Valkyrie: Chapter 117

Copper. Displayed on wood hat form.

I skipped ahead, in order to fulfill my part of the TADA alphabet challenge. V is for Valkyrie.
I feel no need to reinvent the wheel- this Valkyrie is made from an amalgamation of several actual Norse and Anglo Saxon helmets, with the wings on the side that I think I picked up from growing up with comic books. This is what a Valkyrie looks like, too me. From Borges "Valkyrie means, in early Germanic langauges, the 'chooser of the slain.' We do not know how the people of germany and of Austria imagined them; in Norse mythology they are lovely maidens who bear weapons...Under the spreading influence of Christianty, the  name Valkyrie degenerated; in medieval England a judge had burned at the stake an unlucky woman charged with being a Valkyrie; that is to say, a witch."

Materials arrived!

All this stuff arrived yesterday. Kickstarter made this order possible. It's funny, though- I ordered 1300 worth of copper, and it arrived in a box that weighed in at 120 pounds. That box was impressive- it FELT like it could cost that much. This box was about 10x10x4, and weighed less than a pound. It didn't really feel like 570 dollars. I can't wait to get some of these masks going, though.

the Chimera: Chapter 24

Chimera- Copper, Rooster feathers

Now that my big sheets of copper have arrived, I'm really able to get going. I had all sorts of plans for the Chimera's mane, but the feathers really ended up working the best. Now, of course, I've used up my old stock of feathers, but he's lovely, isn't he?

According to Borges, Homer wrote "that it came from divine stock and was a lion in it's foreparts, a goat in the middle, and a serpent in its hindparts..." Borges goes on to describe several very old, and very convoluted, methods of explaining away the chimera. He concludes "The patchwork image disappeared but the word remained, signifying the impossible"

Chimera **process**

There's going to be a lot of process photos, and not many completed masks, here, for a bit while I'm waiting for all my peripherals to arrive. The Chimera I had meant to give a mane of copper scrubbies, but that just didn't look right. Now he's sitting on my bench with a feather mane, which is good, but the wrong colour, and so, I'll be ordering some feathers for him. Thank god for kickstarter, that's all i've got to say.

Wings for the Valkyrie **process**

Now they just need a nice Norse helmet to rest on

The wings were made entirely from scrap

Donate button added!

After Kickstarter ended. I had several emails from folks who wanted to donate but for various reasons didn't make it into the thirty day window. I understand, There's several kickstarter projects that I desperately wanted to support, but the timing was wrong. I've finally worked it out so this is possible- I've added a donate button. There will still be rewards for donating! You can choose to get your reward right away, or to defer it and wait till there's a critter that really speaks to you. They will be almost the same as the kickstarter rewards, but with less hand drawn thank you notes. Also, if you gave during the kickstarter, but would like to bump up, just donate the difference and send me a note- you'll still get your drawings. The levels play out as follows:

1 dollar- Any amount over one dollar makes me smile. You won't see it, but you will know that you've made my day. That's worth something, isn't it?

25 dollars- I'll send you a hand drawn thank you note. Any animal in the project is up for grabs, but I should warn you- I went into 3D art for a reason

50 dollars- I'll send you a pattern from the project. You can choose either to get a nice clean tracing, or an authentic, used pattern. Either way, you can choose your critter. Not every one has a pattern, but most do.

75 dollars- You'll get your own Lamed Wufnik mask.  You can choose which number you want. For more information, see this entry.

100 dollars- Any of the small masks: this would include Uroborus, the Oread, The Elves, The Neriad, or Lobinos

125 dollars- one of the more complex face masks. Already complete examples of this level include: The Brownies, Abtu and Anet, Golem, the Double, Burak, The Animal Imagined by Kafka, the Chinese Fox, Dryad, Neriad, Alseid, Bahamut, the cheshire cat, the lunar hare, the monkey of the inkpot, El Tigre Capiango, and Carbuncle.

250 dollars- a larger and/or more elaborate mask or a simple crown. Examples at this level include: Barometz,  Animals in the form of Spheres,  the Catoplebus, the Eight forked Serpent, Hochigan, Amphisbeana, Animal Imagined by Poe, Fastitocalon, The Celestial Stag (with brass and nickel veins),the Crocotta, the squonk, The ass with three legs

500 dollars- full face masks and more elaborate crowns. Examples include: the Antelope with six legs, The Elephant who Foretold Buddha,  Hochigan, The Basilisk, The Leucrocotta, The Celestial Stag (as is, silver and gold veins), The Sow in Chains

1000 dollars- More elaborate full face masks and elaborate crowns. Examples include: Behemoth, the Fairies, The Centaur, The Valkyries, Cerberus, The Animal imagined by C.S. Lewis (the singing beast)

3000 dollars- A full head mask, or a full set of lamed Wufniks, or Any Creature created during this project. I may change this level later, but anyone who donates at this level before I change it gets any creature with a smile. The Chimera is at this level.

5000 dollars- I'll make a mask of any creature you can come up with. This level comes with custom fittings, if you care to come to my studio.

Lamed Wufniks **Process**

Lamed Wufniks, with exterior cuts done

There are 36 lamed wufniks. While each mask is relatively quick, this means that this one creature will, inevitably, take several days. I apologize for the boredom, but just imagine if you were here, in the shop. Getting from the sheet in the entry below this to the stack in the photo above took almost a full day, and left my lower arms with a whole bunch of parallel cuts that just don't look like workman's comp could ever apply to them.

Cutting out all the eyes took another 5 hours- only half a day, but I do have to keep my studio running, too, so I called it there. Next will be sanding- after which, they'll look just like this. So I'll share a photo of something else.

The Lamed Wuniks **process**

That's the lamed wufniks, right there. Amazingly, all 36 fit perfectly onto one sheet of copper. I was tempted to leave them there, they fit so well, and so put this sheet aside while working on kafka's critter. in the end, though, there was no reason for them to be in a rectangular sheet, and I decided to cut them up. Aren't they sort of lovely, though, like this?

An Animal Imagined by Kafka: Chapter 4

Copper, Hand-bleached muslin

Borges gives no opinion here, but simply quotes Kafka.
"It is the animal with the big tail, a tail many yards long and like a fox's brush. How I should like to get my hands on this tail sometime, but it is impossible, the tail is constantly being flung this way and that. The animal resembles a kangaroo, but not as to the face, which is flat almost like a human face..."

Clearly, I will need to redo photos.

The animal Imagined by Kafka **process**

Administration got the better of me, for a bit, But I'm moving again, full speed ahead. I have 120 pounds of copper sheet (hopefully enough for the full project) and have started ordering/ acquiring the incidentals needed. Here's the Animal envisioned by Kafka- it was waiting on orange muslin for months, and is now nearly complete- I bleached out his tail yesterday and hung him up to dry before his final trimming.

 Today, I brought it inside, combed it out, and trimmed it.