Golden Eagle Mask

I have been "gourding" for 20 years- I cannot even believe it has been that long but it has! 
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Over the years I have made some gourd "oncers" which is my word for I just want to make it once, just so that I have the experience. Like the gourd lamp, the flute, the kalimba and the kaleidoscope. 

A mask was something that I had not yet tried.  Lots of people have made masks, they even have a history of being used by Native Americans, and they are a popular art form today.  

That all being said,  I started working on this in February and my original intention was to use real feathers to decorate it, much like other mask artists use.  However as I started burning in the small feathers on the surface, I decided instead to use actual gourd pieces to turn into more feathers.  

the original gourd ready to cut out the mask

Some of the feather cut outs that were added.

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