Made by Louise Adie
The base is cardboard in three parts. The cheeks are a cut-in-half styrofoam sphere. I attached the mouth to a half dome paper mache base, using a rubber ball as the form. The eyes are very small wool dryer balls covered in tissue paper mache, with clay to make the thick eyelids.
The nostrils are three stacked rubber o-rings, paper mached. I painted overall with gesso. I changed the paint design three times before I was pleased with the final result. I copied the eyes exactly from photos of actual NE US frogs. Oh, and the crown was the bottom of a plastic almond milk bottle, wooden beads and a Gordon clan pin from my Scottish dad’s collection.
I used her as a fairy with wings for a Renaissance Festival, then as a plain frog when I went to view the Flotsam River Circus show (look it up, it’s so cool). I have no clue what inspired me to make this frog mask!!! I just did it, and have never made anything like it before. I chose the old fashioned style of paper mache but with Elmer’s, not flour. I wanted it to be a little rough. Jonni offered great advice when I was getting started!!
Louise, I love your frog mask. He has a wonderful grin, the eyelashes are delightful, and the crown is amazing. I’ll bet you got a lot of comments and happy looks when you wore it. 🙂