…I worked pretty much strictly with the buckram, and I wire-edged them. I did two-dimensional pieces curved in certain ways, and I covered them and quilted them and that sort of thing. Gradually over the years I've tried to take less materials that are "other-made," and more materials that I actually create. I sculpt the creatures that I put on them. Now I try to not just find fabric [for a mask] but actually dye the silk and have a little more control over the fabrics and the colors that go into the mask.  

Crescent Blues: To make them even more unique. 

Rauchfuss: Yes. I want them to be uniquely mine, in a way that nobody else could make. Through the years it's changed more toward that. But I still use and love feathers, that sort of thing. 

Crescent Blues: The sculptures are a great addition. 

Rauchfuss: I've got a whole new line coming out this year that I'm excited about. I'll take those to Mardi Gras, which is my next show.  

Crescent Blues: In New Orleans? 

Rauchfuss: Yes. 

Crescent Blues: That must be a wonderful show! 

Rauchfuss: It is, it's great fun. There's a mask guild in New Orleans, and every year they put on a mask show that's out in the French Market. Mask makers from all over the nation show their work there. 

Crescent Blues: How do your fellow mask makers react? 

Rauchfuss: Well, I think it's been great for all of us. I can only really speak for myself, but for me it was wonderful, because I finally got to meet other mask makers. See, I had been doing this in Albuquerque for years. 

Crescent Blues: And didn' t know anyone else who did the same thing? 

Rauchfuss: Right. So when I finally got to New Orleans and met some of the other people -- it's been wonderful! I've kept in touch with them over the years, and we talk to each other periodically and, when a show comes up and other mask makers are needed, we call each other. It's really great for me to get to meet those other people who are my peers and who are doing what I'm doing. 

Crescent Blues: And it's not the sort of thing that it's easy to share long distance; it's a tactile art. 

Rauchfuss: And it isn't a big group of people, either; there aren't many mask makers. 

Crescent Blues: Is it an international group that meets at Mardi Gras or is it mostly mask makers in the U.S.? 

Rauchfuss: It's mostly national that I've met there. I would imagine there are other mask markets that must be huge -- if you're Italian, you would stay in Italy for Carnivale. Or Brazil. 

Crescent Blues: Anywhere that has a Carnivale or a Mardi Gras.  

Rauchfuss: Right. 

Crescent Blues: Do you ever get involved in doing other parts of costumes to go with your masks or do you pretty much specialize? 

Rauchfuss: I have closets full of costumes that I've made over the years. 

Crescent Blues: It's an addiction isn't it? 

Rauchfuss: Yes! And I actually have a video of my work that has costuming and the headpieces of all together; and it's all choreographed. It's a chance for me to get to move in my pieces instead of having a fixed photograph. But while I would love to do more of that again; it's hard to find the time now that I'm [making masks] full-time. And I miss it, because I love creating a whole ensemble and then doing something in it -- performing or just walking around or whatever. I always create a costume for Mardi Gras, which I will do again this year. 

Crescent Blues: Have you ever done stage or screen productions? 

Rauchfuss: Yes, I've done masks for a theater here in Albuquerque; I've worked for the municipal ballet; I've worked for the Santa Fe Opera, Opera Southwest. I've been in theater for many years. Theater is very, very difficult; it's very stressful. I love theater -- the magic of it -- but it's difficult and I'm not doing it as much. As I said, I originally started with the Osiris production, and I designed and created and did the whole thing. 

Crescent Blues: But the masks are coming first these days. 

Rauchfuss: Yes. 

Crescent Blues: It would seem that making masks particularly for stage or opera, you wouldn't be able to do some of the wonderful things that you do on your best masks, because they wouldn't read from a stage, and they'd wear them out. Having done some back stage work, I remember the costumes always looked great from a distance. Close up they just had to be very sturdy. 

Rauchfuss: Yes, and theater is very hard on them, particularly if the show runs several weeks or more. 

Crescent Blues: What other kinds of one-of-a-kind projects do you do -- do people come up and say, "I see a mask in my head; can you make it for me?" 

Judith Rauchfuss - Continued