Flashback Friday – Episode 30: Mask Making

Mask Being Made on a Person's Face
Mask Being Made on a Person's Face

Making masks has been a favorite way of expressing individual imagination at Easton Mountain.  The masks are usually made from the material used to create medical  casts - fabric impregnated with plaster of Paris which, when wet and applied to a well greased face, hardens to a durable mask.

Painting a Mask
Painting a Mask

Usually the masks are allowed to dry for at least a day and then covered with a base coat of paint.  When that is dry each person paints and decorates the mask made from his own face.

When the masks are finished they are put on display.

Three masks on a shelf
Three masks on a shelf

One year, mask making was combined with body paint as preparation for a fire circle.

Men dancing in masks and body paint
Men dancing in masks and body paint

That evening, many men put on their masks, painted each others bodies, and then headed up to the High Meadow to drum and dance around a bonfire.

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