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  • From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT infionline.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] Home business, maskmaking links
  • Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 17:46:17 -0700

This is essentially a rerun of a past post on maskmaking that probably didn't make it into the archives. One of my favorite home businesses with great sales potential. As mentioned before, grandparents can always be depended on buying toys or anything the grandchildren ooh and aah over at craft shows, flea markets, County and State Fairs etc. Something flea market dealers would die for, since none of their competitors stock such an item. I like flea market dealers myself---everything is cash, no paper trail. They pay some taxes to pull the wool over the eyes of tax collectors, but it is a token amount, like small retailers in the Bahamas who might pay five or ten percent of the twenty seven percent sales tax that is theoretically exacted by the Bahamian Government.

My gut feeling is that the price range of masks should range from about five dollars to as much as one hundred to stay within grandparents' area of comfort. Horror masks would certainly sell well, but I'd lay odds on dinosaurs and dragons being more consistent sellers. At the near-one-hundred dollar level, you could provide some cable-control or pneumatic articulation of jaws, ears and eyeballs, simulated smoke from dragon nostrils, and from a Taiwan or Mainland China toy component supplier, a roar-device.

I would be iclined to enlist the help of a Virginia Tech art class to do the initial sculpture, possibly an engineering class to work on cable controls. Offer a prize or royalty to get their attention. A professor is always looking for a new and unusual class project, so I'd go to the professors first.



http://members.ozemail.com.au/~dhell/diy.htm (making masks---felt over clay over clingwrap, and data on eyes.)

http://www.mendels.com/mask.html (mendel's on maskmaking books, use of clay-impregnated gauze etc.)

http://www.library.yale.edu/~lso/drama/mask.html (maskmaking using buckram)

http://www.dickblick.com/categories/maskmaking/ (maskmaking supplies from Dick Blick, longtime great source for art supplies)

http://www.monstermakers.com/ (monstermakers, great website for type of masks used in theatrical, video productions)

http://www.inzomne.com/mask/ (maskmaking basics, procedures)

http://me.odysseyofthemind.org/Maskmaking.htm (armatures, paint, paste, glues, use of paper, kraft bags, papier mache, saran wrap over your face and hair)

http://www.goblinart.com/about/Professional_paper_mache.html (short but very good advice on making papier mache masks)

http://www.balix.com/travel/guide/chapters/balinese_art/arts_mask.html (Balinese motif)

http://bayard.daysofyoreevents.com/ursula-masks.htm (cheesecloth masks and various themes, i.e., Nordic, Greek, Roman, muthical creatures etc.---don't forget the leprechauns, banshees ghosties, ghoulies and things that go bump in the night)

http://www.fxsupply.com/mask/mask.html (very good instructions for clay, latex masks, and supplies you will need)

http://www.brainsofbaines.com/mask.html (good instructions for latex mask using someone's head as a pattern. I don't much care for latex in contact with the skin, and prefer a mask that uses a universal mount to the head---a lot of small balloons would be self-adjusting, or an adjustable headband. The more elaborate the mask, i.s., with articulated jaws, various visual and sound effects like a dragon blowing smoke, dinosaur roaring, the more money you can charge for it.
Use some discretion in pricing, you want a range within customers ability and willingness to pay.)

http://www.dentaldistortions.com/html/Links.html (scream team horror, monster masks, mostly latex)

http://www.1st-in-masks.com/Mask-Resources/latex-monster-masks.html (morbid mask people, long list of useful links)

http://www.villageroadshowpuctures.com/halloween/45/how-to-make-latex-halloween-masks-and-props.html (another long list of useful links, full-body theatrical props, cuts, wounds, bullet holes etc.)

http://www.angelfire.com/nt/ibarman/fursuiting.htm (great website on full-body costumes, foam-carved heads, animatronics, taxidermy supply for eyes, noses, fangs.)

http://members.tripod.com/labyrnth/animatronics/need_help.html (Michael Burnette Productions video on making cable-control articulated masks)

http://members.aol.com/c40179/ (the above link on animatronics is dead---don't feel bad, here are hundreds of others you must read)

http://www.animatronics.org/ (some animatronic specialists, their creations and the computers that controls some of them)

http://www.lifeformations.com/ (lifeformations.com is one of the above, Flashplayer 6.0 and Quicktime necessary to have or download to view the streaming video here)

http://www.zerocommv2.com/ (If you want to draw your demons before you make a pattern of some kind (as opposed to simply sculpting them), I suppose Macromedia Freehand or Adobe Illustrator would be useful. Not my schtick, I'd make a wax or clay three-dimensional demon.

http://www.getspfx.com/Plastic%20Eyes.asp (plastic full-orbit eyes for your demon mask, brown eyes are cheaper than blue eyes (no comment), and I don't who makes bloodshot Gee Gee eyes) Have to get some ping pong balls and paint them. Put a red LED inside to make them look Gee-Gee natural as he staggers from lamp post to lamp post on the way home. This is an improvement---he used to crawl home on his hands and knees.

http://www.drakenmasks.com/masks/skullred.html (I think dragon and dinosaur heads would sell better than skulls, but here is a skull with an articulated jaw--directly jaw-operated, not by cable mechanism)

http://www.castcraft.com/ (and as always in many home businesses, refer to the castcraft catalog for complete construction information and raw material sources.)
http://www.castcraft.com/prod1.htm











  • [Homestead] Home business, maskmaking links, Tvoivozhd, 08/27/2004

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