Mask carving progression

[Howard Lobb]

This is my first attemp at this so please bare with me. FIRST OFF This is not a definative teaching thing it is simply how I aproach a mask I am self taught there are bound to be way better faster ways.... Here goes...

[Howard Lobb]

This is the next series...

[Howard Lobb]

AND the next....

[Howard Lobb]

And so on...

[Sharon of the Dell]

Howard, what type of wood did you use? Looks like it is green still. Did you split the round with a mall or wedge and sledge? After you hollow out the back, how thick are the "walls" of the mask? if it is green wood do you place it in the paper feed bags? Nice tutorial overall, thanks for taking the trouble to do it. I have always wanted to carve a mask, hence all the questions!

[Howard Lobb]

And again....Now we are at the end of the first stages and the mask goes into a paper or plastic bag. This process took me about 2 or 2 1/2 hrs. The bagging thing is to arrest checking and or splitting. If you decide to use PLASTIC bags I will causion you that to my best experience this is the perfect enviroment for mold.... May not be a bad thing for the carving as some spalting is attractive, BUT it is bad for the CARVER. So I much prefer to use paper bags as this are ideal for SLOWLY releasing the moisture from the carving and definately helps reduce the srtesses in the wood from the dring process... The next step is the refining the FACE side of the carving as the back is done. any questions so far

[Howard Lobb]

Originally Posted by Sharon of the Dell

Howard, what type of wood did you use? Looks like it is green still. Did you split the round with a mall or wedge and sledge? After you hollow out the back, how thick are the "walls" of the mask? if it is green wood do you place it in the paper feed bags? Nice tutorial overall, thanks for taking the trouble to do it. I have always wanted to carve a mask, hence all the questions!

Hey Sharon BOY are you quick!!!The wood is fresh as a daisyI got it out of the back of a tree servise truck one hour after it had beed cut down. I split the rounds of all 4 pieces i salvaged with a mall and froe and wedges. The wals are about 5/8" to 3/4" and the ends are a little over an inch and this is critical. AND did you see the pic's with the arrows drawn on the mask ends? these are to show the direction of the shrinkage that causes the stress that cause the splits, also the blacked areas need to be removed to again releave the sresses from the warpage in the drying stages. As the mask dries it will crown in the pith area a weak point as it is the convergance of each side shrinking. Yes IT"S ALL IN THE BAG NOW

[Howard Lobb]

SORRY for thespellin!!!! LOL it is sohumiliatin... The wood I was told is linden,,, Though I use this exact process on every MASK and BOWL. GREEN is better then dry I don't care what wood is used. I use YEW and ARBUTUS these are hard woods They make rock maple look like bass in comparison.
Here are some examples of just a few of the masks i've done this way and one in progress... You can visit the members gallery for more works HOPE this helps any who are willing to try masks... IT IS FUN!!!!

[bigEd_H]

Howard, my friend, that's a great tutorial. One of these days, when I get better tools, I might just try one of those masks. Thanks also for the instructions about handling green wood when working with it. Can't wait for your next installment and how your mask turns out.

[bigEd_H]

Those are some great masks, Howard. You do excellent work, my friend.