Have you ever heard of an author by the name of Edgar Allan Poe? He's most famous for having written The Raven, a stirring (and lengthy) poem about a man who was so distracted by his lost love that he conversed with a bird. Well, that may not be the exact point, but it's close.
In addition to that morose poem, he also wrote a short story titled, "The Masque of the Red Death." It is a lovely tale about princes, plague, and the passage of time. It inspired me (back in my college days) to create a book art installation from it. I was at the time enrolled in a book making class and had access to all the amenities of a print shop. It was easily one of my favorite classes.
I decided to hand set the type of the story and I found old woodcuts from the 1400's to accompany the text. In addition, I created a mask through which the reader could participate in the story while reading. Because the story takes place in 7 rooms, I made a series of 7 books.
Below are some photos of the process of making the mask itself.
I began with a lot of experimentation. I had ordered some face molds online and received child size masks representative of several ethnicities. I tried lots of different types of paper to see what would work best. My hands got super messy in the process - that's one of the best parts.
Once I found the paper that worked best, I printed the entire text of the story on it, then tore it into strips to see if the ink would hold once the glue was applied. After several tries, I found a paper/ink combination that would work perfectly! I printed the story onto red, black, and white paper and prepared to make all seven masks.
I got all seven masks covered in alternating strips of red, white, and black done in papier-mâché style with homemade glue. The overall look was quite matte. I set the masks aside to dry and left them overnight.
When I returned the next day, I had 7 fully dry masks. No two were the same, in part because of the underlying ethnicity each mask represented. Coupled with the random way in which I placed the strips of paper, the two above became my favorites.
The final step was to spray them with a clear spray paint to help them stand up to handling and keep their shape and color just a bit better. It also game them a nice shine. I trimmed the extra paper from around the edges as well so they could be worn comfortably on a person's face.
Voila! All 7 of the finished masks as they lay in the sun to air dry. From here, I attached them to a black wooden stick so they could be held as people do at a masquerade ball. Alas, I didn't get any pictures of this step. I was quite remiss in my picture taking back in those days.
For those of you interested, here is what the book itself looked like. Again, I didn't take nearly enough pictures. Hope you enjoyed! Let me know which mask is your favorite in the comments below.
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Animation By @zord189
*Many thanks to @zord189 for his generous delegation
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