For the suggestions for improvement, let me say that one of the things I liked about your original masks was the pleasing contrast between the colors of the different parts. The new color scheme looks fine, but I miss the contrast that the old ones provided.
Yeah you are so right about the contrast I didn't even think about the original sketches which started all of this, when I was creating the texture..lol I added a dark red for contrast and color, moved the texture around for dramatic effect. (I might have went a little to far with a few). It's so good to have other people viewpoint, it helps keeping me on point.
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Just some rather discrete dense and long grained wood pattern, with large sections treated to different darkness and spot detail painted on in sharp unblended colours, would look great to me, although it may be considedered a bit standard fare and wood might suggest a modest age. :7
You know I did consider wood originally, but when I started to render this group of mask in Blender my idea ended up going in a different direction. I think maybe because the mask were created on a Bezier curve and they came out almost two dimensional...which I kind of liked. They had a more sophisticated and regal feel, I started to imagine the people who used these group of masks were probably the weathest and most educated in this age, using the finest of materials for their masks. But I do have other mask ideas from the more rural regions of this world that have a more organic feel to them, making them out of some exotic looking wood work and paint would work perfectly.
they are very mysterious, and while i do love the texture ( it makes me think of acid metal etching..
Thats exactly what I was thinking....an acid metal etching technique!! And I think it would work with the dimensions of the mask. The patterns are going to be refined. The ones I created were only temporary, I just wanted to see if it's a direction I really wanted to go. I want the patterns to have some significant meaning to the culture so I have a lot of planning and research to do.
*gears start turning* Maybe like how the masks were obtained? And who found them anyway, and how did it come about?
Oh..I have a few ideas. *we should talk*
I really like the idea of ambiguous patterns on the mask (which is still being perfected) and I purposefully left the mask with almost no physical features. I felt the bird like figures and drawings should be more of the focal point of the mask, which were central elements for the cultures rituals. A culture that had a deeply rooted connection to the metaphysical qualities of their world. Also I want the masks to be a conversation piece.. maybe eventually introduce a story line sometime. 
I am open to any suggestions on improvement. One thing I may work on is the dimension, they look a little flat to me, probably because I created them with a Bezier Curve. 
How about if we go over to the private SR storyline forum so that we don't give away the future story? I'll invite the rest of the ERC/SR team as well and we can work on it together. 