Pamela's Curse II

Now available! Only doing one, very limited run of these. Comment below with your contact info if you want one.

Pam sculpt is done

Sculpt is done Ultracal is on the way. Should have her molded in a few days.

My favorite hocks on the market

So I've received a few questions lately about painting masks and wanted to let everyone know that I don't paint and have no plans to in the future. if I ever started collecting again, I would probably just buy a mask from one of the incredible artists out there.

I've given people artist recommendations over the years, but since I have a blog I mostly neglect I wanted to put up a post illustrating what I think are the best (read: most film accurate) currently available hockey masks out there. I'm going to go right down the list from part 3 to the remake... so if you are ever in the market for the best hock you can buy, here are my personal recommendations.

Part 3: This was a really tough call because it's my favorite mask, but I think Ryan of Cursed Camp Studios is currently making the best part 3 hero. His attention to detail in the weathering is absolutely top notch, the color is solid and his blanks look really good. This is someone who has really studied this mask, and is at the top of his game.

Part 4: Like the part 3, this is one of the toughest to nail down because of the odd way the movie mask was painted. Even the eye cuts are weird. But I've been most impressed with the work done by Illusive FX. Overall his coloring and detailing, while not spot on, show that he is paying close attention to screen shots and photos and really trying to nail that look down.

I do want to make a special note here: having the right blanks is important in getting the right look if you're going for accuracy. To my eye, Crash without question has the most film accurate blanks, and is always a solid go-to for part 3 and 4 masks.

Part 5: For Roy, I have to give it to Illusive FX again. The eye cuts, strapping, overall shape and weathering are really spot on, but my favorite is the blue tone he uses for the chevs. Very well done.

Part 6: Honestly, there's a lot of artists that do 6's very well. But Crash's work on the 6's has been especially excellent over the years. He probably does more versions than anyone, including this bullet hole one and the prop damage one from the end of the film, than any other artist.

Part 7: This is another tough call. I'm definitely partial toward artists using Josh Ludemann's movie mask recast. Auz has done fantastic 7's. But I think Illusive FX might take the cake again for his killer attention to detail on these.

Part 8: I'm going to give this one again to... yep, Illusive FX. Before you ask, no, I'm not Illusive FX creating an advertisement for myself. I have no idea who he is. But not only his incredible detailing, his choice of a goldenrod basecoat, rather than a more traditional yellow, really puts him over the edge here. His eye cuts are also near perfect.

Jason Goes to Hell: The crown goes to Crash of course. This thing looks like it walked right off set.

Freddy vs. Jason: You might be wondering why Auz hasn't shown up yet on this list, but I won't disappoint you. Always one of the best artists out there, he has truly mastered the later-franchise masks in a way few others have. Offering a nearly 100% accurate resin, fully cracked mask with an unbelievable paint job and even the movie-accurate rubber backing means that I would never spend a dime on a VS mask that didn't come from Auz.

Jason X: Auz again here. I tried to paint this mask years ago and walked away frustrated. Auz has this thing down.

Remake: Once again, Auz takes the cake. Killer attention to fine details, and he offers this thing in movie-accurate thick resin. If I were to buy one, it would be from him.

Podcast is up

Hey! I was on the Camp Blood Podcast a while back, talking about how the part 3 mask was painted by the FX crew and my plans for my 1:1 Pam Sculpt. Check it out here...

http://campbloodpodcast.com/2016/09/community-spotlight-with-jason-farrell-of-the-jason-lives-since-1980-blog-cbp067/

Thanks to the guys at Camp Blood for having me on, this was really fun.

Pam and her sweet boy

How the Part 3 Masks Were (Probably) Painted

As I mentioned in a previous post, the hero mask created for part 3 has been one of the toughest for hock painters to nail down and the color has caused some controversy over the years, mostly due to the fact that it looks different in different photos and screen shots.

Was it white?

Beige?

Or yellow?

How could it look so drastically different from image to image? None of the masks in later installments seem to have this apparent disparity.

Back in December 2009, I contacted Robb Wilson King, the set designer from part 3, who gave me some very important clues. He said the mask was painted an "off white" that was enhanced with what he described as a "slight aged patina" that gave it a "cream color" (all his words).

The original shooting script called for Jason to wear a white mask, so that was the starting point for the effects team. To make the white mask look creepier and fit with the rustic setting of the film, it was evidently sent to King to make it look older and weather-beaten.

Set designers will often use antiquing media found in art supply stores in order to make things on set look old and creepy. You can see the obvious crackling paint used in The Walking Dead in the Season 3 prison interiors, for example.

Robb Wilson King said he used an "aged patina" to make the mask look old. There are two main types of patinas: those used to age metal and those used to age oil paintings.

King probably use the same methods that oil painters have been using for decades to give their paintings an antique look: a combination of an amber patina varnish and a paint cracking medium, such as those made by Maimeri.

Patina varnishes come in several varieties and can give any paint work a subtle golden tone while maintaining the clarity of the underlying artwork. The tone can be deepened with additional coats, which can be applied with a sponge brush.

There is evidence on the original mask that the white basecoat, the yellowish tone and the cracking were three separate layers. You can see it under the forehead and cheek chevrons. In the lower photo, there are still yellow varnished spots but with no cracks.

More evidence of a separate translucent layer: On the part 3 stunt mask, there's a bunch of "skid marks" likely made with a dremel on the cheek you can see in the shower scene. Today that area on the mask is whited out, and some painters interpret this as an alteration to the mask that sanded them away, revealing the white basecoat on the back. Not so. The skid marks are still there in the white area, indicating the white color is actually on the front of the mask where they sanded the varnish away. See for yourself...

 This is pretty solid proof that the yellowish layer was a transparent amber varnish, not a flat spray paint.

So for anyone who has been confused... remember watching part 3 back in the day and concluding Jason wore a white mask? Your childhood eyes weren't deceiving you. The mask was white.

So can a mask be painted just like the originals and come out the same? May as well try it. So I bought the Maimeri patina varnish and repainted a Crash project82v4 with Krylon Dover White. I then did all the weathering right on the basecoat.

Six coats of varnish later, the mask took on the perfect caramel-beige color you see in the movie mask. I ended up with runs and color inconsistencies for lack of a decent sprayer, but you get the picture... 

Once you sand off the nose and some other scuff marks it really starts to look authentic.

After evening out the runs and adding weathering... the final result:

Like painters and fans have been saying for years, you can't get the original mask's peculiar amber color in a spray paint. That's because it's not paint at all-- its an antiquing varnish. In direct sunlight it looks very yellow, but in dimmer room lighting it looks very beige due to the way the varnish refracts light.

Compare with the real thing...

Replica at left, part 4 movie mask at right.

Part 3 movie mask at left, replica at right.

It seems that Robb Wilson King experimented with different styles. For the hero mask, he went with a paint-cracking medium over the varnish, but the stunt mask is hand-scratched right into the basecoat. Ironically its almost impossible to tell the difference in the film. All that work for nothing!

So why does the part 3 hock appear white? It could be that they started shooting before it had properly yellowed, which takes about 3 days. It seems more likely, however, that the bright stage lights they used for night-time shooting washed out the transparent yellow layer and reflected off the white paint beneath. Color timing also played a role: the Jason-Chris battle took place at night, and they used a strong blue-bias in their final film coloring, which would have neutralized the yellow tones in the mask.

So there you have it. This is most likely how the movie masks were painted: a basecoat of white paint, followed by an amber patina varnish. If you want to paint one of these, You may want to add a cracking medium on top of that if you're doing the hero mask. Be forewarned: varnish is tough to work with on a hockey mask, which is probably why David Miller and all later hockey mask painters just used acrylics and oil paints. Thanks for reading!

UPDATE Feb. 5, 2018: So an additional observation... it seems clear to me that the two masks finished by the FX team for part 3 painted them exactly the same way at first: White basecoat, then scuffed the paint, a varnish layer on top of that, then chevrons and final clear coat. Pretty simple design. Through most of production, both the hero and stunt masks showed only the scuffing in the basecoat, which looks darker because its been varnished over:

But by the showdown in the barn, the hero mask had some painted-on weathering added to it in a dull gray or brown. You can see the clear difference here:

 So for those who had observed that the mask was initially "clean" in early scenes, such as when he comes through the window-- I think you are correct. It had some scuffs for sure, but the "dirt" washes hadn't yet been added. So when you're painting a part 3, you have to pick: window or barn scene?

Just for fun: here are some photos of other masks where artists have used Maimeri's amber patina varnish to get that accurate golden tone you see in the movie mask.

 

 

 

 

Legit "Camp Crystal Lake" sign from F13 P2

I can say as the owner of the original prop, this is easily the most authentic replica of the sign Marta Kober picked up in the beginning of Friday the 13th part 2 I've ever seen. Its being offered by artist Nathan Barker for only $35. Look him up on Facebook!

These are on ebay...

Find them on Ebay here and here.

"Aladdin Sane" copies getting produced soon...

This mold is in the possession of a guy named James Power and he's going to be producing these at some point this summer. Look him up on Facebook if you want one!

"Pamela's Curse II" progress shot.

Update 9/30/16: Sculpt is done. Will be getting Ultracal soon to mold her.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the screen-used Mrs. Voorhees head from Friday the 13th part 2 is too fragile to recast; the 35-year-old foam latex is only about 1 mm thick in some spots and there is evidence of air bubbles that could lead to tears even if something gentle like alginate was used.

So I've decided on a 1:1 resculpt, getting as close as humanly possible to the way the real thing looks. I'm probably 75% done with the forming, so detailing is not far off. Have to finish out her neck, add her ears and shave down the cranium a bit. Here's a progress shot (don't mind the fish-eye lens distortion on the right).

 I expect to have this done and copies pulled before summer.

Here's a shot of my original Pam sculpt, done mostly from screen caps, with the real thing. As you can see, it can be very difficult to get an accurate sense of the dimensions from just a few screen grabs. So its nice to have an opportunity to correct all of my earlier mistakes.

UPDATE: April 17. After weeks of frustration, finally got the eyes to sit right in the head. Love the way the shadows fall now, although still lots of refining to do.

Update, May 3. She's almost done! Filled out the neck and reshaped the cranium. She just needs ears and texturing, couple of tiny tweaks here and there.

May 10 update, just another angle:

July 31 update: the eyes are done. Added the forehead wrinkles and did some further refining. Next come the ears and finer detailing.