You're Never Phoole-y Dressed Without a Smile (From Semmerling & Schaefer Mask Studios!)

Halloween Smile, Custom, Semmerling & Schaefer Mask Studios 2009, originally uploaded by Phoole.

I want to have a Jane the Phoole motley for each holiday season, and the one I'm working on currently is the Halloween gown. It's all orange and black, and I commissioned a special smile mask from the Official Maskers of Jane the Phoole, Semmerling & Schaefer Mask Studios (http://maskartists.com/). I never actually did a drawing or anything -- through an exchange of emails and Facebook messages with Mask Master Jeff Semmerling, during which I'd said Big Chunky Jack-o'-Lantern Teeth would be awesome, Jeff devised this brilliant grin. Now the rest of the ensemble has to live up to this fantastic detail! Order your smile today -- you're never Phoole-y dressed without a smile from Semmerling & Schaefer Mask Studios!

Get Your Smile On! Semmerling & Schaefer Smile Masks!

The Most Frequently Asked Questions:

Where did you get that crazy smile mask? Can I get one?

The Answers You Desperately Crave:

The Jane the Phoole Smile Mask comes from the genius craftsmanship of Semmerling & Schaefer Mask Studios in Chicago -- and you CAN get one! In fact, you can get SEVERAL, or even MANY. They're brilliantly-made and perfectly-priced. Visit http://www.maskartists.com/ for more information on how to get your very own auxiliary smile!

Make Masks With The Master! Semmerling & Schaefer Mask Studio Workshops

Jeff Semmerling of Semmerling & Schaefer Mask Studios made the leather smile mask that is one of the most important parts of my look as Jane the Phoole -- it's brilliantly-made, durable, strikingly unusual, and, because I usually wear it dangling around my neck, it decently relieves people of having to admit they're looking at my cleavage! Without my smile mask, I'd have to work much, much harder at making a unique visual impression.

The Mad Mask Master has these workshops coming up:

SHAPING LEATHER MASKS
DEC. 20 and 21 ~ 1:00PM to 4:00 PM
Learn the ins and outs of casting sculptures for rubber slip molding. Students will sculpt a small mask and cast a slip mold of it while observing the creation of full size molds and techniques of casting rubber slip mold masks and puppets. Special techniques for mask and puppet casting will be the focus of the workshop.
Tuition is $200 all materials included.

MASK MAKING FOR
MARDI GRAS
JAN. 10 OR 31 ~ 2:00PM to 4:00 PM
Come make masks that you can wear in comfort for Mardi Gras. We’ll have all the supplies for you to apply to your own special wearable creation. Make a really special mask by taking both Saturday classes.
Tuition is $45 per day. Limited materials included.

Reserve your space now by calling Jeff at (773) 697-5012 or (773) 697-5012 or writing to Jeff@maskartists.com.

Masks for everyone on your holiday shopping lists, more workshops, and great inspirations can be found on Semmerling & Schaefer Studios' site at http://www.maskartists.com/!

Jane the Phoole with Baby Max and his Amazing Mouth!

Jane the Phoole with Baby Max and his Amazing Mouth!, originally uploaded by Phoole.

On the day this baby came to the Bristol Renaissance Faire, I had people coming up to me all day (before I'd seen the baby) saying, "There's this baby! You HAVE to see this baby. Looks just like you." And the poor long-suffering parents of Max kept hearing the same thing from everyone: "You HAVE to show your baby to Jane the Phoole! Find her!" They finally found me, and the similarity is undeniable! My smile mask is, of course, by the incomparable Semmerling-Schaefer Mask Studio (www.maskartists.com) -- get yours today, and we'll be one giant nation of crazy smilers! Many thanks to Christine Lukawski for sending the photo.

Jane's Smile: Experience It Firsthand -- Mask Artist Jeff Semmerling

Many people ask about the mask I wear around my neck -- it's a leather
mask of a disembodied smile! It's crazy, it's fun, it's even strangely
haunting betimes and reminiscent of something scary. It stays with you.
It's with you in the room Right Now. But it goes with everything, and
brightens every outfit, and you can get one too!

Just visit www.maskartists.com, the online home of amazing, brilliant
mask artist Jeff Semmerling, who created Jane the Phoole's auxiliary
smile. I will be adding his mask credit info to all photos of Jane
soon, so that smile-seekers may not have to go much further to obtain
risibles of their very own.

You should probably buy five of them at a time, since it's nearly
half-Xmas now, and you'll want to save time this winter for various posh
international trips and things. So get your smile shopping done now at
www.maskartists.com -- and let Jeff know Jane the Phoole sent you!