Park Acro! With Moving Pictures!!

We like parks. And acrobatics. And acrobatics in parks. 

Things generally start pretty tame, with some simple handstands...

(Moving pictures! wow! don't get worried, not all of the shots in the post are gifs. Only a few of them should be moving)

And, of course, escalate to crazier things. Some successful...

 

Some...not so successful.

Nonetheless, we caught the eye of a little german kid who wanted to learn! He tried cartwheels...

But was much more interested in a two-high.

It should be noted that we sat him on Mickey's shoulders, and he clearly was not impressed. He immediately started to stand up on his own, without support. Bold kid.

So bold he tried to steal my shoes...

(also, those pants are a pretty bold choice...)

Ok, break time. Soups and roasted corn from the Mauer Park market. yummmm

ok, sorry. you know i like gratuitous photos of food...

...and cool people

...like Francesca. Who also gets credit for taking most of the photos in this post. 

Also in the cool-shades club is Mel: 

is she moving?

And Sophie. duh.

who, by the way, was next to join the acrobatic party! 

This creature can move! So it wandered over to Mel...

Who became part of the next adventure.

This one i'd seen in a photo that morning, and was determined to figure it out.

(did you notice my determined face?)

We finally got it!

You knew it was coming... FLIPPING TIME! 

And, of course, Mickey and I making things up...

How do we come up with this stuff? 

yeah, we're weird. Deal with it.

More Mask Playtime

Just some fun photos of experimentation with masks. These are all masks in Floez's collections. 

Mickey & Sophie:

Me and Melanie:

Francesca and G. Ben:

Nicole:

And Chloe:

Nicole and Melanie:

And Scotty, duh:

Joys and Sorrows: Making Masks

It's creativity time!

Our faces are forever immortalized in plaster, so now it's time to sculpt some shit outta clay!

We collected some photos of our ancestors

And used them for inspiration

Don't lose the eyes! X marks the spot for Mel

And bit by bit, we tacked on features

Our masks ranged from the strikingly realistic to the absurdly stylized. This is Vera, a friend of Floez who built masks with us.

Sometimes sculpting can get frustrating...

Sometimes major surgeries are required...

And sometimes you just have to crush one face and start a new one.

But in the end, you hopefully end up with something wonderful :)

Oh you thought we were done? Think again. Time for Silicone! 

Like with plaster, fill the details first, then cover the whole damn thing. 

Later, the silicone peels off of the clay, which is very unceremoniously discarded...

And the Paper Mache begins.

Are we happy??

no.

why? this:

what's that? ridiculous, time-consuming details. At this point, Jared is probably one hour into a 5 or 6 hour process (the first two layers) that has to be done in one go. GO JARED GO!

After 3 or 4 layers and a lot of patience and frustration, the silicone peels off again, leaving the actual mask! Finally!!

Time to cut out the eyes, nostrils, and mouth, then do some repairs and patching:

Once the whole mask has been more-or-less patched with sealant, it's SANDIN' TIME!

Fiiiiinally, it's time to PAINT!

Then it's time to paint again! more layers! And make a mess!

Finishing touches: elastic strap, hair, facial hair, accessories, etc:

MASKS COMPLETE!!!