Queen of Dragons

A 2 week Props Making intensive got me started on the mask and corset you see here, then in a 2 week intensive Elements of Design & SilkPainting I painted the fabric you see as the skirt. This is 100% my design and creation.

The Mask: We began by partnering up and casting our faces with dental alginate covered with plaster bandage. You will see in the photo below of my cast that I was a bit nervous/horrified! We then made plaster positives with dental plaster and created our custom masks using this mold. We built up shape with air-dry clay, then coated this in layers of papier machet. This became the base of our masks. The nostrils are 2 part clay epoxy. The lower face is Salmon Leather, the eyebrows and horns are Veg-tan Leather, and the forehead is Carp Leather. (Yes Fish Leather!)

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The Corset: I patterned this from scratch. The front spikes are functional closures, while the lacing at the back is to cinch it up. The tail was hand-carved and given texture with a modeling spoon. Each visible seam was whip-stitched by hand. Before the Carp Leather and closures were attached to the front, I airbrushed the corset & the mask with leather acrylics.

The Skirt: The outer layer includes 4 dragons flying through the clouds over a castle on the sea. The inner layer is just clouds. The fabric is 2 layers of 30% Silk / 70% Cotton Voile. outlines were drawn on with Sabra Resist mixed with black Procion H, then it was painted with Procion H silk paints - a blend of CMYK. It sat for about 24 hours then was steamed for 20 minutes.