Quinn W

Thanks for the tutorial. I use a relatively similar technique, and to decent effect, it's just the shaping of the nose and lips I've had trouble with, so until now I've just done masks that didn't cover those areas, just like the one featured in your tutorial. I did note that you cut the eyes out after you have done most of the shaping. That makes sense for achieving more accurate placement, although I've always found leather easier to cut accurately and symmetrically while it's still flat. My order of operation is Cut, tool, shape, (dry,) paint/dye (haven't tried airbrushing yet).

Thank you everyone. I think my problem is that, using a real nose (mine) rather than a sturdy nose, I have to be a little more delicate in the shaping, and can't apply the force required to stretch the leather. I have never tried to stretch leather in any of my work, and have thus far relied solely on bending and folding to achieve shapes.

Yes, I wet veg-tanned leather and form it to my face. Looking into getting molds, but I generally use my own face as the model. Could that be part of it, since I can't push quite as hard and such for comfort reasons? Some of my work: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilsonq/sets/72157623870608268/

First time poster but an established mask-maker. However, I've had to stick with the half-mask design on almost all of my work so far because I have a very hard time molding over the nose. I always end up with large folds and creases that I can't ever manage to get rid of. I see many examples of nice, smooth, realistic looking noses on masks and I can't think as to how leather cold bend that way without requiring folding or cutting, etc. What's the secret? So far, for the few full face masks I've done, I've just had to stick with designs that either work around the nose, or simply incorporate the folds into the design somehow. Thanks everyone!