Almost But Not Quite...Back in Time Blog Hop Reveal Day

The third round of the Back in Time Blog Hop is here!  Well...not so much HERE exactly.

I have been working hard on my project most of the month, but last week I had carpel tunnel surgery on my right hand and a nerve release on my right elbow.  My recovery was proceeding quite nicely, so much so I over exerted my poor arm on Wednesday, doing things I should have known better than to try yet (YOGA, and it was my first attempt at yoga...dumb, dumb, dumb)! Yesterday the pain management eluded me and now, it is more painful than it was last week after surgery!  (P.S. the surgeon Dr. Dolf Ichtertz, from the Hand & Shoulder Institute in Grand Island and the outpatient surgery staff & nurses at the Memorial Community Hospital in Aurora, NE can not be commended highly enough!!  Chris and I have both received treatment and care above and beyond today's "standards" of care from both the Dr and the Hospital!)

Yes, extreme beading can give you tennis elbow!  I have it in both arms!

Incisions from the carpel tunnel procedure.

So our theme for this go round was Early Civilizations.  I thought about the idea for a bit, and decided to try my hand at making a beaded mask.  While it is not yet finished, I do intend to continue to work on it and hope to have it finished in 2 weeks.  I also want to mention that back in May I was to do a reveal for the Bead Peeps Blog Hop, my partner Lori Allain Blanchard had sent me a beautiful selection of beads, and I am about 3/4 way through that project.  I have plenty of inventory for shows built up through the next few weeks, so I am trying to catch up on my challenge projects that have fallen behind the past couple challenges.

First of all on the mask project, I have to give a tremendous thank you to NanC Meinhardt.  A couple years ago, I was able to take a class on free form right angle weave with NanC and really enjoyed the class.  I knew she had made masks and when I ran into trouble even locating a mask form to work with, I sent a message to NanC on Facebook.  She was very gracious and helpful, and told me to give her a call when I got off work to chat about my project!!  I did and we chatted for about 15 minutes after which, I had a clear picture of what I wanted to do, what I should look for in a mask, and the best way to get started.  It is wonderful to have experienced contacts willing to reach out and lend an ear when you need help!

So here is the mask base I started with.

It measures about 7" x 3.5".  Of course, with any project I tend to get carried away, so I forced myself to work as small as I could.  NanC suggested that if I could not find anything in the size I was looking at, I could buy a doll, take the head off, and create a form either by making a base with polymer clay or by cutting the doll head in half with a saw.  She also suggested that if I found a base that wasn't black to paint it black so that black thread would blend in and not be seen.  I did paint it, but the paint scratched off, so I painted a couple coats of acrylic craft paint on it and then added a coat of Modge Podge.  This helped to save the black from needle nicks, but when I started applying the double stick tape to help form the beads and get them to stay in place, the paint and Modge Podge adhered to the tape and wanted to bubble up or just came off on the tape.  This is the type of double sided tape I used.

Ranger Wonder Tape

I believe you can also find it under the brand of Tacky Tape.  We used it in NanC's class so that was what I looked for.  This looks just the same, is just as sticky, but may be slightly less in the package.  This was found at my local scrapbook store (conveniently located in my local bead store where I happen to work part time!).  It is very sticky and gums up your scissors, just a note of caution, don't use your best scissors to cut it.

So here is the mask.  I am doing an Elemental Mask in an African style.  I used size 8 seed beads to fill the space faster, and plan to do some embellishment on the surface after I finish the seed bead work.  The upper right is blue for water, the lower left is an orange AB finish seed bead for fire, the upper left (just outlined) is white alabaster matte finish for air, and the Earth will be represented by a dark forest green ab matte on the lower right side. I am using several beading stitches, right angle weave, peyote, and square stitch.

This the back which illustrates the starter strip.  I glued down a strip of thin suede lacing along the edge of the back.  This allowed me a base to stitch into for my base row of right angle weave.  I started to do peyote stitch to move over the edge and up the front of the mask.  I divided the mask into the four elements using a metallic marker.  The marker wore off, but I just re-marked it to have my boundaries for the beading.

So there is my third project in the Back in Time Blog Hop, here are the links to the other participants:

Lindsay Starr:  http://phantasmcreation.blogspot.com/2015/07/beading-back-in-time-episode-3-reveal.html 

Sherri Stokey:  http://www.knotjustmacrame.com/2015/07/beading-back-in-time-early-civilization.html 

Susan Kennedy:  http://suebeads.blogspot.com/2015/07/beading-back-in-time-early-civilization.html 

Jean Wells:  http://jeanawells.indiemade.com/blog/beading-back-time-installment-three-early-civilization-3500-bc-500-ad 

Michelle McCarthy:  http://fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com/2015/07/beading-back-before-time-early.htm 

Niky Sayers:  http://fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com/2015/07/beading-back-before-time-early.htm 

Jenny Davies-Reazor:  http://www.jdaviesreazor.com/blog/beading_back_time_blog_hop_ancient_egypt_inspired