Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1993 - 37

Masking
the Fox:
Leather

Masks for
Volpone
ANNIE O.
CLEVELAND
&
M. BARRETT
CLEVELAND

othing matches the look
and feel of leathet commedia-style masks for period
productions. Although the
process is labor-intensive,
they require a minimum of
inexpensive rools and are
not that difficult ro make. If you can urilize
scrap leather, the materials should run
around $3 per mask.
We made our first leather masks in
1980 for a production of Moliere's The
Imaginary Invalid at the University of
South Alabama. Through a rrial-and-error
process, we created a set of embossed
leather masks that were easy to make and
presented themselves well on stage. (The
process was described in "Embossed
Leather Masks," Dramatics Magazine,
September 1984.)
This year's production of Volpone at
Colorado State University provided
another opportunity to
make more leather
masks and improve
upon our techniques.
(See Figure 1.) The
embossing rools have
remained essentially the
same; however, some
improvements in the casting materials and methods
allowed us to generate
more detail and relief in
these new masks.

Tools and Materials
We use only twO rools for embossing leather
masks. The firsr is a Tandy 8033 Craft Tool
(embossing rool), which resembles a dental
pick, bur with a ball-bearing at each end.
We larer purchased a more expensive set of
embossing rools with interchangeable ends.
We keep a point on one end and a flat
gouger on the other for fine derail work
toward rhe end of rhe process. One could
probably ger by with rounded punches, but
make sure they won't cur the leather.
Our firsr masks were made from fourounce Tandy Live Oak Leather. Only three

masks were needed for Volpone, and we used
some scrap belly leather marketed by rhe
H.].E. Company of Kansas City, MO, and
sold at our local surplus srore for $6.99 per
bag. All rhree masks were made from one
bag of scrap, and rhe learher was just as
workable as the more expensive Tandy product. The only other materials needed for the
actual masks were Tandy eat-Lac (lacquer)
preservative, eyelets for the elastic (optional),
and a spor of craft glue (tacky glue) for sealing the noses of the larger masks.
The remaining marerials are necessary
for making the mold and casr of the acror's
face and the subsequent mold and casr of
the exaggerated features for the mask.
Alrhough other producrs are available for
molding faces, we chose plasrer bandages
because we had them on hand. Afrer
attending Thurston James' workshop at the
Seanle conference and hearing
him sing the praises of the harder and sturdiet dental plastet,
we boughr 25 pounds (Die
Keen from Miles Inc., 800DIE-KEE ) ftom a local
supply house fot rhe final
casts. We want to join
Thurston's chorus-the
dental srone makes terrific casts rhat stand up ro
rhe tigors of the
embossing process and
can be reused if duplicate masks
are needed. The dental plaster is more
expensive rhan plaster-of-paris ($1 per
pound versus 25¢ per pound); however, for
the final castings it was well worth the cosr.

Molding and Casting
The first srep is ro mold and casr the acror's
face. Plasrer bandages are relarively quick
and easy ro use. Take care to lubricare the
actor's face wirh perroleum jelly ro prorecr
the skin and serve as a releasing agent. ProreG beards and mustaches wirh aluminum
foil or plastic wrap. Soda srraws can be
inserred into the subject's nosrrils to facilirare breathing. Cut rhe bandages into 6"
pieces and immerse them in warm water to
TD&T

1993 SUMMER

35
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