mask tutorial?

[Cpt Martha]

Hi, I just got back from Jamaica and I picked up a tacky decorative mask made by a Jamaican. It is similar to these, but a bit better (especially in the artsy part) and I thought carving would be fun to take up. I'd like to make masks like those, but have no experience. Does anyone know how I would go about doing it, the tools I need, or maybe a tutorial? The puzzling part to me is how to get the shape of it, because it is kind of curved to the front, so if you look at it from the side it looks slightly like

)
The protruding part being the front with the design, but not so protruding as a bracket.

I think it'd be fun to make small tiki's too, if anyone has any tutorials on that sort of thing.

And are woodcarving classes useful, or can I just learn everything they teach from the internet?

Forgot the pictures! Here is the style I am talking about

http://www.cyberyaad.com/img/Mask.jpg


Thanks

edit: I'll try to get pictures or a video up of my mask if people need better pics

[pallin]

There is a very helpful recent thread by Howard Lobb on this subject: "Mask Carving Progression." If you do a search on "Mask," you will get several threads including the one noted.

[Cpt Martha]

Yeah I read that and a bunch others last night, but the thing is it's a completely different style (face vs flat), that and the first few posts which would be most useful have no text to them. But I guess I can just use his methods and adopt a way to do it from that

[LisaS]

Pictures of your mask I think would be useful - or if you can't post yours, if there are similar styles in a google image search - at least people could picture the style that you mean.

[Cpt Martha]

Oh wow, I completely thought last night that I put a link in, but I guess I forgot to put it in the second time I wrote the post. Sorry folks!

http://www.cyberyaad.com/img/Mask.jpg

Mine is a bit more polished/clean, and the art in the middle is a real nice elephant. I'll try to get pics/vid over the next two days once I find my camera. Apologies!

Edit: Don't worry about it Mitchell, mods are busy people. Being new I just thought maybe I did something wrong when I posted. Although I don't get the whole need to wait for approval thing

[Mitchell]

Sorry fo the delay getting your posts approved Cpt Martha....

Sometimes posts waiting Moderation are difficult to see when just browsing.