The Mask - Act 2 Scene 2

Once the third layer of mache set along with the gloss layer of glue, I took it outside to give it a coat of metallic silver spray. You won't see much of the surface after it's completed, but still, I'm after a professional look and finish. I wasn't satisfied with the first layer as the print on the newspaper strips was still showing, so I gave it another spray down and that did the trick. It's now a lovely glittery brushed steel effect all over.

Milley15 the Milliner was able to provide me with these lovely feathers; Lincoln green speartips and iridescent green-black feathers. This bit was much more fiddly - getting the damned feathers lined up and shaped. In the end I used masking tape to hold them, as it's flexible enough to fix firmly to the back of the inner horns and to go 0-0-0-0 with two layers of tape around each feather stem to stop them coming loose and falling out. This created a satisfying frill around the edge, and helped stabilise the horns themselves.

I was a little concerned that the tape alone wouldn't hold it so, stripping some wire from the edges of my leftover aluminium sheets from TheMeshCompany (there was a 3 for 2 offer, but they completely puzzled themselves and sent me 4 for 2, which was nice!) and bound it tightly at the tip of the horn. From there, I wound it down to better hold the tape in place and to secure the feathers individually. It's made it much stronger, but more difficult for the next stage.