Dave loves horror movies, especially Friday the 13th, and claims never to get scared. He also enjoys just about any kind of creative project. Imagine his joy when he discovered Youtube videos describing how to re-create the hockey masks from the Friday the 13th movies! Thus began several years of his obsession with creating the masks, and outfits, for most of the twelve Friday the 13th movies.
Making Hockey Masks
As mentioned in my post on trading card games, Dave spends much of his free time making Yu-Gi-Oh decks designed to beat me at the card game, and they usually meet that goal. But that’s not the only non-video game activity he does in his free time. At some point along the line he discovered Youtube. He came across videos that show how to make the hockey masks from the Friday the 13th movies.
Creating the masks is a laborious process, which he is quite skilled at, as you can see by the photo. He starts with a white hockey mask that he purchases from Amazon or recieves as a gift. He spray paints the mask front and back. Then, he has to create the “damage” that Jason Voorhees (the protagonist of the films) has acquired during the film as a result of a variety of violent interactions. This involves cutting the mask in specific places, sanding it in other places, using additional paint, and even creating bullet holes. Similar to the Yu-Gi-Oh cards, I believe this is a wonderful activity for Dave. The problem is, it’s much, much, messier than trading cards.
Making Hockey Masks is So Messy!
I have a love-hate relationship with Dave’s hockey-mask making. Yes, it’s a creative activity that requires a lot of brain power, which is awesome. But the messiness of the process has resulted in the destruction of his floor, his table, and many items of clothing. When he first started making the masks, he was putting them in a box to spray-paint them, and doing it in his apartment. Even though he was aiming the spray paint on the mask in the box, some of the spray inevitably ended up outside the box.
I explained that he must do his spray-painting outside of the apartment because of the mess and the odor. Somehow, he thought he could get away with doing it in the apartment anyway. The next time I came for a visit, the newly installed floor was covered with a thin layer of spray paint. I was angry, and he realized I would discover it if he tried to spray paint the masks inside the apartment again. That seemed to have an effect. He started doing the spray painting outside, even when it was very cold. It took a long time, and many attempts using an assortment of cleaners and tools, to remove the paint from the floor.
In addition to spray-painting, he also needs to paint the masks in specific places with paintbrushes or sponges. This ‘creative’ process ruined many of his clothes, and defaced his table and a chair. His bathtub got covered with paint when he poured it down the drain. We eventually came up with some compromises. I covered the table with a disposable cloth, even though it’s honestly too late to save it. He started using paper plates for the paint. I put plastic down on the floor under his work-space.
But paint was not the only thing that was destroying his wardrobe.
Making Friday the 13th Outfits
Dave didn’t stop with the masks. He found Youtube videos that described how to make the articles of clothing that Jason wears, which reflect the ‘slasher damage’ Jason experiences in the movies. I began finding previously nice pants and shirts with holes deliberately cut in them, and black or red paint around the edges. Sigh. I ultimately talked him into buying the clothes he needed to recreate the costumes at Goodwill – he works there 4 days a week, after all!
On the positive side, he has actually made good use of all of these items. He frequently makes masks for friends and co-workers. Also, each year around Halloween, the staff at Goodwill dresses up every day for a week. He can be Jason Voorhees every single day without repeating a costume. His co-workers are impressed!
Balancing and Compromising
I was unhappy with the messy Friday the 13th projects, but he enjoyed doing them so much, and I knew it was a good activity for him. So we did what we always do. We figured out compromises so that he could continue to do it, and I could be just a bit less stressed. He eventually moved on from the Friday the 13th phase, partly because he had created all of the masks and outfits, sometimes several times over. His next creative obsession was, wait for it … tie-dye shirts!