Venetian Carnevale at Musicalia (part 3) - our masks!

Making Our Masks
Preparation and Planning 
1.  Look at pictures in books, magazines and on the internet.
2.  I prepared an outline of a face for the children to design their best carnevale mask.

Casting the Masks
Supplies:

• casting bandages (I used 3 packages for 7 masks and had leftovers)
• scissors (for cutting the bandages into tiny pieces that can be laid easily on the shapes of the face)
• water and bowl (for dipping the bandages into as you are casting)
• towels (to lay under the children during the casting)
• vaseline...don't skip this part! (vaseline is spread on the skin to cover all parts of the face that the casting bandages may cover so removal of the wet masks later will be easier)
• soap, water and towels to wash up afterward
• a place for masks to lay and dry out overnight

1.  I purchased casting bandages from a surgical supply store.  They come in a variety of widths.  

2.  I purchased the widest roll (about 2 inches wide) and had the children cut them into smaller pieces (about 1/2 inch wide by 1-2 inches long).  

3.  We cast the masks one at a time with the children helping to lay the strips on each child.  I did the majority of the casting.  

4.  Each mask took about 15-25 minutes.  We worked on the masks for the last part of each weekly class, with some kids staying a bit later each week to complete this part of the project.  It took us 4 weeks to complete.  

A half-face mask to cover the top part of the face.

This was a full-face mask and took a bit longer to complete (about 40 minutes)

Dipping bandages into the water before smoothing onto the face!

I kept a dry cloth nearby to wipe out their eyes, ears and mouths as the water/casting liquid dripped into various places.  The kids were really good-natured about the dripping!

Painting the Masks 

Painting took almost one entire class (almost 90 minutes)

• tempura or acrylic paints 
• small paper cups for mixing specialty colors
• paintbrushes
• decorative bits (sparkles, ribbons, beads, feathers)

I placed a large sheet of plastic on the floor to make clean-up easier. 

We had 3 different sizes of paintbrushes for painting large areas and tiny areas.

What a difference the glitter makes!  They LOVED the glitter:)

She added sparkles

A quarter-face mask...like phantom of the opera.

The orange mask with stripes and glitter!

The original phantom mask!

A full-face mask..two-tone!

Decorating the Masks & Adding the Tie-on Ribbons (this took about 60 minutes to complete 7 masks)
You'll need:

• hot glue gun & glue sticks
• cloth ribbons
• scissors
• beads
• feathers
• glitter
• fake jewels

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures during this part of our process!  I was too busy using the hot glue gun and pasting the ribbons onto the masks.  

Some of the kids brought special add-ons from home...like the 2-foot long white feather!  wow...

Lots of glue-gunning on this one!  I used strips of brown papertowel and glued them over top of the ribbons and feathers on the underside of the mask to keep everything in place securely.

Note the blue third-eye! and the lovely peacock feathers.

Rick-rack decoration and tie-ons.

Black rick-rack for tie-ons. 

Purple feather, jewels and ribbons to complete this lovely mask!

Green ribbons for tie-ons...the contrast was so unexpected and carnevale-like!

Gold rick-rack for tie-ons.

Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the Venetian carnevale posts!  
More pix coming. 

 

Venetian Carnevale at Musicalia (part 2)

publisher:  Dial Books

Many years ago I purchased this book.  The illustrations are so beautiful and story is magical.  Even after more than 20 years of reading this book, whenever I take it off my shelf, I spend way too much time gazing at the pictures...they are just so lovely.

Check out the Amazon link...sorry that as I write this post, this book does not seem to be available!  

This book was my original inspiration for creating the Venetian Carnevale theme at Musicalia.  For many years I would think...I'd love to have a party where we could pretend we were in Venice...and for some reason I just never got to it.

Nigel & Susan walking up the aisle!

Then 3 years ago, I married my husband and one of the wedding gifts I received from a dear friend was her cello.  She just showed up with it one day and said, "Congratulations!  This is your wedding gift." 

Of course, when small children play the cello it might as well be a stand-up bass!

She said she knew I would share this cello with all the children at Musicalia.  She felt it would be better for the cello than just sitting in her livingroom.  Isn't that amazing?  So, now we have a cello and we all play it all the time!

Once the cello moved in to the studio I was immediately inspired to begin planning for our first Venetian Carnevale, which we held in May 2009.

It was such a hit the first time around, that I used this book this year as well when introducing the concept of carnevale.

We learn about the beauty of Venice, the canals, the idea that a real person crafts a violin or cello, as well as the masks and costuming of carnavale. 


As it is unlikely you will be able to find a copy for yourself, I've written a synopsis of the story.

A synopsis of The Voice of the Wood  

Written by Claude Clement.  Paintings by Frederic Clement.

This tale takes place in Venice and revolves around an instrument-maker and a musician.  

The craftsman lovingly creates handmade violins and cellos in his home workshop overlooking the canals of Venice.  Behind his house is a peaceful little garden and a great old tree.  The instrument-maker loved the tree where he would spend hours listening to a symphony of birds singing, leaves swaying and boats gliding by.  He felt nothing could compare to its beautiful music.

One winter the tree dies and sadly, the instrument-maker chops it down and stores the lumber.  Many years later he comes across the stored lumber in his workshop.  He decides to create a masterpiece.  He builds a cello in tune with the music of nature.  Finished on the day of the Grande Carneval, the master craftsman looks for a musician worthy and skilled enough to make his magical cello sing.

A famous musician is in the masked crowd outside his workshop.  The musician arrogantly enters the workshop and reaches for the cello even as the craftsman warns him that only the most gifted fingers and heart in tune with nature can play it.

The famous musician is frustrated that the only sounds coming out of this cello are grating and brutal.  The crowd of onlookers leaves in disgust.  The musician tears off his wig, mask and costume in humiliation.   He spends the entire night playing as he has never played before.  

In the morning the old craftsman awakes to the most beautiful, magical music he has ever heard.  The  musician is palying as one with the cello and from the neck of the cello a young tree has magically begun to sprout leafy branches.  A flock of songbirds has landed and adds their voice to the voice of the wood.

Venetian Carnevale at Musicalia (part 1)

Multi-sensory learning

When I imagine Venetian Carnevale I see costumed revellers with bejewelled masks!  I imagine people eating, drinking, wandering about, laughing and being engaged by street musicians.

You might think that mask-making has little to do with musicality yet I love to involve children in multi-sensory projects connected to our music learning.

This year my oldest Maestros group (ages 9 and 10) have been building toward a celebration of their learning with an elaborate Venetian Carnevale party!

Masks

Waiting for our masks to dry.

This Maestros class meets once a week afterschool for 90 minutes.  The time has flown by and I wish we had a few more weeks to add more to our celebration but we're out of time.  

We've been preparing our own beautiful masks, a variety of street performances, ensemble playing on several instruments, as well as  learning a bit about Venice and the Renaissance.

Tomorrow is the big day!

The parents and siblings are invited to join us for a Grande Venetian Carnevale.

I've been at the studio setting up the space to set the scene for an afternoon in Venice.  We have a gondola, steering pole, docking pole, tables for food, water glass chimes, space for street musicians, juggling apparatus and much more.  

We had a Venetian Carnevale party 2 years ago and the kids (now graduated from Musicalia) said it was the best party ever!  I'm hoping this group will feel the same.

The next few posts will highlight how we created our Grande Venetian Carnevale (it was a 5-month process leading to this celebration) from original inspiration to mask-making to invites to party activities.   I'll post tons of pictures so you can see what things "really" looked like.

Maybe you will be inspired to create your own Venetian celebration!