3L--_~ ......I~ _ acrivare rhe plasrer. Place rhe snips on rhe acror's face, raking care ro smoom rhis firsr layer inco all of rhe fearures. A srurdy mold will require wee co four layers of bandage. The mold can be reinforced wirh a rhin coar of plasrer-of-paris smoorhed over rhe ourside. Afrer abour 15 minures, rhe mold should be hard and ready ro remove from rhe acror's face. Allow rhe mold ro dry rhoroughly (24 hours) before proceeding. Spray me inside of rhe mold wirh vegerable oil spray co reach all of rhe crevices and add a coar of perroleum jelly. Mix sufficienc plasrer-ofparis ro fill rhe bandage mold. Genrly vibrare rhe mold co ensure rhar me plasrer flows and fills all of rhe indencarions. Ser aside and allow ro dry for 24 hours. When we made rhe firsr masks back in 1980, we simply added rhe clay fearures on ro rhe casr of rhe accor's face and did nor make a new mold and case. Alrhough rhe resulring masks looked fine, we could nor force rhe learher imo very deep fearures. We gor sharper resulrs for rhe Volpone masks by making a second mold and case. Sculpr rhe srylized fearures on rhe casr of rhe acror's face wirh modelling clay. Do nor worry abour undercur, since me clay can be removed from rhe casr afrer ir dries. We use borh vegerable oil spray and perroleum jelly ro allow for a good release. Repear rhe plasrer bandage molding process and allow rhe mold ro dry. We recommend rhar rhe final casr be made wirh rhe demal srone. Even rho ugh we reinforced rhe plasrer-of-paris rhar was used for rhe final Volpone casrs, rhey dereriorared during embossing. The inside of rhe masks had ro be covered wirh felr because rhere were plasrer panicles embedded in rhe learher. No such problems were encoumered wirh rhe demal srone. Afrer embossing rhe mask, rhe casr is srill as good as new. Mix rhe demal srone according ro rhe direcrions and make rhe final pour. Don'r forger ro vibrare rhe mold. Embossing 2a...:.. .._---'.-:: 4 36 1993 SUMMER TD&T Alrhough each mask rakes from rhree co four hours ro complere, rhe embossing process is easy and does nor need ro be finished in a single sirring. A glass of wine and a classic movie are good companions for learher mask making. Measure and cur a piece of leamer rhar is approximarely 1-1/2" larger on all sides rhan rhe final case. Thoroughly soak borh sides of rhe learher umil ir rums a deep brown and wring our any excess warer. Place rhe wer learher over rhe casr and begin pushing rhe learher inco rhe area around rhe bridge of rhe nose and eyes wirh your fingenips. We usually work wirh rhe