Project Milestone 2
After a few initial attempts to work with the leather shoes, I was able to punch holes through the leather with a thumbtack and use a heavy thread to saw parts of the mask. I also used the waxed thread as an accent. I sawed the front part of the mask together to create a frontal crest.
As the initial propyl ethylene piping did not work well for horns, I decided to use fiberglass for the horns as it can conform to what plug I use as well as be a shiny coat. I watched some YouTube videos on how to use fiberglass. One of the videos I watched suggested using foam insulation as a plug and then tape the exterior to allow for easy removal. I bought some foam insulation and attempted to glue it using regular Elmer’s glue. Unfortunately, it was too cold for the glue to congeal. Next, I attempted to use a spray on glue. Unfortunately, this also did not work as it melted the foam when put on too thick. Lastly, I used the Elmer’s glue to tack the layers together and then used a propane torch to melt the layers together. Lastly, I took a hacksaw and shaped the layers into a single horn shape. I then layered clear Gorilla Tape onto the plug and spread it out to the board I was working on
I bought some fiberglass and resin as well as gloves, brushes, and a respirator. In order to dye the resin, I looked at a variety of paints and dyes. I settled on using 100% pigment acrylic paint for one horn and 100% oil based paint for the other. The acrylic paint worked better as the oil didn’t mix fully into the resin and created an inconsistent coating.
The horns finished drying after 24 hours. They also detached from the board easily, given the tape under them. I then used a Dremel to sand the horns and cut them down to size. Lastly, I used black spray paint to cover over the inconsistencies from the oil paint pigment.
The process of applying the fiberglass and resin was surprisingly simple and was easy enough with the brush. However, fiberglass is awfully toxic and fumigated my house even though the whole process was done outside.
