Dia de los Muertos

What a productive day for finishing things. First I wrapped up the sequins mask and presented it to the customer for approval. I was asked to make a small adjustment and once that was done, it was packed up and will be off this morning to its new owner. Once that was done I made the decision to go ahead and list the mask as a custom order after changing some of the listing language to reflect that.

The listing is back up, but look at the original photo, there are more in the listing of course and tell me how I did on the reconstruction from photos. I know it seems a bit taller than wide, but I swear it's the same shape on my face. I just wanted it to stand up on its own so I shaped it a bit for the photo. That's one of the fun parts about the wire base. Either way, the customer did like it so I am relieved and am moving on.

I also finished up the sugar skull mask. I did add a few sequins dotted along the edge with beads. I also decided on a string of extremely tiny seed beads lining the outside. These beads are so small, I have no needle small enough except the collapsible eye one I use for stringing beads. So I made a string and tacked it down every few beads. There were also more embroidered swirls as well as embroidery around the eyes and bottom edge. Even when I thought I was done, I went back and added another embroidered swirl. I know they are pretty subtle in the photos, but I think the details make all the difference when you're holding the piece in your hands.

I did also get out the good camera to get pictures of it. In fact I had the goofy thought that it might look good on my skull cookie jar. Yes, I have a skull cookie jar, this should not surprise you. What was surprising is that it lined up with the skull on the jar almost perfectly which was completely unplanned. In fact the only big difference is the shape of the eyes. In retrospect I should have gone for rounder eye wires, but I'm just so used to the cat eye shape. Maybe if the mask is well received I'll make another with different colored embellishments and the eye shape change, but there's no sense in getting ahead of myself. I almost like the cookie jar pictures enough to use them as the listing photos instead of modeled ones. I might try some out today and just see which look better, or perhaps both as I imagine people do like to see how it looks on a person before they drop that kind of dough on a piece.

So today I have a little remaking to do and maybe the afore mentioned photos. I have a lovely weekend planned with too much to do. There's the Captain America movie, a kids clinic at Lowe's and a get together at a friends house for some much needed grown up social interaction. Then I suppose Sunday is for resting so I probably won't have much to share on Monday. I hope you have a lovely weekend as well.