Acrylite Eyes

One of the most satisfying parts of making these masks are forming and painting the eyes. The mix of air brushed colour, black pupil, and a piece of white vinyl to act as a light reflection bring a focal point and human element to the faces created. Normally I use ABS sheet styrene at 1/8" thickness for this, heating it up in the oven until it loosens up enough to become malleable, then forming it over the desired carved form and letting it cool to take shape. 

Unfortunately I have run out of my supply of styrene. I can't say that i've done rigorous research on how to acquire it in Montreal, but I think I've found a good solution. 

Artists often become hoarders, taking in trash and scrap material from the streets in hopes that they will one day use it for something important. It often drives them to madness, which I can relate too, but also has it's benefits. 

A year or so back, after construction had been completed at a house down the street from mine, I had stumbled upon a sheet of Acrylite FF thinking that it may become useful in the future. It mostly served as a flat surface to draw on, but after some research and testing I am happy to say it will serve as a good substitute for the eye forms. 

It becomes malleable, like sheet styrene, in the oven after 8-10 mins at 310F, and maintains it's form after cooling down. The only drawback is cutting off the excess: it's more brittle than the styrene and needs to be scored on both back and front side to avoid hair cracks which could eventually ruin your form. 

Though I would prefer to have white styrene for most projects, I look forward to experimenting with this material for this specific mask. Being that this character is supposed to be part fish, I think the glossy translucent Acrylite could produce a pleasing effect with some paint applied on the underside. 

I will keep you posted. 

Bye for now. 

Product Shout-Out. The Bird.

I am at that stage in this new mask where I have to cement glue the basic structure together. I was reflecting earlier on how when I used to work in the mascot industry one of the drawbacks of this stage was the horrible smell of the industrial cement glue we used. In it's defence, it was super strong and fast acting, but would often result in some workers having headaches and loss of appetite due to nausea (I may be speaking for just myself here.) 

When I began creating these masks at home and had to buy my own glue, I was attracted to the Lepage Pres-tite Green product shown above based on the labels of 'Green' and 'Non-Toxic'. I have since used no other. Though it is much slower in terms of drying than the heavy duty stuff, it allows more flexibility in where and when I use it. Without a spray booth or a proper outdoor working area I would have a harder time convincing my girlfriend, our cat and myself that an industrial glue would be alright to use indoors. Luckily with this product I can work in my studio one minute and cook in the kitchen the next. The only requirement is to have a bit of patience with the drying time, though it ultimately worth it. 

The results, if used properly, are a strong, long lasting, less smelly bond. I recommend it!

I also have some updated pics of the carved wooden bird. 

Good day.  : )

Some things I've been up to

In the past month or so I've begun several projects that should hopefully see fruition in the first half of this year. Here are some photos:

This first is a set of collaborative drawings that might be an ongoing project with artist Phil Woollam from Toronto. The bottom two were Phil's originals with my contributions while the top two are mine that I will give to him for the next exchange. 

I've also recently begun a new mask that I am excited to get in the midst of. I don't have a final concept of what it should look like yet, which is usually how I operate, but I do know that it will be some sort of combination of these two images:

Danny Trejo and an anglerfish. 

Though it just looks like this at the moment:

And having carved a few birds in the past, a friend has asked me to make one for an upcoming animation he is creating. Here it is in a very rough state:

In terms of band news I can't reveal much other than we are working on post production for our third release. This will be the first one that my drumming will be on and am looking forward to the results. I will share more when I can. You can find out more about Trips and Falls and listen to tracks from their previous two releases at various pages around the web:

CBC

Myspace

Here are some action shots from when we layed down the drum tracks in our cold Parc Ex studio:

Behind the scenes of 'Jean Paul of the Dead'

Hello.

Throughout the making of my latest mask I kept a fair amount of documentation using my digital camera. I shot hi-speed bursts in widescreen format, then edited them on Windows Live Movie Maker to create a chaotic time lapse of the process. My girlfriend suggested the Liars song because it mentions living with cats!! Hopefully it doesn`t get pulled from Youtube due to its unsolicited use. 

Enjoy! I suggest watching it in full screen and in HD.

Jean-Paul of the Dead, Hennessy Youngman

Hey folks,

after the holiday lull I was happy to get back to business on the new mask, which was technically supposed to be my Hallowe'en costume last year, but I've since decided not to rush it. I've been having fun making it, adding gore and general malice to a representation of a cat I love. Though the experience is fun I feel it departs from my other masks in that it is more gimicky. Where as in the previous ones I've tried to invoke a certain ambiguous narrative (blah, etc. read the artist statement in my bio), this one is less art, more Hallowe'en costume (design). If art school taught me anything it was that the line between the two is blurry as fuck!

Pics:

In other news I went to an artist talk last week by Hennessy Youngman. It's been awhile since I've been to any lecture in general, but especially one that is art related. A lecture would be misleading too since he just showed us his videos and then took questions. He is very popular in the art and youtube world, but I would say he's also fascinating behind his persona. His practice bridges video, activism and comedy and he has found an accessible and absolutely hilarious platform in doing so. Anyone who knows a bit about Damien Hirst would appreciate one of his latest:

 He gives hope to white males like myself that we may make it in the art world (you may have to watch his other videos to get that).

 

 "goodbye internet"