I love having extra time to make art in the summer! It’s such a huge perk of being a teacher. I wanted to create some things that weren’t just gnomes (lol), so I decided to go back to making some ceramic masks for a particular outdoor space we have.
I’ve mentioned in a previous post that my inspiration for our side porch was Book 3, A Storm of Swords, in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. I read the book in 2012 and was just enthralled with Ayra and the Hall of Faces. I wanted to recreate something similar. I did initially start out strong and unfortunately didn’t finish my original vision, but I am trying to go back when I can and create and add more masks to the porch.
Prepping for the masks
I made molds for the masks using plastic grocery bags that I shaped and taped. Pretty simple and low cost, easy to remake and not a big deal if I have to throw any away. I made three sizes – I wanted to have multiple molds so that I could be working on more than one mask at a time.
I rolled out some clay slabs and draped the slabs over the individual moulds. I then focused on building, adding to, and carving each individual mask. I didn’t have a theme or a particular design in mind when I began creating – I knew that would come as I worked on the pieces. I didn’t even intend for all three masks to work together or be any kind of triptych – it just kind of happened.
I used the medium sized mold to create the first mask. I built up areas with additional clay – the nose, the eyes, the forehead, mouth, and cheeks. I allowed the mask to dry some and then began shaping and carving back into the clay to define facial features. I knew I wasn’t going for total realism but I did look at a few resources for shaping the eyes and mouth.
I was initially going to create a semi-normal human-ish face and then add fun colors with my celadons; but I was washing my hands at my kitchen sink one night and really noticed the daisies on my dishwashing soap bottle. I thought they would be the perfect template for carving on the mask. So out went my idea for just adding fun colors and in with the idea of more elaborate carving.
This mask was really fun to do. I think I overdid it a bit with the daisy carving and it unintentionally has an almost creepy vibe to it, but overall I really like it. I worked with red clay on all three of these pieces, so I had to apply three layers of white underglaze before adding the three laters of purple – I wanted the color to pop as much as possible. And why purple, well I happen to have a lot of purple underglaze. Lol.
All three masks received a layer of black underglaze after they were bisque fired and then glazed with clear. I love how the clear glaze often breaks blue over the black underglaze and red clay. <3
With the second mask, I went with the smallest mold. After creating the first mask with the daisy motif, I thought I would stick with flowers and did line drawings of roses on this mask. This mask might be my favorite of the three – I like the size, the facial features, and I made sure not to dig so deeply while carving. I like the thinness of the line quality more than the deep, thicker lines on the daisy piece. I also made sure to not carve as many flowers and to allow some visual breathing space throughout the design.
Again, I added three layers of white underglaze before adding the purple.
The third and final mask is the largest of the three. I decided to go with a dogwood motif. Dogwoods are such a big part of living in Knoxville, that I felt I had to go with the dogwood blooms. I really had fun creating this mask and enjoyed exaggerating many of the facial features.
Overall, I’m so happy with how all three masks turned out – they bring a really pretty, feminine feel to the porch space. <3
