for a belated birthday/early halloween present i presented to make my fiancé a mask; a gryphon mask. he gave me what colors he'd like to have and i did the rest. it took me about three weeks because i was being lazy.

1st- started with a cardboard skull and built onto it with more cardboard (hotglue gun and duck tape)

2nd- i went to the muscle layer or "meat" as it became to be known as. the stuff i did the overal face with is called "Celluclay." Wonderful stuff! it is like working with thick oatmeal. i made the beak out of something called "paperclay." this stiff is smoother than celluclay but it is harder to work with (but you do get more detail because of the smooth edges its just very brittle and you must keep it very moist or it dries out and becomes... paper) this is also where i glued fabic and rabbit fur around the back, side and front.

3rd- PAINTING! there just had to be a base for where i would put what colored feathers. i also painted the beak (shading was done with about four different shades of india ink markers ((i do NOT recommend this... it washed away if made wet in any way and was hard to work with...) though it worked well becuase of the fading effect and created great depth and added life to the beak. i then coated it in a thick thick layer of laqure spray to keep it looking like that.

4th- eyes and feathers... the hardest- longest- and messiest part. the eyes were 34 mm alligator eyes. (note: eyes this size are HARD to find in the shape and color you would like so i had to settle with alligator eyes- but they ended up working great) then...lots'o feathers and lots'o glue. but in the end- TA DA!!

try it out!