Monday, May 9, 2011

The Cards

Angellica & Her Entourage

We decided early on that Angellica and her entourage should have a matching mask theme. Liz suggested card suits and I ran with the idea. It made so much sense to me.

Angellica, the courtesan who's just fallen in love, is the Heart.
Moretta, the madame who's only concern is money, is the Diamond.
Biskey & Sebastian, the muscle, are the very phallic Club and Spade.

In addition to the fitting categorizations, the woman are the red suits and the men are the black.

The card suit motif also gives a sense of festivity and games that makes sense for fun of Carnival.


It was important that Angellica stood out from the rest, so I lined the hearts and the bottom of the mask with sequins and jewels, with a teardrop-shaped jewel at the bottom of the big heart. After all, an expensive courtesan ought to have some flair. There was originally some lace at the bottom edge of the mask as well, but it just looked like Angellica had a white mustache. Live and learn.


Abby, one of the other mask-makers, was kind enough to do the highlight-and-shadow for me, since she's very talented in painting in subtle whites. I was very careful in the building of the mask to keep to playing card dimensions (which are 3.5" x 2.5", in case you were interested).

This photo in particular shows the triumph of the mask: the heart, the general card-shape, and the sparkle are recognizable from afar. And, for a theatrical mask, what else matters? I also like the beauty-mark look of the smaller heart.

Angellica the courtesan, played by the lovely Zoe Speas.

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