Last Day Before Classes (i.e. a rough day)

We should have been prepared for the idea that not everything would go exactly according to plan with every mask, but it was hard to come to grips with when it finally happened.

The plague doctor masks that Francesca finished is for Act III, scene vi when Willmore injures Don Antonio, thinks he's killed him, and runs off. Our darling director, Prof. Wiley, has imagined that three plague doctors will converge upon the fallen Antonio, like vultures, to see if he's dead. The mask sculpture certainly felt vulture-like as we plastered it today. It was circling around our struggling efforts.

The incredibly phallic progression of the plague doctor mask.

Because the nose is over a foot tall, it took a lot of plaster to form the mold. ...A. Lot. Of. Plaster. And Francesca and I messed up the first batch of plaster because we tried to make too big of a batch all at once. It hardened before we could pour it. [Insert wordless noise of frustration]

Franny, prepping the plague doc for plastering.

Franny & Nick didn't forget the soap!

The second try went better, but it took an entire bag of plaster to make the mold. An entire bag. And over an hour (and exhausting hour) of mixing and pouring. I'm not sure a mask of this size was worked into the budget. Usually we can get two or three molds out of a single bag, though this was certainly not a usual mask.

I'm not sure we figured making mistakes into the budget either.

Just to add to the day's frustrations, the mold of Ellie's star mask she did today came out with a bunch of air holes. It's going to need lots of patching. SIGH.

The progression of Ellie's star mask. Gorgeous!

And, in addition to everything, we had to clean up Room 222, where we've been working, to prepare for classes tomorrow, as well as clean up the cabinet corner.

It's clean now. I promise.

Thankfully, Prof. Matt Allar stepped up to help us out in our lack of space by offering us the shelves where the fall semester scenic painting class usually stores their materials. Also, hopefully, we'll be able to use one of the dressing rooms as a workspace as soon as Sinfonicron vacates.

On a happy note, we have gotten a lot done. We have all three Columbinas and all SIX fish.

Fishes, Columbinas, neoprene trimmings, oh my!

We also have neoprene drying for one of Ellie's nuns, one of my Horny Men, and one of my playing card masks. I'll pull those tomorrow morning. But since we've reached not only a breaking point in our schedule (i.e. the beginning of classes), but also a break in our to-do list (i.e. all the ensemble sculpting is done), we'll probably organize some sort of meeting in the next few days to discuss how we'll proceed.

Farewell, pre-classes intensive session! It's been fun!

P.S. I'll post about my research for the Horny Men soon! Stay tuned!