Mask Making: A Journey into the Mystery of Self

What to Bring and Some Caveats

I have a growing collection of materials with which to decorate but we can always use more.

Here are some ideas:

• feathers, jewelry, flowers, grasses, leaves, shells, beads, silk or dried flowers, baubles, glitter, marbles, significant stones or any of your favorite collectibles from nature...
  
  
• Old holiday decorations, scarves, feather boas, orphaned or outdated earrings, interesting remnants of cloth, yarn, straw, dolls hair, fake fur, veils...
  
  
• Small sacred objects that you can glue such as gem stones, crystals, whatever you think might possibly or impossibly be part of a mask.
  
  
• You can bring items that are special to you and you want on your mask. Not all or any of what you bring needs to be for sharing.
  
  
• The possibilities are endless. Nothing needs to be in pristine conditions. It can be broken bits of things!
  

The Caveats:

You have to plaster your face with petroleum jelly so that the mask can come off. Neither Val nor I have had any skin problems from the petroleum jelly and, in fact, it softens the skin. However, if you fear your skin is sensitive to petroleum jelly, I do not advise taking this workshop.

In addition, if you are phobic about having your face covered, this is not a good workshop for you. You will not cover or put anything (i.e. straws) in your nose. There is always plenty of air, but your lips are plastered over. The plastering process takes 15-30 minutes.

Expect to sit quietly for the 15 to 30 minute process while your mask is applied. Val and I have found that the experience of being inside the mask is one of the more amazing aspects of the process.