The Masque of the Red Death - A Book Making Project

in #art5 years ago (edited)

Have you ever heard of an author by the name of Edgar Allan Poe? He's most famous for having written The Raven, a stirring (and lengthy) poem about a man who was so distracted by his lost love that he conversed with a bird. Well, that may not be the exact point, but it's close.

In addition to that morose poem, he also wrote a short story titled, "The Masque of the Red Death." It is a lovely tale about princes, plague, and the passage of time. It inspired me (back in my college days) to create a book art installation from it. I was at the time enrolled in a book making class and had access to all the amenities of a print shop. It was easily one of my favorite classes.

I decided to hand set the type of the story and I found old woodcuts from the 1400's to accompany the text. In addition, I created a mask through which the reader could participate in the story while reading. Because the story takes place in 7 rooms, I made a series of 7 books.

Below are some photos of the process of making the mask itself.

I began with a lot of experimentation. I had ordered some face molds online and received child size masks representative of several ethnicities. I tried lots of different types of paper to see what would work best. My hands got super messy in the process - that's one of the best parts.

Once I found the paper that worked best, I printed the entire text of the story on it, then tore it into strips to see if the ink would hold once the glue was applied. After several tries, I found a paper/ink combination that would work perfectly! I printed the story onto red, black, and white paper and prepared to make all seven masks.

I got all seven masks covered in alternating strips of red, white, and black done in papier-mâché style with homemade glue. The overall look was quite matte. I set the masks aside to dry and left them overnight.

When I returned the next day, I had 7 fully dry masks. No two were the same, in part because of the underlying ethnicity each mask represented. Coupled with the random way in which I placed the strips of paper, the two above became my favorites.

The final step was to spray them with a clear spray paint to help them stand up to handling and keep their shape and color just a bit better. It also game them a nice shine. I trimmed the extra paper from around the edges as well so they could be worn comfortably on a person's face.

Voila! All 7 of the finished masks as they lay in the sun to air dry. From here, I attached them to a black wooden stick so they could be held as people do at a masquerade ball. Alas, I didn't get any pictures of this step. I was quite remiss in my picture taking back in those days.

For those of you interested, here is what the book itself looked like. Again, I didn't take nearly enough pictures. Hope you enjoyed! Let me know which mask is your favorite in the comments below.

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Wow, that’s one really creative work. Matching the book cover design to the mask and bringing out the deep emotion through the strong color of red, black and white. So the masks are meant for? Haha out of curiousity.

Thanks! I wanted people to be able to read the story through the mask, to kind of put themselves into the story. It creates an almost surreal effect, as if you are a masked reveler at the ball around which the story takes place.

Oh, I got it now! Haha I can imagine people will be staring at you and not really looking at you but the mask 🤣 just like reading a person’s face. That’s interesting way to make one mask.

Hmmm... that's an interesting thought!

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Yayayayayyayayayaya!

Very interesting post! I like that you've done so much for this project, and shared so much with us.

I found your post today thanks to @el-nailul's entry into the Pay-it-Forward curation contest. Keep up the great work!

Thank you! The project was similar to a capstone project, but for just one specific class. I worked on it for the majority of the semester. I wish I'd taken pictures of the book making process too, but I didn't think to document that part.

And yay! I love the Pay It Forward contest! :-)

Come and create an entry - you still have today and tomorrow. :-)

Ooooh, that might be a good one for me to do tomorrow. I'm trying to enter more contests to help me post every day. We'll see what happens. :-)

This is one I recommend because of the good it does for others. Yes, there are Steem Basic Income shares to win, but the best thing about it is the people you get to meet and help out at the same time. :-)

I like that it's a contest that helps others as well. :-) Such a great idea!

Yeah, of course I know about that. My favourite Theatre of Tragedy song is based on that story:

Wow, what a cool song! Thanks for sharing. I'm not able to make out the words well enough to hear the similarities to the story, but I love the way to singers' voices compliment each other.

These is so very well done Jen! I didn't know that you were so creative :) I came here because @el-nailul featured you in his @pifc entry but you know that I didn't come just because of that ;)

Have a great weekend my dear!

Thank you! I don't do very much hands-on creative stuff these days, but I am working on a wedding guest book for a friend. I've been taking pictures and will write a post when it's finished. :-)

Good to hear from you!

The book coverings are just beautiful. Can I have one lol? I think I need to read this book, The mask of the Red Death. I know of Mr. Poe but never really took the chance to read much other than The Raven.

I love your masks. I think my favorite ones are is the first one you posted and the top middle one in the picture that shows all 7.

Ha! I'm glad you like them. I may still have a couple left, and if I do, I'll gladly send you one. I'd like it to be somewhere it can be enjoyed rather than stuck in a box somewhere. I used a couple as gifts and sold a couple, but I'm pretty sure I still have two left. Send me a message on discord (@mattifer) to remind me. I'm in Oregon right now instead of my home in Ohio. :-)

Howdy there mattifer! wow that was quite the process and project! Very impressive and skillful too. I think they're all cool.

Why thank you @janton! I appreciate that!

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