I am very curious and intrigued, also I am sure a lot of other members are as well to the history of independent myers mask making and the history of it as a whole. I myself would love to have many questions answered and I know a lot of you crafty veterans probably know most of the answers. Questions such as when and who produced some of the first blanks, overhauls etc. How far they date back? Maybe what type of mask were first getting overhauls things of that nature. I would love a history lesson on all of this and as many older pictures as you can post of maybe some of the first runs, overhauls and so on and so fourth.
Thanks- Kyle
The NightOwl 4-Stamp comes to mind as one of the first greats in the hobby. The Psycho followed in 2005 and was amazing as well, just lacking a bit of detail we saw in the first model. I can’t forget the Samhain! Unfortynately things went South and Gary with MMP didnt fulfil every order. That was actually all the way back in 2000-2001.
The first mask that really got the overhaul treatment and which saw a lot of blanks being made was the H78. There were sculpts before that, but NAG would send tons of blanks to AHG and he is the first artist I remember really finishing H1 masks back around 2008. The Lunatic also saw a lot of overhauls and I believe was one of the first masks JC tried his hand at overhauling. It was one of the first “great” H2 sculpts in my eyes. Of course Ken Hertlein had his own special place with The Image and infamous KH\DW that always evaded my collection. In the morning I’ll check my PC and find shots of my original AHG H78 which I regret selling!
I’m sure there are guys who remember things more accurately than me, but I remember one of my first indy mask purchases actually being a Maggot Head v1 Jason mask directly from Justin with NightOwl Studios back in 2003. I’ll find some shots of that as well! Before things went south, Terry of CGP had recasted a NO NMM and the Warlock was born. He did a limited run with Dick Warlock which included Dick’s signature and a signed COA which ran about $325. Once Dick stopped being a part of the project the price dropped dramatically.
There is a ton of info in the Gallery about each mask, but I’m glad you made this thread! I look forward to more responses and to see which masks jumpstarted some people’s collections.
The broad strokes IMO:
Sean Clark Small-> Ken Heitlen’s Rare → Sandman → Samhain → UL75 → KH/DW ->NMM78_->Nightmare->Psycho->H78->DB2->75K->Creep.
I was actually thinking about this recently, which artists really pushed the hobby forward? I think the #1 Is Justin Mabrey who was making masks throughout this entire timeline. He was the first to introduce the idea of a claypress/retool in his “The Shape” masks using an inaccurate older Shatner lifecast first and again with his NMM78 which really changed the whole game. The NMM78 is still an accurate mask that stands the test of time with the best of them.
Justin also was the first guy to use hair fibers other than camel or crepe. He introduced mohair to the scene. Where would we be without clay-pressing and mohair?
Thank you gentleman for the great detailed responses of the history and also some of y’alls first mask etc. This is exactly the kind of replys I wanted to get out of this thread and cannot wait to read more and also see some older pictures! This community and all of its mask making resources and everything tied into Halloween or any horror film for that matter runs deep realll deep. I look forward to browsing this forum everyday.