Coming soon to a cornfield near you...

These beauties just arrived from my good friend Paul at Darkside Studio. The Darkside Scarecrow and Halloween Jack were some of the first masks Paul ever sculpted. These two pieces are redesigned versions to celebrate Darkside Studio's 15th year in mask making. I'm excited to add these to my collection and can't wait to see what else he has in store for 2010.

These are how the originals looked and have long been discontinued. I think the redesigned versions look much creepier.

So I Like Masks

I have been fascinated with masks for quite some time. It started when I was a kid after I saw John Carpenter's Halloween, Halloween 3 and few of the Friday the 13th movies. My parents were the type that didn't really want me watching scary movies but at the same time they didn't forbid it. I loved how creepy masks looked and this really intrigued me. From that point on I wanted to wear a mask every year for Halloween. At that time I only knew of mass produced masks that were sold at retail stores during the Halloween season. As a kid you don't really know what a good quality mask is; you just know if you like it or not. My mother was nice enough to take me mask shopping every year and if I was to get a mask I remember it had to be creepy. Nothing nice or cute to her dismay.

The first mask I bought on my own was a Don Post Michael Myers (I still have it although it is in poor shape) at a seasonal costume shop. They had a lot of nicer masks that I didn't see in Shopko or Kmart. Then in high school a friend introduced me to Death Studios. He showed me one of their color catalogues and as I looked through it, I was captivated. I had never seen masks of their quality or selection before. My interest in masks grew and I started buying a few high quality masks. Later I found Darkside Studios, another fine mask company. Soon I was discovering other independent mask makers on the Internet. I remember frequently visiting their websites and spending hours staring at all their different masks. They all looked so good it was hard to decide what to buy. When I made the decision to start collecting seriously, I narrowed my interest down to scarecrows and pumpkins. There is something just simplistic yet creepy about them. In my opinion, scarecrows and pumpkins make up the essence of Halloween, just like witches, ghosts and goblins.

During this time I have had the pleasure of getting to know many of the mask artists out there. I have tremendous respect for their art and enjoy watching the new sculpts they create. I hope to collect masks long into the future and for as long as mask artists continue to make them!

My Array of Masks

Most of my collection I obtained from independent mask makers. I prefer to purchase my masks new as opposed to second hand. This is for several reasons: a new mask has not been handled by anyone other than the original maker and I can care for it properly from day one.

Latex masks won't last forever, but I want them to look good for as long as possible. This is why I take very good care of them...ok ok, I'm obsessed. I don't wear any of them except for a few. They are all kept in a locked room where I keep the temperature between 65-70 degrees. Every few months I powder the inside of them with cornstarch and dust the outside. They never see sunlight as this will dry out latex. I rarely need to vacuum the carpet in my mask room because it gets so little foot traffic. Plus vacuums can emit dust while they are running!

This is my collection as of now...