5 4 holding darts in place until glue cools.) Then cut a small triangular piece and glue it over the nose opening forming the nose bridge. The hot glue works very well on the plastic mesh in that it oozes through the holes and literally wraps around the mesh forming a tight bond. Next, cover any rough edges by glueing white bias tape around the perimeter, and around the eye and mouth holes using MagiTack glue. After cutting strips of mesh and trimming any rough edges, glue a long piece across the back of the mask attaching it to the sides of the mask at about eye level. Glue remaining strips in a criss-cross pattern from the mask to this back band to form the top of the head, again using clothes pins for clamps. This whole process takes about an hour compared to the eight or so hours to make a wire frame. It is then ready to be decorated. Figures 1 and 2 are front and side views of a completed framework. The frame is covered with a single layer of organdy and glued into place with hot glue. Since this will be completely covered with additional fabric pieces it is not necessary to have it look great. I purchased this fabric from vogue Fabrics in Chicago and it cost about $15.00 /yd a few years ago. The finer Indian grade runs about $25.00 /yd but it should be noted that not a scrap of the fabric is wasted as it is all used in decorating the masks. I was able to get at least 2 masks out of a single yard of fabric. The fabric I used at Stratford came from Whaley's in london, England. At this point the fun begins. Pieces of fabric are cut into various shapes and folded or scrunched up and glued in place on the mask to form the various facial features such as eye bags, jowls, cheeks, etc. The beauty of this fabric is that it will hold the shape of manipulation. It can be cut into strips and twisted for hair or beards or it can be curled like ribbon using a scissor blade. both techniques 28 theatre design & technology S P R I N G 2009