Palm Bark Mask

That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-140 -- More Projects »
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Project by Adrienne Martino from Pittsburgh, Pa.
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Adrienne Martino is a wife, mother of two, art teacher and a yogi! It's hard to believe she has any time for art. She is a do-it-all kind of person in her personal and professional life. Martino is the same way when it comes to her art. On a recent trip to California, she found palm bark that had fallen from the trees and thought it resembled a person's face. She loved the raw material so much she packed an entire refrigerator box full of it and lugged it back home with her to Pennsylvania. She found a creative way to use the bark by making her African inspired masks.

Materials:

rotary cutting tool
cutting wheel and drill bit
palm bark
plain and dark brown raffia
wooden beads
copper wire
copper tacks
gold or silver upholstery tacks
oil paint: black, yellow, burnt sienna, umber
cobalt drier
turpentine
damar varnish
paintbrushes
large, high temperature glue gun and hot glue
instant glue
razor knife
sandpaper
wire cutter
small hammer
scissors
spray starch
tack cloth
towel for blending paints
picture hanger

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Figure A
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Figure B
Steps:

1. Select bark.

2. Wash bark and clean off dirt with a damp towel.

3. Lightly sand the front convex side of the bark.

4. Pencil in the eyes, snout and mouth (figure A).

5. Drill approximately five holes on each cheek and three above the eyes on each side for whiskers (figure B).

6. Hammer a hanger on the back of the bark. Apply instant glue to hold the hanger securely.

7. Before painting, clean the dust off the front of the mask with a tack cloth.

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Figure C
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Figure D
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Figure E
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Figure F
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Figure G
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Figure H
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Figure I
8. To paint the facial features, mix turpentine and oil base paint to a thin consistency. This will also allow the paint to extend into the grooves. Mix in cobalt drier to speed up the drying of paint.

9. Paint eyes, nose and mouth with burnt sienna and umber.

10. Fill the eyes with yellow paint. Let the paint dry (figure C).

11. For the mane, string about five strands of raffia each 18 inches long through a wooden bead and tie a knot about two inches from one end (figure D). Tie additional raffia strands without the wooden beads until you have a total of 100 bunches of raffia, about five times as many without beads as with (figure E).

12. Hot glue the raffia bunches to the bark around the face (figure F). Every fifth bunch, use one of the beaded strands until the face is surrounded with the mane (figure G).

13. Cut ears from thin flexible bark and attach them with glue and copper tacks.

14. Cut lengths of copper wire into eight-inch segments for whiskers. Glue them into the previously drilled holes with instant glue for the whiskers (figure H).

15. Press brass upholstery tacks into the eyes, depicting a reflective animal glow (figure I).

16. Fluff and trim the raffia.

17. Stiffen the raffia with spray starch.

18. After a couple months, spray mask with UV protection matte varnish.

E-mail: artnuwa11@yahoo.com

Website: www.artistanuwa.com

Also in this Episode
That's Clever! : Episode HCLVR-140
•Palm Bark Mask
•Donkey Table Lamp
•Felted Purse
•Ostrich Egg Jewelry Box