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Ranasp — Leather Mask Making Tutorial
Published: 2006-10-17 23:57:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 132692; Favourites: 1313; Downloads: 1232
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Description
This has been a while in the making, I hope that it answers most of your questions if you want to try making a mask of your own.I took the pictures with the aid of my boyfriend and wrote the text, while did all of the layout, I couldn't have made this tutorial without her, thanks so much!
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Comments: 310
Hopefully useful as well. I didn't want it to be so dry that you'd get bored just reading it, but not confusing either.
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Wow, that is fantastic~ I've always wondered how to make masks like this, but my instructors just look at me weird when I ask >.>
Thank you for making this tutorial!~
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No problem, and tell me how yours turns out. 
Its too bad no one here lives near me, I'd teach another mask making workshop at the memorial union if they did.
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Aww! Where are you? I'm sure there would be people interested in the area. Heck, otherwise, I'd take a road trip
I will definitely let you know how it turns out - I just need to think of something to make, and find some of that leather...
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Middle o' freakin' Iowa. And I mean, smack in the middle.
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Glad you think so, and if you do try it out, tell me how it goes.
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Gladly!
Do you mind me asking if you buy your leather online, or from a local store?
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I had bought a half hide from The Leather Factory that's a 40 min. drive away, but when I taught a workshop on this they ordered the leather online from (I think) here: [link]
This is also a promising looking site: [link]
The thinner the leather, the more easily you can make odd shapes out of it, but the less support it has. The thicker, the more it will accept stamping, but the stiffer it is.
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Makes sense. i figure it'll be more sensible to buy online.
thanks agian!
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WOW Great Guide °°!!!!
Do you think that with this method i can make this mask?:
[link]
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Hurm, that looks like it has lots of knobby texture things all over it, you might be better off modifying a full-face latex mask.
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This is very helpful! I had no idea about the type of leather. Can you recommend a source for vegetable tanned leather?
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If you can find "The Leather Factory" near you, they sell full hides (expensive) or you can try your luck ordering online. This place looks good: [link] since you can request a chunk of leather and if they have it they'll sell it to you, so you could ask for thin vegetable tanned leather that's big enough for a half mask or so to try it out. [link] is another site, and I think is the one the university ordered when I did a mask making workshop. If you do go with a half hide, remember, it doesn't need to be absolutely perfect since you can simply use the flaws as eyeholes and such.
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thank you for the info! I''ll check it all out.
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Let me know how it goes, I don't want to recommend them again if they aren't any good.
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You're welcome, glad you think its useful.
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Great tutorial, I'll definitely be using it sometime.. heck I had always thought of masks needing big machinery and being really expensice to make lol.. in the mean time I'm stealing your holly-leaf thingy mask muahahaha
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Nope, no machinery needed, else I'd never be able to make 'em. Machines hate me. 
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Will do.. and machines hate me too.. it doesn't help that my tech teacher is sexist and watches all the girls like a hawk when we use them x_O thats why i quit tech and am doing clotex this year.. that and all we made every year were wooden boxes lol
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Fantastic tutorial! I had no idea that leather masks could be made so easily. (Wrong word--not easily, but with relatively simple tools and techniques.) I especially like that you give explanations for the steps, as it will make it a lot easier to experiment with a bit of confidence. Thanks a lot!
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No problem, and that's exactly what I was going for. And yes, its a simple technique, the problem (and fun) is in mastering it.
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This is pretty amazing o_O. ive always wanted to make masks, and ive tried various kinds. i just wish i could get leather, hopefully, one day!
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Yeah that's really the hardest part of this tutorial. 
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Hello again! I hope you don't mind my asking....how did you make this tutorial? I mean, what program did you use and might you offer some advice for me?
I'm trying to put together my own mask making tutorial, I've got all of the photos and the text, I'm just not sure how to make a tutorial like what you've got here. Your's is neat and well laid out, that's what I'm looking for.
I've got Photoshop 7 to work with...
Thank you and I appreciate any help you might be open to offering!
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Haha I couldn't figure it out either! If you look at my description, there's an artist's icon of the girl who did the layout for me, she might be interested in helping you out too for some compensation.
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Thanks for the suggestion...I'm going to keep looking for a tutorial than. I'm really wanting to learn how to make one on my own though, you know? I don't like having to rely on others all the time...especially when I can't afford to pay them for it.
If I find a good tutorial on 'how to make a tutorial', want me to share it with you?
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You might want to try asking her for tips, I traded her a mask for doing the actual layout and such, maybe you two can get something going.
I'd normally say "yes" for a tutorial on something, but I'm afraid that no matter how much its explained to me I'll forever be sucky at it.
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I went ahead and just threw one up early this morning. I'm just not interested in trading for a service right now. But thank you for the suggestion.
-I sent a note to the Mods of Artisan Crafts for help and one of them found a link to a Tut. on making tutorials...I've added it to my faves, it should be the first one there now. You might want to look it over*shrugs*
Thanks again!
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Wow. Nearly 800 views. Nice job. ^_^
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Yeah...But I'm really not sure how much of that is real, DA has been REALLY weird lately with pageviews and such.
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alot ^_^ i can't wait to try it...do you add salt to the water at all? someone told me salt water is used to " shrink and harden " the leather
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No, I haven't tried that, it does make sense though, since I know how salt water plays hell on knots and such. However, I wonder if the salt would interfere with the dying process, since it gets absorbed into the surface of the leather. I'll have to do some research...
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hmm i hadn't even thought of that!
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oh, lovely lovely fun stuff. thanks much
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This is a great tutorial! You cover all the basics and give a lot of advice for avoiding problems. I wish there'd been help around when I got started - I had to figure everything out by myself, the hard way.
You're very good with dye and color interaction. I've never tried using an airbrush, and I suspect it's one of those things I'd never go back to doing by hand. Good to meet another handformer, too - keep it up!
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Thank you very much for your input! That was exactly my goal, to keep things as simple as possible for a beginner in as clear a manner as possible. I had to pretty much figure a lot of the little stuff out on my own, although "The Leatherworking Handbook: A Practical Illustrated Sourcebook of Techniques and Projects" had a pretty good start in the beginner's techniques for maskmaking.
Hah, I knew that several thousand dollars in college education taught me something! Color interation!
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OMG they sell airbrushes at walmart? I have got to look around better next time I'm there!
Great tutorial!
Only problem for a beginner (hey I'd love to try making a mask or two) is finding all the materials (strangely I have a couple leather working tools that came in a box with other crafting things at a garage sale) like the leather.
This is now saved on my computer. Maybe someday i'll find all the stuff to try hehe
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Yeah I know, I was surprised too, you can find it in the model car section, which is in the toy department. There's usually a good chunk of an aisle dedictated to it. Its not a really good airbrush, but it works for small simple things. Oh, and do NOT use lumiere acrylics in an airbrush! The tiny particles that makes the paint sparkly completely plugs up the airbrush. >_<
Yeah, getting a hold of leather is the hard part. I was fairly lucky with the stuff I've got, there's a leather store in the city near where I live. However, it is possible to order online, sometimes you can even get pieces off ebay (be careful of that though, you never know if you're getting old leather, or just how great a shape its in).
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I know they sell airbrushes in the local paper and craft store but they are very expensive in that store...I bought watercolor paper there once that i could have gotten half the price at walmart (and that's regular prices in walmart verses the price in fancy store with a 15 percent off card). Same brand, same thing.
Well I'd look into the leather online but I can't shop online lol no credit card (otherwise I'd be on a shopping spree of all the things I'd like to get online that I can't get in stores). maybe I'll come across something one day.
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Well, as I said, sometimes you luck out on Ebay and you can send a cashier's check to pay for it.
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this is very helpful!! sweet!
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