Author Topic: Plaster Life Masks (Read 65373 times)

brude · « **Reply #25 on:** October 12, 2015, 08:17:46 PM »

Quote from: erik1925 on October 08, 2015, 11:43:09 PM

Lestat is up for Halloween

That is a sweet and creepy piece, Jeff.

erik1925 · « **Reply #26 on:** October 15, 2015, 02:53:13 PM »

Thanks, mein brude!

erik1925 · « **Reply #27 on:** October 25, 2015, 05:48:25 PM »

More of make-up maestro Dick Smith's incredible work, this one of the old age vampire makeup he sculpted & created for David Bowie, for the flicker

The Hunger (1983)

Smith was one talented guy, no doubt about it.

brude · « **Reply #28 on:** October 25, 2015, 05:53:25 PM »

Keep these babies coming, Jeff.
They are all incredible.

erik1925 · « **Reply #29 on:** July 25, 2018, 01:26:13 PM »

Another cast of Linda Blair in makeup, made for The Exorcist (1973)

erik1925 · « **Reply #30 on:** August 09, 2018, 02:42:42 PM »

Jack Nicholson in his Joker makeup, from BATMAN (1989)

MoviePosterBid.com · « **Reply #31 on:** August 09, 2018, 03:35:09 PM »

guess what Jeffe, all of these are not actual life masks, but artistic representations

I have abut 60 of them in my warehouse (boy would I love to sell them. cheap!) and when you have the same face and they are different sizes, it tells you at least one of them is not a real studio item, because Karloff's head is always going to be the same size if they are real

I would say more than half of the ones available on eBay and through the two major companies that sell them are not real molds and are just people cashing in on their ability as artists to recreate such items, without a caveat that they are not what they're being sold as

erik1925 · « **Reply #32 on:** August 09, 2018, 03:42:49 PM »

Ive seen the crappy artistic recreations that some people offer, where they have taken, for example, a life mask of Glenn Strange and turned him into the Frankenstein monster by adding to the cast with clay, then re-casting that new creation. Some of those are terrible, and many look really bad. I do agree with you there.

That's not what these are here, however.

erik1925 · « **Reply #33 on:** August 09, 2018, 03:50:18 PM »

Spock, himself. (Tho Im not sure if this cast was taken & made for a Star Trek flick, or not)

Leonard Nimoy.

cabmangray · « **Reply #34 on:** August 09, 2018, 03:59:37 PM »

Erik, I've seen some that work on ebay; some of it is ok but most of them are really bad. The Glenn Strange Frankenstein was at one time decent, but the guy who works on them keeps changing them, often making them worse than before, like adding the top of a shirt or casting them with what appears to be their eyes open. If these guys would just offer them as regular life masks, without the added "improvements", there might be more interest.

erik1925 · « **Reply #35 on:** August 09, 2018, 04:07:18 PM »

Quote from: cabmangray on August 09, 2018, 03:59:37 PM

Erik, I've seen some that work on ebay; some of it is ok but most of them are really bad. The Glenn Strange Frankenstein was at one time decent, but the guy who works on them keeps changing them, often making them worse than before, like adding the top of a shirt or casting them with what appears to be their eyes open. If these guys would just offer them as regular life masks, without the added "improvements", there might be more interest.

I agree. Many of those on ebay are made by people in their basements, adding plasticine to a life cast they got somewhere, then trying their hand at sculpting, resulting in some of those real monstrosities. Others have been done with Karloff life casts, Charles Laughton (trying to do a Quasimodo face) and others.

I think some are now casting them in resin, as plaster is so heavy. And with increased shipping costs, some could cost a boatload to mail.

cabmangray · « **Reply #36 on:** August 09, 2018, 07:43:01 PM »

I own exactly one. A Karloff Bride of Frankenstein sculpted over an early Karloff life mask. I bought it over 10 years ago from one of those guys on eBay. It's a decent sculpt without the fake shirt collar and is cast in heavy plaster. It must weigh 5 pounds.

What I don't understand is do these guys think that the masks with "open eyes" actually look good? There was a Humphrey Bogart mask with his eyes open and a full head of hair that looked awful! Worse yet was a Sean Connery Bond mask with open eyes, a From Russia With Love style 'do, and a hand holding a Walther PPK. Ugh!!

erik1925 · « **Reply #37 on:** August 09, 2018, 07:44:33 PM »

Quote from: cabmangray on August 09, 2018, 07:43:01 PM

I own exactly one. A Karloff Bride of Frankenstein sculpted over an early Karloff life mask. I bought it over 10 years ago from one of those guys on eBay. It's a decent sculpt without the fake shirt collar and is cast in heavy plaster. It must weigh 5 pounds.

What I don't understand is do these guys think that the masks with "open eyes" actually look good? There was a Humphrey Bogart mask with his eyes open and a full head of hair that looked awful! Worse yet was a Sean Connery Bond mask with open eyes, a From Russia With Love style 'do, and a hand holding a Walther PPK. Ugh!!

Those ones with re-sculpted open eyes are some of the worst looking, to me, too. That was done with the Laughton-Quasimodo example I mentioned before. Not good, imho.

A couple bad recreations, using an original life cast to start with:

erik1925 · « **Reply #38 on:** August 09, 2018, 08:04:01 PM »

Do you have a pic of your Karloff cast that you could post, cabman? Would be cool to see.

MoviePosterBid.com · « **Reply #39 on:** August 10, 2018, 03:56:36 PM »

Quote from: erik1925 on August 09, 2018, 08:04:01 PM

Do you have a pic of your Karloff cast that you could post, cabman? Would be cool to see.

these boxes are packed away, out of my way. I have like 60 of them and I would happily sell the whole group for $750 if I could find someone.
They're just taking up room.

I know one thing for sure, when you have a mask that says something like "copyright (insert mask company here)" they are almost always, not real life masks. The largest seller of these on ebay sells artistic recreations

here are some pics I shot when I was at the purchase of their poster collection. I am absolutely positive that the majority of these are absolutely NOT from real fake molds and are artistic representations

erik1925 · « **Reply #40 on:** August 10, 2018, 06:46:07 PM »

There are definitely recreations/reworked life masks in that mix, there's no doubt about that.

cabmangray · « **Reply #41 on:** August 10, 2018, 09:03:09 PM »

Nice looking cabinet those masks are in but God they look creepy! Like a shelves full of disembodied heads!

erik1925 · « **Reply #42 on:** August 10, 2018, 09:09:01 PM »

Another monstrosity created by someone in his/her basement "lab."

Glenn Strange as Frankie, turtleneck sweater and all.

cabmangray · « **Reply #43 on:** August 10, 2018, 09:34:42 PM »

This is exactly what I'm talking about. That stupid sweater is unnecessary and looks terrible. I'll give the guy points for trying but the bust just doesn't look right. If he's going for the A&C Meet Frankenstein look, the hair is completely wrong. I did see a Glenn Strange Frankenstein bust some years ago on eBay that looked like it was cast from the genuine article.

MoviePosterBid.com · « **Reply #44 on:** August 10, 2018, 10:13:23 PM »

Quote from: erik1925 on August 10, 2018, 06:46:07 PM

There are definitely recreations/reworked life masks in that mix, there's no doubt about that.

right, and I looked at some of the ebay dealers the deceased former owner frequented at the time and there is no mention about any just being artististic representations. My suspicions are that all sellers of these are no different.

erik1925 · « **Reply #45 on:** August 10, 2018, 10:17:54 PM »

Here's a life mask of John Hurt. Again, I dont know what film the cast was taken for but he looked a bit older when it was done.

MoviePosterBid.com · « **Reply #46 on:** August 10, 2018, 11:49:27 PM »

Quote from: erik1925 on August 10, 2018, 10:17:54 PM

Here's a life mask of John Hurt. Again, I dont know what film the cast was taken for but he looked a bit older when it was done.

I don't believe that is a real cast. it really lacks definition

I think that is an artistic representation

erik1925 · « **Reply #47 on:** August 10, 2018, 11:56:19 PM »

It is an actual life cast. And it has tremendous definition, that maybe you cant see in the photo. But this is not a re-sculpted or re-worked item. I have no interest in those.

However, in some cases, older life casts can lack definition, when an original positive mask is used to create a new negative mold, from which new, positive casts are then made. Those next generations will have less fine detail.

erik1925 · « **Reply #48 on:** August 14, 2018, 04:50:20 PM »

A great pic of Karloff posing with a full head life casting of himself, in one of the studio makeup departments, that has been added to, to create a Frankenstein headpiece, that would have been molded out of latex. This is how many latex appliances were made, by first sculpting them, in clay, on a life mask of the actor, so that the final latex piece was a custom fit.

Looking at Karloff and his age, maybe this was a shot taken when he appeared one last time as The Monster, in an episode of the 1960s TV series, "Route 66," or maybe it was nothing more than a publicity shot taken, at some other time.

okiehawker · « **Reply #49 on:** August 14, 2018, 10:24:57 PM »

Fantastic life mask photo of Karloff, Jeff! I'm so glad to see it. Okie

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Author Topic: Plaster Life Masks (Read 65373 times)