 
I'm actually not posting the final picture since it's too dark outside to photograph... but the mask is 100% beaded! I've added a blue satin ribbon with some of my lampworked beads to be the 'tie' for the back, and I added some fringe under the right part of the chin to finish off the design. It's pretty darn cool... and AHEAD of schedule!!! I can dig into the temptress dolls now!
 I had thought maybe I should sew together a few doll bodies to sell for a few extra dollars to help my starving artist brother Richard cover this family reunion trip. (He's flying in from Germany flat broke and borrowing the funds to cover the plane trip.) ANYHOW... I started with a simple doll body and set it aside. And I heard this faint voice saying 'I need a face'... so I painted a face on canvas and whip stitched it onto the body.
Then I heard this 'Pleease! Give me legs!!!' So I made these legs and sewed them on. The wench didn't shut up. 'Arms! I can't do anything without arms!' So back to sewing arms. THEN was the insult. 'Am I a girl?' Boobs. She got herself a stack. She's a complete body now. I thought OK - onto Etsy she shall go... but she keeps crying for beads while I'm working on my mask. I haven't listed her yet since she's so damn demanding... I'll have to sew up another doll to keep her company and then maybe they'll both go onto Etsy...
 
I really want to get on with my other projects, but I've GOT to finish this mask and ship it off to Maine before the end of May. Meanwhile, the wedding-slash-family reunion is coming up quickly... so I've been working on the mask a little bit every day. I've got just a bit left on the top of the head to bead and then the off-mask stuff. I JUST may be finished before Dot and Cyn get here in May!
  I'm getting serious into this mask thing now. I finished the nose, the left eyebrow area and am now digging into the left temple and cheek area. I want to make the deadline and I've got a few plans that go beyond just bead embroidery onto the mask area itself.... so I best get back to working on it!
 
She's been my downfall in trying to tackle the mask. The Sri Lanka project - I knew I wouldn't get even close to finishing her while travelling the world, but I did get pretty far. The problem is the more beads I put on her, the more I'm not putting any beads on my mask, and it has priority. Anyhow, the photos aren't very good - I really need to catch some sunlight one of these days despite coming home too late from work to photograph in the back yard. (I've been working every weekend since I returned from Sri Lanka.)
  It's been difficult to find sometime with a bit of sunshine to take a photo of my progress since I returned from Sri Lanka. I've had houseguests and I've been busy as nothing else- even working over the weekends. I am using my spare time to 'wind down' and relax with my mask. It's definitely past the half-way mark!
 I'm sure most of you know I'm headed off to Sri Lanka next week and will be offline for 2 weeks. Sadly, there is no way to pack this mask o' mine in the luggage without the fear that it will get crushed or semi-destroyed. So it's going to have to wait patiently on the shelf for my return.
Meanwhile, yes... I've done some work to it since my last blog post despite a few distractions. I am officially past the half-way point! I'm working with that upper lip and covering up that chin with pretty shiny beads. I've stopped at the halfway point on the forehead so whatever design I decide to do on the left side of the face can be pulled up there. I'm still deciding on what I'll be doing there. I may totally change my mind after seeing the other side of the world for a few weeks.
  Looking at all the progress pics now actually are helping me keep moving. I'm at a point where I'm thinking 'I've been working on this damn cheek forever!' But then again, I've finished that side of the mask - the 'ear' area and temple are all totally beaded and it's all coming together. I'm looping over that forehead 'crown' and coming back down the other side. That is, if the lips and chin don't scream for embellishment first!
  Back to that mask! This round has a little story... Since I've been posting my progress to share with all the forums, Aryd'ell from the Yahoo Groups (Beaded Art Dolls and Beadin Path Challenge) found it interesting how i had taken some pliers to my needles to bend them for working on this mask. She mailed me properly curved needles to give a try:
At first the curved needle was terrible to work with. Where I had simply bent up the very end of a straight needle into a little crescent moon curve, this needle is in a complete half-moon. The half-moon acts like a nice, action-packed spring so I've made some strategic harpoon shots into my thumb while using it. One thing about these needles - they seem to stay INCREDIBLY SHARP. After a few holes here and there, but mostly on my fingers, I realized I simply had to change the way I held the needle and used it - basically start from square one on teaching myself how to sew without having to go to the emergency room for a tetanus shot. It took a day and a few band-aids (I prefer those with cartoon characters) and I think I've figured out this little needle -- and Aryd'ell is right. It makes a much more precise stitch and works very well in tight places. (Once past the whole harpooning stage.)
SO! I've added another color to brighten up my mask and am back to finishing up that whole right cheek. Bruno thinks the lips have a sort of Mona Lisa effect - a slight smile or smirk however you look at it. I was nervous they wouldn't turn out while I was working on them, but they seem to be pretty good. It's coming along!!
 I found these fantastic old postcards transferred off onto fabric in the City Quilter while wandering with Miz a few weeks ago. Ya gotta love New York in fabric! WOW!
I bead while I'm commuting between work and home - mostly on a ferry on the Hudson on my way to New Jersey. I finished this post-card o' beads out there watching the NYC skyline.
I'm planning on sending this off to a friend in Spain as an art-card. I hope he likes it!
 A friend of mine, V Choy, sent me a few lovely beads including this ceramic raku triangle which I decided was perfect for my mask's 'frown line'. Perhaps it's a third eye?
Anyhow, I 'set' this piece by beading up two layers of peyote stitch around it. I've added more to the forehead, too - cleaned it up a bit and put a smaller row of beads for the 'crown'. The AB Teal beads seem to be taking over most of the eye area and I'm still stumped on what I want to do with the nose. Maybe I should skip over to the other eye area and tackle that nose later.
 Time for another progress pic! This puppy is definitely taking some time to finish - and as Jos (or was it Kelly) said... it's so BIG! Darn!
I managed to talk a few more friends off of Bead Art Forum into trying this beaded mask challenge with me. It looks like we're all going for that bead-embroidery approach, except everyone is taking Ellen's lead and stretching the felt by wetting it down and clasping it over the mask to dry so it takes on the shape of the mask. Once the felt is dried, they've been gluing it onto the mask. I honestly wish I had thought of that! BUT the 'seams' of my strips of glued felted wool aren't causing an worries. I'm beading straight over them and they often give me a little more fabric to stitch through so I can't complain.
My palate is really running ambers, browns, teals and golds. I need to mix it up a bit - I think I'll start with some reds and oranges on the other side later. I've got to find more beads to embellish on this, too! The Moreno glass is taking over the whole show so far.
I'm on curved needle #2 - it looks like I'll have to customize a few more with my needle nose pliers.
 All along my needle was a bit 'customized' - just slightly bent from all the forcing through the fabric. I finally got fed up and took out the round-nose pliers and bent the needle into a half-moon shape. WHAT a difference! I could stitch nicely in all the little crevices and nooks of this thing without a problem!
With that, I was able to get quite a bit done in one evening!
 I've got those Morano beads framed a bit now - its not easy going since it's nothing like beading a doll. I can't stitch all the way through the fabric so I have to keep to shallow stitches. Once I bent my needle, things seemed to work better.
 I decided to participate in the Beadin' Path's 2008 Beaded Mask Challenge. Deb of the Beadin' Path provided 100 of us bead-addicts with the mask blank, and it's up to us to bead it.
The mask itself isn't very condusive to the beads. You can't really pierce it easily with a needle - so it looked like I had to do something with glue. I decided to cut strips of felted wool and stick them to the mask using spray adhesive. (Later, I found a friend did a much more intelligent thing of getting the felt wet and clamping it to the mask to dry to form it to the face, THEN glue it on... D'oh!) Anyhow, I got this creepy-sort of Halloween murder-type mask, but it is good for sewing!
The first thing on was six beads from my trip to Italy - Morano glass pieces that make a sort of crown. I am starting on framing them using backstitch. I'm settling on golds, browns, greens, and teals for my color base- maybe a touch of blues. The sky's the limit!
I figured I would keep a running blog of my progress on this mask here - since it is a pretty nice central place to put it.
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