craftgrrl | Masquerade! (Reply)

Hello, all!
I've been lurking for awhile and occasionally commented on others' posts, but I have yet to post officially and introduce myself. I'm Lauren. I'm a freshman in college studying to be an art teacher. (This probably accounts for some of my adventurous nature when it comes to media: My main craft is knitting, and my "fine art" of choice is oil portraits, although as you'll see, this post falls into neither category.)

My college has our fall semiformal tonight, and the theme this year is "Masquerade." In addition to the dance itself, there's a mask competition.

Now, who am I to pass up a challenge?

It is now 4:05 AM and I have not slept....however, my masks are done!

I did some research and found that I really liked the intricate designs of Venetian Renaissance-era Carnavale masks, so those became my inspiration.
I bought two white plastic base masks: A full-face one for me and a "Phantom of the Opera"-style for my date. (My date is my gay male friend, who was very excited about the mask idea and told me to make his as "fabulous" as possible.)
I also bought gold sequins, gold lace, and yellow and white paint pens at AC Moore. I had black acrylic paint in my collection.
My mask was fairly straightforward: One coat of black acrylic, then detailing with the paint pens, then sequins and lace glued on.
My date's was somewhat more complicated because the black acrylic wanted to peel off once it dried. My solution? To paint over the entire thing with clear nail polish. It was easy, inexpensive, and it hardened the black paint so it couldn't come off. This made the mask really shiny, but I don't think it's a bad look. I then followed the same process as the previous one: Yellow and white paint pens, then sequins.

First, we have my dress, which both masks were made to match. My date will be wearing a white shirt and black pants.

Then we have my date's mask.

And now, my mask! The reactions I've been getting seem to imply Mardi Gras/Carnavale meets Man in the Iron Mask meets V for Vendetta, none of which are a bad thing!

I really wanted something that I could wear with my glasses, so I was super-excited when I discovered that my glasses fit really well over the mask.
Here's me in my mask. I will be wearing that black-rose hair clip.