Fast forward a long time. The mask project sat idle for a while, and I'd been urging SonofV to get busy. It looked really cool, mask like, but he didn't really understand how much more work was ahead of him. Like painting.
But before he could paint it, he needed a smoother surface to work with. I had him sand the surface of the well dried mask with coarse emery cloth. This knocked off the high spots but it was still not smooth by any measure. I read up and decided we needed a paste coat to fill in. I made it by using about half a roll of toilet paper, chewed, macerated, torn, whisked, boiled and mashed in clear water making a plain pulp.
To this I added the regular flour mixture and a little bit of water. The result was about the consistency of very stiff mashed potatoes.
We applied it a dab at a time, smoothing and burnishing it with the back of a spoon.
Bake.
Cue the humorous music here. Turns out the high eyes were A LOT closer to the upper heating element of the oven. The door was still open and my girlfriend said, "There's a lot of smoke coming out of the oven!" Oh, um, thanks!
The mask is fine, it's not burned, it's wellll toasted and actually smells like baked bread. Ok, baked bread with just a hint of burnt toast. More sanding, just to make it smooth. Really, folks. It's gonna all be covered with paint. Give me a break!
