It then applies a thin layer of matte paint over the entire surface of the image, applying it in several layers in different directions. As a result, the painted surface is visible in the first two photos on the right. At the moment, the mat is still quite striped. These stripes are removed at the next stage when Bruce slightly looks back and forth through the image with his badger brush. The brush is dry, and its tips barely touch the glass when it sweeps it in several directions throughout the image, as in the third and fourth photo on the right. He sweeps so easily that it's almost air moved by the brush that spreads the paint, not the bristles. Bruce had to add an excessive matte finish on top of the image in areas other than the face to get a good uniform background. When the paint is smoothed over the glass, Bruce enters and removes the excess mat from areas where he does not want it. He starts in those areas where he has to remove the amount of grass matted, using a Q-tip, as in the lower right photo and upper left photo on the next page. It bypasses the edges of the image, changing the Q tips as needed. He doesn't try to get too close to the image because he doesn't have as much control with his Q tip as he does with the dry stick he uses next. Before moving on to the dry stick, he dries the mat on a warm oven. It is easier to do fine work when the matte oil dries out. The dry stick that Bruce uses to work around the edges of the image is a barbecue skewer. He uses it to remove the matt finish to the very edge of the image, as in the next three photos on the left. He's working on a paper towel so he can catch the entire mat he removes and not darken the studio. He loosens up the dried-up excess matting paint and tears it away from the image. In the second photo on the left, he sneaks through the steep curve on the neck, where the tampon can easily go astray when the mat was wet. In the photo to the left in the center, he walks along the top of his head, scraping off the matte from the edges of the line. When he does this, it helps that he can really feel the crest drawn by the tracing line with the tip of the stick. He continues to cut off the extra mat throughout the image. Whether he cuts the matte black or not depends on how true he wants the black lines and how willing he is to risk removing too much matte. He usually leaves it on the line. After Bruce has scraped off the extra mat, most of it is still there like a speck of light dust that he has to remove. It does this by easily bypassing the edges of the Q-tip image as it does in the lower left-hand photo. He doesn't have to worry about smears anymore, but he still needs to step slightly so as not to remove any more mats. After he's cleaned the edges, he checks to see if there's any extra mat he wants to remove. He repeats this process until he is satisfied with the clarity of the edge. The next thing Bruce can do is to remove the mat from the inside of the image. In this case, he wants to remove the mat from the white eye. He may also want to remove the mat from some or all of the internal black lines. To remove the mat from the eye, Bruce uses his clean tip of the pen to slightly scrape the mat off the area as in the top right photo. It uses the tip of the pen rather than a stick because it is harder and sharper and will give it a sharper edge. When he has removed all the extra matte background for his satisfaction, he launches the image into the oven to fix it in place. He launches this first matte at 1250" F. The part at this point can be seen in the second photo on the right. Now it's time to add tonal areas of different depths to the local darker brown matte glass to get shadows on the face. Bruce develops a darker brown color, adding a little black to the light brown. In general, all the glass dyeing paints can be mixed to produce any shades you want. Then he starts to add this new matte color to the shade with a thin paintbrush. In the photo to the right in the center on the previous page, he starts by adding a small amount of matt material to the right of the nose, above the eye, and into the ear canal. The last two photos of Bruce show him adding matt to the shaded areas on the side of his face and back of his head. He may try to change the thickness of the matt finish and therefore the color, or he may get a chance by working with his scrubs.
In the top left photo, Bruce processes the edges of the frosted glass by repeatedly pointing a brush at it to create a smooth color change. The plaster removes a little bit of light where the bristles come in contact, and when he wants to process the mat more intensively to remove more color, he switches to a brush with shorter bristles and brush strokes on the edges of the frosted glass, as in the next two photos on the left. Lack of bristles causes them to suffer, allowing them to apply more force to the mattress.