New Blanks - A Comparison

One of the things I've obsessed over as a mask painter is the eyes. You can't really get a screen-accurate look to a Jason mask without getting the eye cuts right. And you can't get the eye cuts right if you don't have correctly shaped eye sockets. 

The eyes on the Part 3 movie masks were big and sharply defined. They were also, roughly, egg-shaped, coming in close to the nose and had slightly different contours. Though it can be hard to see in screen shots, viewing an original Part 3 pull at the Hollywood museum showed me exactly what they are supposed to look like.

Faithfully reproducing this shape, size and depth enabled me to get the big, accurate eyes we see in these early movie masks.

  I still have Part 3 and 4 style clear PETG blanks available. Email me at farrelljm1122 (at) hotmail (dot) com 

Very Accurate Clear PETG blanks available!

Working on a few new cut blanks. These are still available (part 3 and 4 style) in clear PETG. Email me at farrelljm1122 _at_ hotmail _dot_com.

 

Part III Stunt Mask

My customer wanted the cracks from the Part III hero incorporated into the stunt mask seen at the end of the film. This was painted on one of my own blanks (clear plastic copies still available, see email address at the end of the previous post) using a basecoat of Krylon Dover White and Maimeri's patina varnish.

New Hockey Mask Blanks

I've been working on perfecting my P3/4 buck for about three years now and I believe I've gotten it as accurate as I'll ever get it. Below are some comparisons between my test blanks and the best shots I could find of the original Part 3 and 4 movie masks. 

Below is the Part 3 hero mask as photographed for a Part 5 poster, next to my Part 3 test blank. 

And a raw Part 4 blank compared to the movie mask.

The Part 4 hero photographed back in 2012 along with the Part 4 blank.

These blanks measure 20 x 26 cm (10 5/16 x 8 in.) so they're pretty large. Comparing with our only measurement of an authentic Part 3 or 4 screen used mask (below) they seem to line up perfectly.

A finished piece can look nearly identical to a movie mask, as shown below. Note that the below example was made from an earlier version of the buck, before several holes were moved. 

I started this project back in 2022 after I saw the Hollywood Museum mask in person for the first time. I started with a copy of a Plante mask, and built it ground-up from there. It was a more complex process than I thought and quite a few changes had to be made to get it to look accurate, which has taken years of refinements.

I created this buck for my own personal mask projects. I don't plan on selling a lot of these, but I will make a few available for a short time. Pulled in .060 gauge clear PETG only. Email me at farrelljm1122 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Study of the Part 3 Straps

Here's some brief analysis of the original straps on the Part 3 mask.

As far as I can see, they were almost certainly 22 mm braided elastic bands. This is an odd width (roughly 7/8 inches), typically used for watch bands. The braids can be counted in the top strap of the Part 4 mask and the side strap of the Part 3 mask in the photos below; in both cases, there appear to be 11 braids in each strap. 

The only 22 mm braided strapping I've found has 12 braids per strap, so it is possible they are 23 mm, (even more rare), but more likely just a slightly different braid width.

Using a ruler, I lined up the centimeters in the Dario measurement photo of the Part 4 mask with those on a real ruler and came to a width measurement of 21 mm for the straps on the part 4 mask. Allowing for a tiny margin of error resulting from the tape being lifted off the strap, these almost certainly imply 22 mm nylon.

It is very difficult to find accurate straps for these masks, but they do occasionally pop up on Amazon, often from Chinese sellers.

 

Old In-Progress Shots

 Here's a few in-progress photos of part 3 and 4 masks I painted on my own blank a couple of years ago. 

 

Part 3 Mask

 

My Final Part 3 Mask

 

This is it! My last part 3 hero mask. I don't think I have any more in me and I accomplished what I set out to do back in 2009 -- create the most accurate possible part 3 replica I possibly could.

This was a painstaking process that I worked on off and on for a couple of years. Back in 2022 I created my own part 3 buck ground-up from a Plante mask after having seen the Hollywood Museum mask in person. This is a clear PETG blank from that buck pulled in 0.060 thickness, which I believe is correct to the movie mask.

The mask was base-coated front and back with Krylon Dover White, the cracks hand-etched with an x-acto knife to be as close to the original as possible (this part takes several days), painted weathering carefully applied with acrylics, then given five coats of Maimeri's patina varnish. It was finished with Krylon Kamar varnish and movie-accurate 7/8 inch straps. I can't claim it's flawless, but it's a keeper for me. Happy Friday the 13th!

Closeups of Part 3 hock with HLM