New Mask and College

[HalloweenMaskMaker]

Hey folks,

I’m feeling pretty okay as of recent. I’ve had my ups and downs. I’ve graduated high school and I’m enjoying my time of not having to be busy. Had my grad party last weekend so now hopefully I will never have to think about high school again.

One of the haunt actors I worked with passed away yesterday, and it hurt. It didn’t hurt as much as it did with my grandma, because I only knew him for 2 years, bur it sucks. He was a tough ass old man who owned a hearse and rode motorcycles. Didn’t show his age at all. Heard from someone else that he passed away yesterday morning. I think, more than anything, it reminded me that there are a lot of people in my life who are nearing the end of their life, and it’s making me sink in the idea that nobody is here forever, which is really hard for me to handle. It will not be the same without him, and the haunt crew will be affected drastically because he had worked there for over a decade. It doesn’t feel real that someone like that can just disappear. It hurts, man.

On a separate, more lighthearted note, I have been focusing on my path to college. I think a lot about college and what I want for myself. I think the clear answer is to be happy with what I’m doing and being sure that when I leave college I can continue to be happy. For the past 4+ years I have lived in constant dread because other people and things dicated how I lived my life. But in college, I’ll have the creative freedom to pursue my dreams of monster making. I’m hoping that the new lifestyle change will bring me a healthier body and a healthier mind. Perhaps once I lose weight and feel better about myself I will go into the dating scene. I’m willing to take on the opportunities available to me in hopes that life will guide me where I need to be, and I hope that one day I will find inner peace, be able to sit down beside myself as I am now, reflect, and be sure that my life has found purpose.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the vision I have. For those of you who have read my posts before, you’ll know that I have this reoccurring vision where I stare out the window of a tall apartment building and watch the sun rise and fall, holding a hot coffee and feeling it get cold, then feeling a sense of peace and finally being able to say that I have found true purpose and acceptance of my life. This scene is triggered by music, something that is slow and moving. Whenever I hear music like that, it snaps me into that vision. I hope one day I will be happy overall, because that vision is so blissful.

Anyways, I kind of went off the rails there. Here is my new mask, Festwring Fred. Very realistic and super creepy. I hope you enjoy, and I want to know what you think!

Thank you for supporting me

-HMM

[GrandP00B34R]

Good morning,
Thank you for sharing and sorry to hear about your lose. I too, have lost a close friend when I was in high school. He was involved in a motorcycle accident. I remember how hard that hit us all, but as I grew older I tried to find positive things about certain events that happen in life. For a lot of us, we saw our remaining friend groups friendship grow stronger. Now not saying it was a good thing that our friend passed away but sometimes I think about how life could have been altered if he was still alive. I think all we can do with certain events such as death, is to appreciate what is in front of us and to let those around us that we love them or appreciate them because we don’t know when our time is up.
It is also awesome that you are excited for college. I am 34 years old now and in my second year of college. I am trying to be a Respiratory Therapist and I did not think I was going to enjoy college when I was younger but I truly enjoy meeting new people and just surrounding myself with like minded people. You are going to enjoy every moment of it, even those long study sessions lol. It is like a badge of honor.
I can appreciate that feeling of sitting and watching the sunset. I have that feeling too. It is a feeling of “I did it, my hard work paid off.” Don’t forget that feeling because for me, I use it as motivation.
The mask looks great. I am a huge horror movie fan, however I don’t watch a lot anymore since having kids. Nothing but Disney movies and CoCoMelon for the foreseeable future of mine. Keep up the great work and keep us posted. Thanks for sharing.

[Wings]

That mask reminds me of someone I went to school with.

I like your mental visualizations. They seem to be calling for reflection and introspection - essential tools for gaining wisdom and the state of mind you so wisely appreciate.

@HalloweenMaskMaker

I hope that one day I will find inner peace, be able to sit down beside myself as I am now, reflect, and be sure that my life has found purpose.

Be equally open to the idea that your purpose will find you.

An outcome of experiencing loss, and facing mortality is to develop an advanced perspective on what really matters in life. Some of the things we thought were really important, no longer matter very much. Materialism, popularity, even money becomes secondary to “inner peace.”

It’s interesting and perhaps synchronistic that you brought both issues together in the same message. The first part calls for wisdom and acceptance. The second part, the desire for inner peace, at least in part, calls for the wisdom gained through the experience you mentioned in the beginning of your message.

It sounds like you appreciate and will have a healthy mind and body. Exercise not only does your body good, it clears the mind and in a lot of cases functions like an antidepressant.

How are masks and things of that nature protected from being stolen by competitors? I’ve never given that much thought. If they’re copyrightable, you may find yourself doing pretty well financially.

[HalloweenMaskMaker]

The Halloween Haunt industry is not forgiving and unfortunately nothing is sacred. Usually competitors in the American markets that make things themselves are very forgiving and kind to one another, bur the mass manufacturing giants that have factories in China are not as nice. I went to a trade show where a mask company made a clown. This mask was 600 dollars. The next year, a wholesale company that commissions a factory to make animatronic characters stole the design and made a lifesize clown prop. The face designs are almost indistinguishable. Although the mask in the photo does not have square teeth, the mask has the option to have square teeth that look exactly the same as the clown animatronic. My guess is that the square teeth were used on the display model at the show, and it got photographed and ripped at the factory in China. Obviously the mass produced one looks cheaper, but the design elements of the face are nearly exactly the same.

Here are the photos

Clown Mask

Same mask but different paint style with square teeth

Chinese knockoff animatronic

Copywriting will not do much to prevent out of country manufacturers due to it becoming a national lawsuit. The mask company threatened to sue, but their lawyers said it was not worth the money because they would be spending more money trying to fight the case than they would getting anything out of winning the rights to the character. The wholesaler claimed negligence and said that the factory gave them the concept, and they had no idea that it was a knockoff of the mask company’s design (even though they both host booths at the same trade show).

Sorry, I know this tangent is long, but im sure you don’t mind the information. Basically, copywriting is more about scaring away American businesses, but its less of a problem with them as it is with mass production sites overseas.