Made by Joanne Bookmyer
Hyena: My teenage neighbor asked me to make her a hyena mask. She approved my using Jonni’s pattern but wanted it to fit directly over her face (not a headdress). Jonni’s advice when I asked her if she thought it was doable was that the eyes might not be well-positioned and that the overall size might be off. She was definitely right about the eyes and while the overall size wasn’t too far off it ended up being a little narrow around the chin. In the end, the bigger issue for me was that when worn the head points slightly down (like looking at ground) rather than straight ahead. Not a huge problem but for someone to really get a look at those lovely fangs she has has to tilt her head back. Regardless of my trial and error efforts she seems happy with the final product.
Bear: The bear was my second attempt at a hyena. I thought I might be able to use Jonni’s free easy mask form pattern to address the problems I ran into with my first attempt. I used the hyena muzzle and ear pattern and attached them onto the face pattern. Unfortunately it didn’t end up looking anything like a hyena (eyes too close together and muzzle wider and more flattened out). It did, fortunately, look a lot like a bear. All I had to do was reshape the eyes and ears a bit. It ended up being pretty heavy for a face mask so in the end I removed the cap, added eyes and turned it into a wall hanging.
Joanne, I can see why your young neighbor likes her new hyena mask, even though it didn’t come out the way you wanted it to. You came up with some very creative ideas. I especially like the way you mixed and matched different patterns, and accidentally made a bear – that story made me smile. I once started out making a horse and ended up with a bully dog – it accidentally turned into one of my favorite sculptures. 🙂