Venetian Carnival Mask

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

Hi everyone, Heidi here, today I would like to show you a bit of a different project then usual. For today’s project I was inspired by the masks that people wear during the Venice Carnival each year. I somehow find the renaissance costumes and beautiful masks quite fascinating (you can do a Google search if you would like to know what I’m talking about). This year carnival in Venice (Italy) is between the 27th of January and the 13th of February.

——————————–

The Crafter’s Workshop provided me with some product to create this project. The opinions I share are solely my own.

——————————–

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

Step 1:

I started my project with a plain white mask that I bought in a party store (I choose a shape that gave me some room to decorate). To prime the mask I applied one coat of The Crafter’s Workshop  “White Gesso“ (TCW9001 ) with a brush. Next I applied one coat of The Crafter’s Worshop Heavy Body Acrylic Paint in the colour “Spun Sugar“ (TCW9016) which is white, also with a brush. When this paint was dry I painted in the gold shapes around the eyes with The Crafter’s Workshop “Gold Gesso“ ( TCW9003) using a small brush (I needed two layers for good coverage).

I wanted to create a delicate base for my flowers to sit on and for this I used a The Crafter’s Workshop stencil called “Big Wreath“ (TCW721s). I put the stencil in several area’s on the mask, holding it with my left hand, and then applying Archival Ink in the colour “Watering Can“ over the mask using a foam applicator tool with my right hand. After this ink had dried sufficiently I put some of the Gold Gesso that I used before on the edges of the mask with a brush, using a dry brush technique, and pulling the gesso inwards on some of the outer edges.

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

Step 2:

Next I worked on my flower embellishments. For this I used the flowers from the following stencils: The Crafter‘s Workshop “Big Wreath“ (TCW721s) for the smallest flowers and The Crafter’s Workshop “Flower Dance“ (TCW727s) stencil for the two larger flower sizes. And for the leaves I used a The Crafter’s Workshop stencil called “Aloha“ (TCW740s).

I cut pieces of white card stock larger in size then the flower/leaf sizes, I put the stencil on top of the card stock pieces and then applied The Crafter’s Workshop “Black Modeling Paste“ (TCW9009) over the stencil using a palette knife. This way I created a bunch of flowers and leaves to decorate the mask with (in the end I used more of the smaller flowers and less off the larger ones and the leaves).

Then I set the flowers and leaves aside to dry.

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

Step 3:

Now that the modeling paste is dry I fussy cut all the flowers and leaves out, leaving a small white border.

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

Step 4:

The flowers and leaves are now ready for the next step, which is to decorate the mask: I decided on my lay out and then adhered the flowers/leaves on the mask using The Crafter’s Workshop “Matte Gel Medium“ (TCW9011) and a brush (wash the brush afterwards). To create a bit more interest on this dark background I splattered with Coliro Pearl Colors by Finetec GmbH in the colour “Moss Green“after the matte medium had dried sufficiently, and then set the mask aside to dry.

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

Step 5:

In the meantime I worked on creating some butterflies. For this I used one of the collages from Altered Pages for the wings on these butterflies, this particular sheet is called “1008 Jar Fairies Wings“. I choose two designs, sized them down and printed them on Clairefontaine Digital Colour Printing (DCP) paper (160 grms). I fussy cut them out (and put some Memento “Tuxedo Black“ Dual Marker on the edges of the wings to give them a defined edge) and then I adhered the wings on die cut butterflies from Joy Crafts (die number 6002/0322). For the bodies of the butterflies I used some matte gold coloured card stock and I adhered the wings using Ranger Medium Matte. And to finish the butterflies I put some Stickles in the colour “Platinum“ on the bodies and some “Treasure Pewter“ gilding wax on the edges of the wings (to make them stand out more against the black background) and then I set them aside to dry.

Of course you can use any butterflies that you have in your stash (these red/gold ones fitted my project nicely though).

When the butterflies were ready I adhered the butterflies to the mask also using Ranger Medium Matte. And as my finishing touch I decided on some sparkly sequins adhering them to the mask with Ranger Medium Matte.

Some detail pictures of the finished mask:

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

How to decorate a Venetian Carnival Mask

And that finishes today’s project: I had so much fun working on this mask, if you have never decorated one then maybe this is something for you as well!

We would love to see what you create with The Crafters Workshop Stencils and Mediums.
You can share it with us on our Facebook page, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest using hashtag #tcwstencillove.

Heidi Jakobs

The Crafter’s Workshop Design Team Member

3 thoughts on “Venetian Carnival Mask

Leave a Reply to ChatelainecreationsCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.