Leslie-Rahye's Very Spooky Steampunk Blog Hop

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to another steampunk edition of Leslie-Rahye's Very Spooky Steampunk Blog Hop.  I am so glad you are here and I hope you can sit back and visit each blog today and enjoy some spooky inspiration from each of the very talented artists' projects.  I also have some blog candy to give away, so please read to the bottom of the post to find out how you can have a chance to win.   

My project is a very spooky steampunky skull mask.

I started out with a bare paper mache mask.  

Using a technique I recently learned from a class I took with Tim Holtz, I covered the entire mask with odd shapes of adhesive-backed foil.  I made faux rivets using a ball point pen and pressing into the foil along the edges.  Faux stitches were made by using a credit card or other similar object and pushing into the foil.  I then used some alcohol inks to color the foil, added some black acrylic paint to get down into the embossed areas, and a piece of steel wool brought back some of the color underneath the black acrylic paint.

In the picture below, you can see where more faux stitches were made by piercing the mask with an awl and inserting small pieces of wire in a cross-stitch manner.  I used large gear pieces and brads for his eyes by first piercing holes around the eye socket so I could stitch the gears into place with wire.  I also wired the openings in his cheeks, inserted bolts into the side of his head, and gave him a very "punky" style of headdress (pictured above) by cutting and wire wrapping a piece of copper tubing and inserting it first through washers and nuts, then through the holes made in his head to accept the tubing.  Industrial Chic charms were added to dangle from the tubing.  Clock hands were used for his eyebrows.  I think it gives Mr. Skull some character, don't you?

No steampunk skull is complete without its black rose, so since Mr. Skull has no body, he has only his teeth to hold the rose.  

I hope you have enjoyed my project, and be sure to visit the rest of the artists' blogs in the hop.  And many thanks to Leslie-Rahye for hosting this swap, and Fabrizio Martellucci for coordinating the hop for us.  

Now, for a chance to win my blog candy, I would appreciate if you could leave me a comment and let me know you were here, and also become a follower if you are not already one.  That's all you need to do.  It's as easy as that.  I will announce the winner right here next week, on Halloween, 31 October.  Here is what you could win.  

Below are the links to each blog, so please be sure to visit everyone.  

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Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Haunting!

Barbara