Horror Dome Studios mask, costume and prop design.

Producing a great Halloween product is very time consuming and requires experience with sculpting, mold making and casting. These three skills are most often used in creature special effects. Making monsters for Movies and TV we are very experienced at our craft and we try to bring this experience to every product we make.

DESIGNING - First we come up with a concept and then create a CAD drawing of the product for our sculptors to work off of.

BLOCKING IN THE SHAPE - Once the CAD drawing is complete our sculptors go to work blocking in the design in clay.

REFINING THE SCULPTURE - After the piece is blocked in our team approves the shape and the real sculpting takes place. This process refines the sculpture and adds all of the detail bringing the piece to life.

THE MOLD - Once we feel the sculpture is finished and looking its best it is time for the molding process. Probably the most important part of making the mask, costume or prop. If the mold is not done correctly the whole project is scraped and we have to start all over again. Luckily our sculptors are top of the line FX artists and this normally doesn't happen.

DRYING THE MOLD - This is an important step. The mold needs to be able to absorb moisture from the latex rubber in order to form a skin. We have our own process to dry the molds which insures our mold lasts a long time and do not lose any detail in the mask or costume making process. Each mold is only used 20 times (that's 20 masks per mold) to insure the detail is perfect for every product we make. It is more expensive for us to do this but it makes the final product look its best.

CASTING - Before pouring the latex into the mold we make sure to clean the mold thoroughly. We fill it all the way to the top with latex and slush it around making sure to get rid of any air bubbles. Then we let the latex sit in the mold until the skin is about 1/16" thick. (our masks and costumes are among the thickest masks and costumes in the Halloween industry).

REMOVING THE FINISHED PRODUCT - Before pulling the product out of the mold we brush some talcum powder on the inside of the latex. Powder will prevent the mask from sticking to itself and pulling out of the mold without any defects. This will insure a perfect pull every time.

TRIMING -  Once the mask or costume is pulled out of the mold we then have to trim all the excess latex from the blank to get it smooth and looking it's best.

PAINTING - Now for the fun part. Our artist use different colors to bring your mask or costume to life. Every mask we make is inspected to insure they all look close in appearance. Please remember these are hand made items there might be a 1% differance in the paint job since we are only human but this is a rare occourance and to get the high quality we offer we need talented artist making our products. Rest assure all products will all be made to perfection.

HAIRING - To hair a product, we use wigs, glue on hair, or punch in hair. All of this being a crucial process for the appearance of the product. It is a time consuming part of the process be we feel it is necessary.

 

FINISHING - Once the product is painted and haired we coat the finished product with a protective clear coat to protect the paint and then we epoxy the eyes to give the eyes realism. 

PACKING - Once the clear coat and epoxy dries we insert the product into a clear plastic bag to ensure it stays in good condition for shipping.

IT TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND WORK TO MAKE A HALLOWEEN MASK, COSTUME AND PROP. WE TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT WE DO. HALLOWEEN DOESN'T JUST COME AROUND ONCE A YEAR FOR US. IN FACT, AS A PREMIUM HALLOWEEN SUPPLIERS AND HALLOWEEN MASK, COSTUME AND PROP DESIGNERS, WE WORK YEAR-ROUND TO DELIVER THE BEST POSSIBLE ITEMS FOR BRINGING NIGHTMARES TO LIFE.

THEHORRORDOME.COM - SERVING THE HAUNT AND HALLOWEEN COMMUNITIES FOR OVER 24 YEARS.