Mask Proposal
The design that I am proposing to use for my mask is a mask in the shape of a normal face, but with many mirrors or
some sort of reflective material on the outside. The mirrors will reflect whoever
looks into the mask. The face is normal because it shows that monsters and evil
can come in normal packages. They aren’t always identified by some scary
or deformed face/body. The mirrors represent the fact that there is evil, or
the potential to do evil, in all of us. We can be monsters.
My mask is going to follow the part of my definition that talks about how I
believe that everyone has a little evil in them, though there are few truly evil people.
Evil was created and is allowed by God, and it is in us in our sin natures. Our
sin nature is what encourages us, or causes us to consider evil acts. So through this, if we don’t choose to control
our evil nature, and instead allow it to control us, we become the evil ones, or the monsters.
My mask represents this because instead of seeing some horrible face as you look at the mask, you will see yourself.
The color around the mirrors will be black because black seems to be the universal
color used to symbolize evil, death, or sin. So, the black, representing evil,
coupled with the mirrors, representing us, will stand for the evil that is within all of us.
The lips will be painted white, which will represent innocence, or the choice that has been made to not commit evil
acts. It will symbolize the choice to do good instead of evil. The lips will also show that evil can be overcome and controlled by choosing to do the right thing.
Around one eye will also be painted white and around the other will be painted black. The space between the eyes will
be painted grey. The black and white will also symbolize the choice that we have
to make, and the gray will show how the decision isn’t always an easy one to make.
The decision isn’t always black and white, per se, but there are many gray areas that aren’t clear. These areas will many times make a decision very difficult and it is hard to tell
whether what we are doing is right.
The mirrors, or reflective material, will be fragmented and have many different pieces, instead of just one large piece.
This will show how evil can destroy or break you. It can make you into something
not quite yourself.
To create my mask I am going to use a plaster mask, several mirrors of varying
size, and black, white, and gray paint. I will first make a mold, probably using
the face of my roommate, Angela, and use the mold to form my mask. After my mask
has set I will spread more plaster on the outside of the mask to set the mirrors into, smoothing out the spaces in between
the mirrors. After that plaster has set, I will paint the spaces between the
mirrors black, the lips white, and the area around one eye white, the other eye black, and between the two eyes gray.
I didn’t really use any one culture to help design
or influence my mask. I really just looked at all different kinds of cultures
to help me.
This first
picture is a model that I have used to design my mask because it is a mask that has a normal face. It is not deformed or any such thing.
The second
picture isn’t actually of a mask, but this is what my true inspiration was. I
was driving to class one day and saw a motorcyclist with a helmet that the visor reflected everything. This gave me the idea of having mirrors on my mask.
The third picture shows something a little similar to what I want to create, though without fragmented mirrors. This is another mask that I am using as a model for my own mask.
The Making of the Mask
I suppose
the making of my mask truly began with the choosing of the supplies. I really
did not know what I was going to use, or how I was going to do it; so, I went to Michael’s and discovered plaster paper. I was originally going to use my roommate Angela’s face as a model, but I decided
that it would probably be better if I used my own, because the mask would fit better, and Angela is slightly claustrophobic.
Well, the
night that I had chosen to make my mask arrived, and because Angela had her own homework, I asked my sister Jenni, whom I
also live with, to help me with the formation of my mask. We got all of the supplies
out and ready to go and then greased my face with petroleum jelly. After spiking
up my eyebrows, and laughing uproariously, Jenni cut up the strips of plaster cloth.
It was time to plaster my face.
We started with three layers of little strips
across the bridge of my nose, and then she covered the rest of my face. Having
my lips covered was a definite challenge because I couldn’t talk or laugh and my sister and her friend being the way
they are, it was very difficult.
I endured five layers of plaster cloth being stuck and molded to my face until we were finally done with that stage. Then I waited for about 10-15 minutes until the mask was dry enough to attempt to
remove it. For the most part it came off really easily, and it only stuck a little,
until I got to my hairline that is. The plaster had gotten into my hair and it
did not want to let go. I tried being gentle, while pulling it off, but my hair
was stuck in it. So, finally I had to grit my teeth and rip my hair out along
with my mask. Not a fun task, but once it was over I was very happy the mask
was off.
I let the
mask dry overnight and the next day I began the decoration process. I hit a little
snag when I started gluing my mirrors on before I had applied the base coat of paint.
Thankfully, I had it pointed out to me before I got too far and I only had a little difficulty painting around the
mirrors. But, of course, I painted an area that was supposed to stay white, black; but luckily after the black paint dried
I was able to make the area white very easily. After all of the paint had dried
I began the task of gluing the mirrors, once again. Before I knew it all of the
mirrors were glued on and my mask was nearly finished.
I waited until the next day to glue the ribbons on and I chose blue ribbon only because that was the color of ribbon
Angela had. Once the ribbons were glued on I touched up the black paint and my mask was complete.
My Experience
Wearing my
mask was definitely an adventure, even before I left the apartment. It took a
little bit of courage to even leave my apartment at first, mainly because a cop was sitting outside of the apartment complex. I decided to wait until the cop had left, because it kind of made me feel as if the
cop would view me as a criminal, or something along those lines.
I definitely
felt very awkward and embarrassed at first, whenever I saw people, and I was a little hyper as well. But, after wearing it for a while I began to enjoy it and enjoy the reactions I was getting. It was kind of funny how predictable people can be in their reactions.
I was expecting people to either stare at me, smile/laugh, or do the whole look at you and then quickly look away as
if they didn’t want to embarrass you, type thing, and I wasn’t disappointed.
I got all three reactions in a very short amount of time.
Wearing the
mask was very liberating to me, after I got over the awkward feeling, because I knew that no one could see my facial expressions,
but I could see theirs. All they could see were my eyes. I knew that they couldn’t tell very well what I was feeling, or thinking, and I think that is what
really helped me enjoy wearing the mask. But, that enjoyment only lasted while
I was on campus.
That evening
I traveled down to Culdesac to attend the annual ASB Halloween Carnival. I wore
my mask for the whole drive down, and about half way through the trip I really began to regret it. It was decidedly uncomfortable and began giving me a headache. Other
than the headache I didn’t mind it horribly, but I still didn’t see how there was really a point in me wearing
it.
When I arrived
in Culdesac, the awkward feeling returned, probably because I was going to see people that I actually knew this time. I arrived early because I wanted to spend some time with my boyfriend before he had
to work at a couple of the booths, and as I walked in I got some surprised and interested looks. I could tell, though, that none of them recognized me, even though I knew almost all of them. Even my boyfriend wasn’t sure who I was until I spoke to him.
It amused me, even though I still felt a little awkward.
At first I
didn’t mind the anonymity, but as more people arrived and I wanted to talk them and be recognized, I really started
to feel restricted by the mask. It was really hard to talk in and not being recognized
really put a damper on my night. I began to greatly dislike wearing the mask
until, after having worn the mask for over an hour and a half at the carnival, I took it off.
For the most
part I think that wearing the mask was a good experience and it was very educational for me.
The Reactions
The reactions
I got, for the most part, were very similar, especially on campus. People either
stared, smiled/laughed, or looked at me and then looked quickly away, and wouldn’t look at me again.
When I wore
my mask on campus, these three reactions were the only ones I got, though sometimes it was a mix of two of them. As I walked to class most everybody stared, if they noticed me, and I saw quite a few smiles. Once I even heard part of a comment that was being made from one woman to another, that went something
like, “What is going on…head.” I actually only encountered
a couple of people who only looked at me once, quickly looked away, and refused to look at me again. I would like to know what was going on in everybody’s head when they saw me, but unfortunately, since
none of them said anything to me, I can’t.
At the carnival
it was definitely different. I still got all of the stares, but now they were
accompanied by startled looks a lot of the time. People would look up, see me
there, and say something along the lines of, “Oh my God, that is so freaky!” or “Man, that’s scary!” When this happened it actually surprised me, because I didn’t think that my
mask was really scary, just different. Of course the fact that this happened
while I was hanging out in the haunted house, because the finishing touches were still being done, might have had something
to do with why people were scared.
Many times people that I know would see me and stare, but they wouldn’t say anything to
me because they didn’t know who I was. I think there was only one person
who seemed to recognize me before I said anything to them, and that was one of my best friends in Culdesac.
Not all the
reactions I got were of startled looks, though. I actually got a few people coming
up to me and telling me how much they like my mask. One girl even told me that
she thought it was really pretty. Of course the compliments were mostly from
elementary and junior high age kids, but I didn’t mind. I was still happy
to hear compliments about my mask.
Wearing the
mask garnered a variety of reactions and they made it worth it.
