Mask Storage

I don't know about you, but it's normally spring when I tidy and de-clutter.  The other day I was looking for a particular mask and spent half an hour searching!   At a show I'd seen an envelope book and thought what a good idea and that's as far as I got, until now.

I cut 5"x5" squares from paper I'd gone off that had a white back.  It was a lovely sunny afternoon so I got my Oak House studio sprays out.

Ready to spray :

Spraying in progress :

Not liking to waste ink I had my watercolour pad next to me to blot the excess off the masks, before they were put in a bowl of warm water. I now have a lovely background to work with too.

I have the WRMK envelope board and lots of papers (who can't resist sale stuff?)  I made the envelopes 6"x7", scored at three quarters of an inch from the closed end and cut the top flap off.

I wanted to be able to add to the books, you can never have enough masks, so decided to use book rings.  To do this I needed a hinge, what better material to use than grunge paper. It's flexible and takes ink so well and can be mistaken for leather once inked, embossed and gilded.

This piece was inked in fired brick, vintage photo and frayed burlap and then put through an embossing folder :

Then inka gold was added :

This was then used to create the hinge for my background masks:

inside the album

I made two more albums using the same techniques, one for scene masks and one for my Christmas masks.

I won't spend as much time searching for a mask, now they're organised and I didn't buy anything extra to make them.

I have some 5"x 8" stencils that need a home, so that's my next project.

Thanks for dropping by Lynne