Lacedaemonian Your Face

The Lacedaemonian Ambassadors (1896) is one of my most favorite illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley.  I have a vintage 1970s belt buckle featuring the illustration. Coming from a series of images commissioned by Leonard Smithers, Beardsley took inspiration from the traditional Lysistrata, and the mask features two of the three Spartan emissaries and their enormous stage-prop phalluses.

One half the mask is pieced quilting strips, the other half is an ink jet heat transfer of the Beardsley illustration, making use of a late 20th century ink jet transfer paper onto a piece of white cotton t-shirt.  I find that face masks made from mixed materials really benefit from top-stitching.