1. Explain in your own words what a sugar skull is.
2. Explain how you came up with the design for your mask/skull.
3. Explain the process from beginning to the end, the process that you went from having no mask to having a finished and painted mask. 
   
   A sugar skull is used in the Mexican "Day of the Dead" that usually takes place a day after Halloween.  The skull is usually adorned with many colorful designs, or in some cases black and white.  The skull is to represent a deceased family member.  My design for my skull is a simple black and white design that was inspired by paisley and Mayan artifacts.  The first part of creating my sugar skull included plastering a friend's face for the mold of my mask (THANKS FRANKIE!), then once the mask dried, I painted over the mask with white paint to give the mask a solid base.  Then I began painting my design from the forehead down.  

As a project in art class we work on sugar skulls however due to not having the correct problems we instead plaster our faces. This process only took about 15 minutes; Basically we grab the cloth of plaster and cut it up into big pieces and small pieces so we can put it on our faces we repeat this step to make 5 layers. We then put vaseline all over our face the reason why is because if we do not it will stick onto our skin that being said we would put a thick layer this is before putting any layer of plaster onto your face. When placing the layers in order for it to work we placed it into warm water causing the strips to be damp and be placed onto the face. The process from beginning to end was difficult the reason why is because I was afraid to get it done on myself but as time flew by i grew out of it and actually doing it finding it to be really easy. It was an amazing experience doing this because it shows the creativity you can do with the things around you.

I choose to paint the Puerto Rican Flag the reason why I choose to do this is because out of all 6 races I am my most proud race is being boricua. Being boricua or in other words puerto rican my heritage shows a lot of dedication and pride. Throughout my ancestors years it shows me that being part of this heritage is just not any title of race but history that I can carry on and be able to pursue in life to do what my heart desire. My heritage flag sometimes get confuse by the cuban flag however the color of the bands and triangle reversed; However the design initially influenced by the US flag. The white stands for Peace and Honesty, Red for the hardiness, bravery, strength and velour and as the color blue it stands for vigilance, truth/loyalty , perseverance and justice. As for the white star it stands for the commonwealth of puerto rico, the three sides of the equilateral triangle represent the three branches of the republican government and the fact its blue stands for our sky and coastal waters. The three red strips symbolize the blood that our people had shed and the two white stripes symbolize the right of man and the freedom of the individual. I choose just to do a simple flag due to the history it haves and the meaning behind it. 

Heres my mask and a few drawings during my time in Art class.....

2. Explain how you came up with the design for your mask/skull.- When we first got this project, I looked up sugar skulls on google images to see what they usually looked like. From this I got the idea for my design. I tried to make it similar to the traditional looking ones, but also how I wanted it. 

3. Explain the process from beginning to the end, the process that you went from having   no mask to having a finished and painted mask.- First I designed my skull. Then I helped someone else plaster their face. When doing this I realized that the plaster made my skin break out. Because of that, I did not plaster my own face, but used someone else’s. After I had my skull, I waited a day for it to dry and then painted it with my design.