I began to look into different methods of creating the mask. Paper cut was a bold choice, graphic and with a childlike sense of fun and easiness. I also looked into using a paper bag as the basis of a mask. I carried on the idea of the eye motif and repeated it around, accidentally ending up with something much more scary than planned! I decided to keep the round motif, particularly as it would be easier to generate something on a much larger scale in a short period of time that way.
The final design was to be created with gouache. Keeping
with the idea of simplicity I used only one colour- but decided against black as it seemed too harsh and perhaps a little obvious. The gouache created an uneven tone, but I feel that added a sense of character and 'realness' to quite a bizarre piece, particularly in comparison to the paper cut style.
The construction itself presented a few problems. Working at such a large scale meant I needed a material that was strong enough to hold itself up. I used mountboard- anything thinner became too flimsy and would flop.
Being able to wear the mask was the trickiest problem to solve. String, taped to the base, was too weak to hold the quite heavy board. A strip of cardboard designed to fit around my head would also slip and break as my unflat face sat against the flat mask. The end design meant the mask itself didn't have to rest against my face. It was a similar idea to the second design, but instead of it attaching to my head I would attach to it by mouth. It would bend under the pressure but would stay for long enough to take a photograph.
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