Sugar Skull Mask #3

For those of you that are not familiar with a Sugar Skull, it is part of the tradition of “Dia De Los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead” The Sugar Skull is symbolic of this holiday and can be found in many forms from Candied Skulls to Painted Faces. In keeping with the tradition of “Dia De Los Muertos” these skulls are usually bright, happy and colorful. Sugar Skulls often have characteristics of the deceased person’s personality and favorite colors, making the Skull look very much alive and animated. I find this beautiful celebration of life inspiring and as a result have created my own version of a Sugar Skull in the form of a Mask.

Week 1

I started my Sugar Skull Mask early because I wanted enough time to to get the matching accessories together based on the color theme of the mask... this year's colors are Red and Orange.

Week 2

I liked the red and orange but thought it needed just a little more POP.

So I added in just a splash of Purple.

This One of a Kind Mask took me over 50 hours to complete, each piece was shaped out of copper wire by hand and then wire-wrapped together. All the flower were handmade individually with beads and wire and then attached to the mask, it ties on the head with beautiful silk ribbons and is meant to be worn with makeup as shown below...

Sugar Skull Mask #3 is complete!

May you always BEAD Happy! ~Cova

Sugar Skull Mask

Sometimes there is an idea that floats around my head and nags at me shouting: "Make me, Make me, MAKE ME!!!". When this happens even if I ignore it, eventually it just has to be. This Sugar Skull Mask is one of those ideas, no matter how many projects I put in front of it, it floated around in my head for months. I finally broke down a couple of weeks ago and decided to work on it. Here are some photos of my process and its progress every couple of days.

Day 3

Day 5

Day 6

Day 8

Quite often elements of a design change as I go. For example: the blue crystal at the top of the heart in all of the photos above didn't work for me so I replaced it with this turquoise sugar skull bead and beaded fan to give the focal point of the mask more POP.

Day 10

Finally FINISHED! :)

Completed Mask with Make-Up

I find that it's really important to occasionally make something that is inspired from within even if I'm not sure it will appeal to most of my audience. It is what keeps my passion and joy for creating alive.

May you always BEAD happy! ~Cova