Venetian masks

At ancient Greek festivals in honour of Dionysus, the god of theatre, performers began wearing huge masks. When the Romans conquered southern Europe, they adopted the Grecian love of theatre and the use of masks in plays and celebrations.
Historically, masquerading was a shared practice also among Venetians, but nobody knows when they started wearing masks.
The Venetian environment, because of it's crowed city conditions, didn't really allow for individual anonymity or privacy. So the use of mask became the perfect accessory to the love of transgression. The ancient and very common use of masks and costumes in Venice was covered by laws, which, despite their apparent rigour, left a good deal of freedom. The oldest of these type of ordinances dates back to 1268 and would continue being passed right up until the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797.
The main mask in Venice is called "Bauta", which consists of a black veil, know as "tabarro", worn with a black three-corned hat and a white mask in paper mache, completed by a long cape. Both men and women could wear this garment in many occasions, such as festivals, theatre and public gaming room.
The use of masks was so widespread that the maskmakers had their own official artisan status as early as the 15th century.
Today, after the resumption of the Venetian Carnival, the old maskmaking industry is again well established. We also of the "Blue Moon" staff work all together to try to rediscover the meaning and history of the antique masks and keep this unique ancient craft alive.

Technique of Production

The original technique of production of paper mache masks is really simple. You need just few materials, like clay, paper and glue and your personal craftsmanship.

First we create a clay mould and than liquid plaster is poured onto the model. When the plaster layer is completely hardened, we can remove the original in clay.
So we have obtained a negative mould, which preserve the shape of the original one.

This plaster mould is covered with a thin layer of vaseline and filled with several layers of wet paper and glue. We have to be able to press the paper into the mould with our fingers without them wrinkling or creasing.
At this point the mould is placed on a heat source until the mask is dry and can be taken out.

We apply several coats of white tempera and finally the eye holes can now be cut.
Now the mask is ready to be decorated with different kind of materials.