Can anyone help me save Wuffy?

[SSP]

Poor, poor Wuffy, he's seen better days I can assure you. A quality (or, once was quality) mask off a prop I believe made by Stagefright. Saw action in Hartford's Haunted Happenings in Hartford, CT, until it's close in 1997. ANYWAY, he needs help, and I don't know what to do, so I turn to the experts.

Can he be saved, or is the wear too much? If there's hope, with what can I clean the rubber, where can I get hair, anything and everything to make him look like his old self again. The interior molding is cracking, missing a fang, holes in the rubber, balding, I don't know if anyone has any suggestions for maybe re-enforcing his head, or anything at all? Does anyone re-furbish masks? He may never see action on a violent prop again, but this guy has some meaning to me, and I want to keep him around for a while longer. Thank you for any help

[kpolley]

It's a little hard for me to tell too much from the pictures so let me ask you a couple questions.

1.) Is it foam filled or does it have a fiberglass shell? It looks like fiberglass but I'm not completely sure.

2.) Do the mouth or any other parts of the head move?

3.) You say that there are holes in the rubber. Does it still feel pliable or is the rubber becoming dry and brittle. I guess the question is whether or not these holes are just holes or the result of degradation of the rubber.

If you could be more clear on these issues I might be able to offer you some help in restoration. Thanks.

[SSP]

Haha sorry for not being clear, the holes feel dry and brittle, fiberglass shell on the skull but the ears are foam filled, and no parts on the head actually move, though the mouth always did had a nice "wiggle" to it when thrashing side to side, but that doesn't count

[SomeThingInTheIce]

Not sure if this will work or not, I have never made a mask but, maybe you could use it to build a mold and then you can make a new mask. It would be like Wuffy rose from the ashes like a Phoenix.

[Jim Warfield]

A very experienced mask maker could do this, sometimes the parts of a mask that stick down into a mold even can be cast in one piece and be pulled from the mold, but those teeth would be easier cast by themselves for most people doing it, I think?
You make a two-piece mold first, then using the product from the two -piece mold (after cutting down the mold seam lines you use this to make a one-piece mold to perminently erase the mold seam lines.
If you have never done any of this before you could spend a great deal of time and money trying to make this happen.
Knowledge, skill and experience are great teachers and prove to be very elusive to put into a paper bag and take them home.
Anything I seem to maybe know about all of this comes from me seeing my neighbor Jeremy Bohr making masks, but I couldn't do it.
(Dam hole in the bottom of my paper bag!)

[Infoamtek]

Fixing Wuffy

Firat of all, the teeth are easily repairable. They are the "large wolf jaw" available from taxidermy supply shops. As far as Wuffy goes, clean off the old hair first. Using cotton and latex, repair any holes, then paint the base color of the repaired areas with a PAX based paint. Paint any highlights and shadows indicated and glue on some new crepe hair. Then mount Wuffy on a wooden plaque as a hunting trophy.

[MDKing]

You could always hit up The Mask Doctor, he does great work!

http://happyhaunting.tripod.com/maskdr/

Good luck!

[SSP]

Thank you all for your help, if anyone has any other tips or anything, please feel free to share.

Anyone know how to redo or fix the fiberglass on the inside?

[Jim Warfield]

You can buy a fiberglass repair kit in automotive supply or hardware stores for a few bucks. Some sell the fiberglass cloth seperately , you can also buy more resin hardener seperately if needed.
Follow directions, don't do it in your bedroom under the blankets!

[SSP]

Jim, MDking,Infoamtek, somethingintheice,kpolley, can't say enough how much I appreciate the help. I'm going to get right on this once finals are over (one more week...) and then I will begin project ressurection.

Any suggestions on how to clean it and/or remove the hair? Any other tips on mask repair are still welcome, and again thank you

[kpolley]

Here are a couple suggestions and comments that might be helpful. First of all, and you may want to sit down for this, I am afraid that Wuffy may never be the dog he once was. The fact that the latex feels dry and brittle is a sign of decay. You might be able to patch the holes, but the problem is likely to crop up in other places on the prop. If you do decide to try and do some patch work I would suggest cutting some of the material away around the holes before applying any patch material.

What I honestly think is your best course of action would be to try and mold the head so you can make another pull if you want to later. Like I said, I'm afriad that patching it will only be putting a band-aid on a cancer.

Regardless of what you do, you will need to remove the teeth and hair and I have a little advice there too. Infoamtek is right about the teeth. They would be an easy fix and since they are broken anyway I would just bust them out anyway you can and replace both sets of them with new. As for the hair, it really depends on how it is fixed to the prop. If it is held on with a glue or other adhesive acetone would likely be your best bet to remove it. I would go to Wal-Mart and pick up some acetone from the paint section and do get an actual can of acetone and not fingernail polish remover. The stuff in the paint section is FAR more potent. If that doesn't do it, you might think about cutting the majority of and seeing if you can shave the rest very carefully with a razor. It sounds silly, but that might be the only option if the acetone doesn't help.

I am by no means an expert, but I have been doing this kind of stuff for quite some time and this is my humble opinion. I hope that it helps. Good luck!

[SSP]

So I should patch him before I screw around with making a mold? I've got a little research to do on the whole negative mold concept, and am a little worried that the gypsum will stick to and ruin the head I have now... this may be one sticky mess PAM cannot help

Any websites or videos or anything I could look at to assist me in my first mask mold? Looks like there's no easy way out with this project, but I'm willing to spend the time and money to get this accomplished.

[kpolley]

Yes, I would make the mold before you tried to make anymore repairs to the prop. I would take the teeth out and the hair off first, though.

Also, I would not try to mold it with gypsum. There are lots of materials that you could use. Smooth-On makes some really nice brushable rubbers that are good for mold making and would be excellent for your situation because they will be much easier on the original than a hard plaster would be.

[Infoamtek]

Rather than doing a direct plaster mold off Wuffy, I would suggest an alginate mold (like doing a lifecasting). Then do a hot clay pour into the mold. You can clean up the clay and fix any little problems, then create a new plaster mold from the clay sculpture. you then can cast a new Wuffy head. I would recommend a silicone such as Platsil 10 for the new head. It will last much longer.

[SSP]

Isn't the alginate mold like a liquid type thing you dip whatever into and let harden? How would I do that with this huge head? Split mold? Some sites say "make a barrier" or whatever between the two halves, but as I think about it, that "barrier" has to be perfectly shaped to the mask...