gel, which settles in & defines the low cuts and bevels. I used a light tan color (below) which I thought would lightly darken the green but I had a surprise.

Not a Bad Surprise but I thought she was still too green for a Fall Leaf, so splattered a little black paint then formed on my face (with plastic wrap so no color transfer and no, didn't cover my nose!).
I let her dry a little before handling so as not to deform before sealing.

After drying some more she was still not the colors I desired so I put a coat of Mahogany Antique Gel plus some red acrylic and dabbed it on, then waited some more before sealing. Now she was too brown!! I liked the green touches so forged on, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I rubbed some of the Bag Kote off to reveal a little more green then did the artsy thing, adding color, subtracting color ...
and the result is below. 

Sat. 11p.m. .. So Jazzed about these fab colors! And she's not fully dry yet. I definitely see more masks in my future.
I formed to my face again and marked where I will put the holes for the leather ties.

All in all, I'm very happy with my Fall Foliage Wood Nymph Mask. Ok, if I'm going to nitpick, I'd like a little more red in there. All she needs is an adjustable leather cord. I think this is the first time I've added so many images to a post and I see you've made it through to the end! Congrats, hope you enjoyed the journey :). I like comments, please do interact.

This is a Blog Hop so grab a cuppa whatever and sit awhile. Let's discover what interpretations the artists below have dreamed up for the Foliage Monthly Challenge.

Alysen

AE Team  Lesley  Susan   Marsha  Claire  Cathy  Jenny  Niky  Caroline.

Guests   Dawn  Hope  Alison  Beth & Evie  Laurie  Kathy  Linda  Sarajo  Michelle  Tammy  Divya  Karen  Alysen (you're here)  Mary  Cat  Jill  Sarah  Anita