7
Oct
Conservation and Display of Freddy Krueger Makeup Appliances
Conservation and Display of a set of Robert Englund’s Freddy Krueger makeup appliances
This project could easily sit in our Displays section too! The before and after photos of these Freddy Krueger makeup appliances show what a big difference a custom support can make. When these Freddy Krueger makeup appliances were sold in a 2024 film prop auction they had previously been mounted to a generic plastic head form for display.
These foam latex pieces were originally worn in Nightmare on Elm Street 3, the Dream Warriors and created the burn-scarred look of one of the 80’s most iconic horror characters! That said, the original display head didn’t have the proper shape and sizing and thus, the piece couldn’t fit together properly.
We were able to source a life cast of actor Robert Englund, which gave us the ideal start for custom support. We worked slowly to carefully remove the pieces from the original bust without causing damage to the delicate foam.
Since appliances like these are originally made to fit a specific actor’s face, a life cast offers us a very accurate starting point for the support. That said, foam latex tends to shrink slightly over time, so even when we have a lifecast, we customize that form to fit the current condition of the facial appliances.
Lead artist on this project Patrick Louie, reworked that new form and was able to align the pieces back up to Englund’s face, much like piecing together a puzzle. When the pieces properly realigned, it turned out there was much less missing material than it originally appeared. Some small areas had some minor gaps, and that missing material needed to be recreated. He used reference images and the surrounding material to help him to match this texture and create a more seamless transition between original material and the new patches.
One interesting exception to our typical process was the missing area of the chin. Normally, this would either be left blank or recreated from scratch, however, when the face and neck pieces were assembled there was a bit of flashing that didn’t have a home. We discussed with the client and decided to use this as a patch, and modify it to fit the missing area. We then added additional sculpted elements to help blend in this patch with the surrounding material.
Once the patches were in place artist Melissa Ocampo carefully in-painted these patches. Meaning that only the new material was painted, leaving all of the originally material as untouched as possible.
We finished off this display with a custom themed base, with a riveted, faux rusty metal finish to call back to the look of the boiler room commonly associated with Freddy Krueger, and a color plaque with the film’s logo on it.
Have an original movie or television prop in need of a unique or themed display? Email or call today and let’s discuss your project!
The 1984 horror film that started the entire Freddy Kruger franchise!
