Creation

Posted On October 29, 2018

Create!

How to make a mask

Dear teenager, why do you come through all this article? Do you want to know what an artist think about when is about to create a mask? Well then, you’re in the wrong place. We’re trying to sell some mask here, but for people which is not going to show up only for Halloween, if you know what I mean. However, if you do that face expression, ok. We’re going to tell you some techniques, but for the rest just type on your search bar how to create a mask, or start study a language, it’s never too late or too bad (it would be really late or really bad just if you start speaking Klingdon, probably).

Materials

Create something, as you can find in any holy book, it’s a trying-and-failure process. I wonder how a perfect entity has the capacity to make errors, but apparently it happens. Furthermore, you’ll discover probably that the Earth is only couple of thousands years old and apes are not our ancestors. But this is (luckily) another story. Anyways, even the non- existing ancestor dancing on Gabriele’s shoulder asked him to change papier- mache (used even to create the world- famous Venetian Masks) into Worbla. I mean, Gabriele told me this change comes for time and practical reasons, but I don’t really believe on it. At the contrary, I think the idea of producing with Worbla has nothing to do with that, but it’s just freaking difficult to pronounce and write and Gabriele loves it.

Worbla

Let’s say it loud, please. Worbla is a funny name. I cannot remember how to write it down, even after three lines. I wrote in order

• Wonka
• Wordbla
• Wornla

Nonetheless, even if difficult to pronounce, it present advantages in creating a mask. W. is a  thermoplastic easy-to-model material useful to obtain a base for a mask in few hours. All is coming from a clay mould handmade. After the mould is complete, a W. sheet is ready to be put on the mask, and then you must clean it from residual clay, refine and paint it. At this point I thought it was clever to ask my hero if he could do the same process to make me a Lamborghini. Apparently, not. Or, to be precise, is not running like a real one and it’s really difficult to put on as a mask.

And if it melts?

To this question our pole climber, designer and mask creator answered in a way it was impossible for me to paraphrase. I’m going to put it on quotation marks and italics ’cause it’s cool:

“No, it’s not gonna melt. Thermoplastic becomes to be easy to be modelled around 65 degrees, but only after 100 degrees you can completely reshape it. So if you’d be dancing a lot and at the same time you’d be in a room illuminated by stadium lights, you stand a chance to see it melting over your face. But anyways you’d be dead for that time, so why do you really care?”

Why I need a mask?

Gabriele proves me right. His masks are not normal ones, but they follow The Mask algorhitm, so after you put it on you’ll be a bit foolish. You’re not so brave? Ok, I understand you don’t want to turn on green, just opt to put the mask on the wall. We cannot assure you that your wall won’t get crazy, anyways.