About me :)

Hello, my name Greg Savage.
 
I started off wanting to make myself a 1966 Batman mask. Batman was always my number one superhero since I was a kid, this being the reason for the Adam West style cowl. Well I had NO idea how making a little mask would lead me into starting my own little shop for making any number of other heroes. Well what I thought would be a simple mask to make, turned into a big learning process. First I joined an awesome site, its ...
 
On that website I began my education, I learned that there were only a couple of great cowl makers so I asked their advice on the board. I discovered multiple ways in achieving the same goals. The shell was generally made of fiberglass, I decided , not having much knowledge, mine would be made from plastic. How to do that,, well I needed to learn about shaping plastic. Vacuform!! Ok great , the material I read said to use a vacuform machine after heating up a sheet of plastic you then slam it over a cold mold , hit a switch to a shop vac beneath the table and it would suck the plastic around the cold mold and then cool off in that form. OMG really? I have to build this thing? Yep!. So I searched the web searching for a how to video , schematics anything that could help me build this thing. If memory serves I think I found it at 501st site. Ok so after much $$ blood, sweat and tears, and many trial and error I finally got it working, I found a place to buy sheets of plastics close by and then realized, that's only 1 step. I need my mold to cast the plastic on, damn, more research. Wrap my head in plaster bandages, cut it off, put back together , Vaseline the inside and pour plaster to fill. Take out crude casting of my head and now on to sculpting. I hadn't really done any sculpting since HS. Off I went, buying clay , sculpting tools , everything I needed . Sculpt out a cowl shell and cast it. Take the hard plaster copy to use on the vacuform table. A few tries and I got my first plastic cowl shell. Great, all that work and I still don't have a cowl . Now I have to research and ask about the best materials to use and get a rough idea of a pattern to cover this thing. I remember when we were kids my grandmother, Lola Hutton, God bless her and take care of her, would make our costumes. I went to her first , lol , she looked at it went through it tried a couple of things and finally said, I don't know. Wow if she couldn't do it then I am in trouble. I went to the experts and they were very giving with information and ideas for me to try. eventually I made my cowl.

Its far from perfect, but it was my first! ;)
 
This mask got me into costume making, for that reason it will always be my favorite.