Getting Plastered

HOKAY! So, as I mentioned in my last post, we're learning to make masks like the Germans do! And in order to build a mask, we have to have a form to build off of, so we start with our own faces. 

Making a plaster cast of your own face is a pretty complicated process. Here's a little step-by-step. (ok that sounds like it'll be a boring post. But it's fun! keep reading!)

First, get your supplies together. This means a ton of plaster strips (like the ones you would use to make a hard cast for a broken arm)

Then, wrap your hair in plastic.

Sometimes this is done much more efficiently than others. And don't forget the eyebrows!

Then, with the help of a buddy, a bowl of water, and a lot of vaseline, cover your whole face, piece by piece

After three layers and artful nose holes, it's finally time to...let it dry!

This gives plenty of opportunity for your friends to mess with you, since you can't see and are trying to meditate to avoid smiling and thus changing your face shape beneath the plaster. 

Once it's dry, a little face wriggling loosens it so it slips right off

Leaving you a little messy

But the first step is complete.

You're not done though, because this is just a negative mold - it's the inside of the plaster that's the exact shape of your face.

So we mix some liquid plaster

(That's Hajo, our mask-making teacher, btw)

And slowly FILL YO' FACE!

A spoon works well at first, for the details. Then a cup becomes a little more efficient.

A screw it. just dump that crap in there. 

Goodnight, sleepy heavy faces! See you in the morning when you're nice and solid.

Since we want full heads, we used styrofoam guys to make head caps, which we attached to the backs of our faces and filled with more plaster. 

But, of course, while they were drying, we had to make friends with them...

Next, in the words of Natasha Beddingfield, "Peel the skin of youuurrr face. No one else can peeel it forrrr you. Only you can peel the skinnnn"

Ok so maybe those weren't the actual words, but hopefully someone from DoubleTake laughed. I know I did.

 And after a bit of sandpapering, you've got a solid plaster version of YOU! Which you can use for... well... anything, i guess...

Mascting!

That's Mask-Acting, for those of you less experienced at combining words like a boss. See! I'm actually doing something productive in Berlin!

(Side note - I still have more photos to post from other travels before I got to Berlin, but I'm going out of order *GASP* to bring you a hint of the work I'm doing here.)

Anyways! The company I'm training/working with is called Familie Flöz. Two things you need to know about them: 1, they are awesome. 2, they have really cool masks.

LOTS of masks

And we get to play with them!

"wtf?," you may be asking. Let me back up a bit. So I've rejoined my ADA cohort for a summer term working with Familie Flöz in Berlin. We're spending 6 weeks learning their style of mask making and performance and developing a show based on our ancestors. 

We have each chosen one of our ancestors, gathered information about them, and begun developing characters based on them. 

For some, the chosen ancestor is one they know (a parent or grandparent) so they can take what they know of that person and build upon it.

Others, who have chosen someone a little further down their lineage, have the challenge/opportunity to develop character and mannerisms they think their ancestor may have had. 

Right now we're working with masks from previous Flöz shows - ones that we felt had similar energies to our ancestors. 

At the same time, we're building original masks in which we'll eventually perform, which also incorporate their facial features. (but that's another post on it's way!)

For now though, we're putting on these new faces,

Figuring out how to bring them to life,

How the get along with each other,

Or on their own,

And how they move.

I'll post more as we get further into the development process and our own masks start taking shape. For now though, we've got character quirks to find! (Be careful of this one...)

Craybies

What's a craybie? It's a crazy baby. duh.

It's similar to a crayzel, but a baby, not a pretzel. Are you with me?

Anyways, in Europe, there tend to be a lot of statues of craybies. Like this one, who is modest:

And those one, who has a foot fetish (or is getting kicked in the mouth. you decide):

This one is holding a beehive, which is dangerous. He must be a badass craybie. (craybass? no i don't like that.)

These two craybies are fighting over whose crappy leaf-gift the dead guy will like more, while creepy-craybie is creepin in the corner.

But wait, there's creepier! This one has a crucifix as a playtoy!

Apparently Just-My-Size-Jesus is a popular commodity, or someone made another statue of the same craybie when he grew up:

And a crayby with a spinny hat!!

Now we move from Prague to Vienna, where the craybies get slightly more powerful. They get to hold golden crowns...

...kill demons with weird torch/scepter things...

...and, in true craybie fashion, pick fish's noses.

In Salzburg, things get a little intense with this little guy who hangs out with a skull:

And finally, we have the luckiest of all craybies, who gets to hold a golden orb AND ride on caveman's shoulders while he rips a tiny palm tree from the ground!

Don't you wish YOU were a craybie??

Church Oddities, or Why I'm Going To Hell

Europe loves their churches. Cathedrals, basilicas, chapels - most of them are huge, ornate, and expensive (but that is another post or conversation...). Many people go into these churches to see their beauty or experience a bit of their holiness.

I go into them for this:

Isn't he cute? With so much decoration in churches, there is plenty that I find quite amusing. Like this guy:

Heh heh, he makes me chuckle :-P

Then I see things like this and think, "whew. dusty!"

And just when I need to be reminded of the sacred space i'm in, there's Jesus, wearing pasties.

and, welp, there he is again.  A little more cleaned up, with a fancier crown, and still with pasties.

(someone should tell him it's sliding down a bit...)

Then I wonder if you can find something like this awesome lion-holding-a-cornucopia candlestick on ebay:

And as if it weren't already certain I am headed for hell, I discover the importance of point-of-view, especially for this guy's "sword":

But clearly I'm not the only one with less-than-holy thoughts:

Classy, tourists. Real classy. See you in hell ;)