Laurie Hale | “Owl Mask”

This media file is attached to: Ceramics / Sculpture / 3D Design

This mask was inspired by the legend of the Green Man, the guardian of the forests. The mask was created by rolling real leaves into slabs of clay and individually cutting them out with a beveled undercut to give the clay leaves a thin delicate edge. The clay leaves were then assembled onto a clay slab that was draped over a hump mold. The leaves include hazelnut, gingko, vine maple, dogwood, paperbark maple, and Japanese snowbell. After bisque firing, the mask was stained with an iron stain to bring out the veins in the leaves, then glazed.