The Elephant who Foretold the Birth of Buddha: Chapter 36

Stainless Steel, Shed Deer Antler, Unknown Agate

from Borges: " ...Queen Maya, in Nepal, had a dream that a white elephant, which dwelled on the Golden Mountain, had entered her body. This visionary beast had six tusks... White stands for humility and the number six is sacred, corresponding to the six dimensions of space: upwarad, downwards, forward, back, left, right."

The tusks were an easy decision. The hard part was the metal- I very much wanted this to be a white elephant, but neither paint nor enamel seemed to have that feeling of purity/humility. In all honesty, I would have loved to do him out of silver, but that's out of the ballpark, right now. Working him in stainless was tough, but not as bad as i had feared, and I'm glad I did it. It isn't really "white" but it's color will stand out from the other masks, which is really what matters.

 

And, a little detail of the tusks, which, while an easy decision, were a practical hardship- mounting on steel isn't easy.