Harry the Greyhound’s Mask Begins

Last month I participated in a fundraising event for sighthounds, and Nancy won the auction for a custom-made paper mache mini-mask of Harry, her beautiful greyhound. She recently sent a fabulous set of photos, from every angle – they’re exactly what I needed for this portrait mask.

I started this project yesterday by creating a simplified mask form using a cardboard pattern based on photos of a greyhound skull. I then covered the clay form with two layers of plaster cloth. Now I have something solid to work on, and I’ll use Super Sculpey to add Harry’s unique features, like that distinctive Roman nose and visible lower canines.

In fact, I think I’ll start with the teeth, since it would be so much easier to work around them if they’re solid. It would be really difficult to make believable teeth with paper mache. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll make them with baked Sculpey, or if I’ll cast them with Aqua-Resin, using the Flexwax mold material that arrived in the mail a few days ago. Since I don’t have any white Sculpey, that might be the best way to do it. I’ll start working on them right after I upload this post.