LMC: Did you grow up as a monster fan?

DB:  Oh yeah, ever since I can remember I have always had a fascination with monsters and aliens.  I had all the Star Wars cards and figures.  I would just look at the pictures of the aliens over and over.  The realism of that movie toward a young kid’s mind was incredible.  The way everything was worn out and used.   I had no idea how monsters were made but the subject fascinated me.   I wasn't really into the horror movie monsters all that much growing up.  I liked sci-fi more and was more interested in possible real monsters.   I read everything I could about, Bigfoot, Loch Ness monster, UFO's and so on.  I have always had an extreme curiosity about the mysteries within our real world.   Even when I was young, I knew movie monsters were not real.  But Bigfoot and Aliens could be real, that possibility has always intrigued me even to this day. 

LMC: Do you think aliens are out there?

DB:  This may not be the popular view, but I personally do not think there are real aliens out there.  The Earth is so perfectly set in distance and relation to the sun and moon and other planets rotation that I do not think it could have happened by mistake.  I think the Earth is uniquely created and that we are the only aliens in the universe, although I would love to be proved wrong!  I guess that is what makes it so intriguing is that no one really knows.

LMC: Were you an artist when you were young or did you develop your talent later in life?  Any formal training? 

DB: I have always been artistic and into drawing and building things.  When I was young, the first thing I would do when I got a toy was to take it apart to see how it worked.   I loved going to the movies, and writing stories, and magic, and practical jokes.  I was also a big daydreamer and probably would have been diagnosed with A.D.D. if it were today.

I didn’t start sculpting until I was 15 in a pottery class, instead of a clay pot, I made a werewolf head,  I still have it!  It was the first thing I ever sculpted.   I am pretty much self taught, straight out of high school I moved to LA and took a six month course on makeup at a school that I won't even name.  It was kind of a joke, I learned a lot of out dated techniques from the 70's.  

I hit up some studios and showed my portfolio of personal projects and eventually got my foot in the door.  I worked with John Beuchler at Magical Media Industries, and David Miller studios, and a few other projects,  nothing huge.  It was a good experience working, but I had 2 cars stolen and my apartment broken into within a year and a half.  I said see ya to LA and moved to Portland Oregon from there for a more laid back lifestyle.

LMC: What did you do at those LA studios? 

DB: Well, my first job was at M.M.I. working on “The Lawnmower man.”   I worked behind the scenes as a lab technician, and later on set to help with the scenes we had prepared for.  I then worked on “Demonic Toys” at M.M. I.  I did some of the sculpting and all of the teeth work for the puppets.   We also did a few test makeups to try and get new film projects.   I later went to work at David Miller Studios,  and worked on “The Addams Family” and “Livewire” I worked as a lab technician mostly doing moldwork and a little sculpting.   A lot of floor sweeping and cleaning up as well.   I am not the type of guy to step on people’s toes so I just worked as a peon most of the time.  I was actually a better sculptor than a lot of people I worked with but they had been there longer, and so I just did my job.

LMC: Did you plan a career in the arts?                         

DB: Yes,  I knew I wanted to work with my hands making things and working in a creative atmosphere.   My career is still ever changing.  I don't think I will ever be content,  I am always wanting to try new things.

LMC: Do you have another day job outside of the art world?

DB:  Well I have done everything from working at a yogurt shop to artificially inseminating cattle to pay the bills, (don't ask)   A little over five years ago I jumped into an opportunity to start my own cellular phone business.  I ran the store myself and did sculpting in the back.   It worked out pretty well,  I now own 3 stores that I named "Wireless FX."  I had to throw the FX in there! hehe,  I am busy with my stores, but with the help of employees, I do most of my work from home so it gives me the opportunity to be with my family and run Headhunters Studio.  

LMC: I can’t let that one hang in the wind, “artificially inseminating cattle to pay the bills”.  You better come clean.

DB: Dude, I said don’t ask!  I don’t like to think back to that dark place in my life.  Talk about scary.  Well to be honest,  I live in a very rural area, with dairies and feedlots and farms being many peoples income.  I grew up with cows and horses and changing  miles of sprinkler lines.  I have always been used to hard work and my dad has worked in the cattle industry for over 30 years.  I did that for a couple years to supplement my income.  It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta help supply all those burgers to Mcdonalds.  I worked around 4 or 5 hours a day and made good money.  Some times you have to roll up your sleeves (literally) and do what needs to be done to pay the bills. 

LMC: How did you get started making masks?  What are some masks you’ve made in the past?  

DB:  I began making masks in high school after that pottery class I was telling you about.  I loved the idea of making a monster and then being able to wear it, and sort of becoming that character.  Scaring people was also fun, making masks, and doing makeup fit my personality.    I immersed myself in every book I could get my hands on and taught myself through trial and error.  I locked myself in my room with a stack of Fangoria magazines and by the time I graduated high school I had made several masks and appliances and worked with a few haunted houses.  I knew that was what I wanted to do.   The first actual makeup I ever did was a Planet of the Apes type monkey on my friend.  The first full head mask was a Freddy Kreuger head.  I sculpted it over styrofoam wig head and it was so small that I could hardly put it on.  Most of the masks I made back then were like skin tight on my face.  I could hardly breathe.   I eventually figured it out and got a full size headform to sculpt off of.   I graduated high school in 1990 and in 1992 I started a company called Britton's Concoctions.  I had like 8 mask designs.  They were all original pieces,  I sold them through the back of Fangoria magazine and at the Saturday marketplace in Portland.   I also sold a couple designs through Death Studio's called Lunartic and Tantrum. 

LMC: How successful was your company?  Did you have a lot of orders?

DB: Not really, it was more of a weekend thing.  I sold maybe around 3 masks a week.  I was young and had no marketing skills and I had a terrible catalog that did not do my masks any justice.   I think I would have done much better if it were packaged and marketed correctly.  Selling is not my specialty.  I just like making the stuff. 

LMC: You’ve gotten into large scale resin pieces.  Why the move to resin?

SW: I still love the latex, but I got into making trophy heads for a few reasons.  First of all, I was a little burned out on making humanoid characters.  Every mask has to fit over a head form and so your limited to making similar sizes and shapes.  The majority of collectors requested the masks uncut and never wore them anyway.  So I figured why even call them a mask if your not going to wear it? and if your not going to wear them why stick to humanoid characters?  They were more like display heads,   I wanted to sculpt alien animal heads of different sizes and shapes, so I came up with the trophy head idea.  

I was originally going to make them in latex but decided eventually on resin.  Many of the masks I had made years ago were already rotting away and ripping.  I also wanted to keep the detail in my pieces, and I knew that mask molds lost fine detail after a few pulls.  Many of the heads I was thinking of making would not be able to hold there shape hanging off a wall and would need some sort of rigid underform as well.  I wanted to use a wider variety of paints without having to custom mix everything.  I thought if I used a rigid material, I could use different types of paints and also not have to  worry about the distortion and rotting.  After a little investigation I looked into resin kits.  When I found out I could do them hollow,  I knew this is the way I wanted to go.    I researched the resin kit industry and the materials used.   I asked a lot of questions and bugged people who knew what they were doing until I knew how. 

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