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Time for some Custom Mask Painting? PuckGobbler Interviews Tony Jarrett of Masked Expressions

Being a beer league goalie, I had always thought about the day when I would bite the bullet and have my mask painted, and then my opportunity presented itself after last spring season ended. I went all-out and replaced EVERY single item of my gear, right down to my new vapour-thin socks. Part of this splurge also included a new Itech 960 mask, which through my bro-in-law’s referral, I had sent down to a mask designer in North Carolina. The finished product came back beyond my expectations; with my childhood heroes (Wolverine…Daredevil…The Punisher) blazing greatness on the shell that has so many times now saved my life! In fact, I was so impressed with the quality, speed and price I wanted to share this story with all of you, since it really no longer has to break the bank to make you look just that much cooler in the game…

(Check this and many more interviews out at  FarParker Interviews)

How are things in North Carolina Tony - sunny and busy I hope?

Things are great here in NC, sunny and 73. I am very busy these days, as people are finally figuring out that Masked Expressions is offering the highest of quality paint jobs at half the price of many other mask-painting companies. As you know, I believe in quality and making people happy!

I believe it! How long have you been doing the Masked Expressions business now, and when did you figure out you have a knack for this line of work?

Masked Expressions has been in business now going on 16 years. I figured out that I should be doing this when I was working for my father, who has pretty much done everything that can be done in the custom painting world. Bill Horn, a goalie for the Greensboro Monarchs ECHL team here was one of the guys who helped me with the idea. He and I became good friends - he would hang out at our shop and one day he said, “Why don't you do this?” He saw me trying to get other goalies masks for my dad to paint and said, “This is your gig man, how about doing my mask!” From there he introduced me to a couple other guys and then I just went crazy with the idea. 

I was also lucky - the Florida Panthers moved their American Hockey League team here and that is where I met Kevin Weekes (whom I did maybe 10-12 masks for) and several others. Then the Carolina Hurricanes moved here, and that is where I met Wally Tatomir, the Team’s equipment Manager. He and I made good friends and I created many goalie masks for them, including Trevor Kidd, Tom Barrasso, Arturs Irbe, Kirk McLean, Cam Ward and many minor league guys.

Wow – that’s quite a list already! I assume working with players like that made it a little easier (as opposed to scarier) to get into this business?

It was never scary to me doing this; I loved Hockey since I was a kid! During that time in the late sixties / early seventies my dad was friends with the Eastern Hockey League team the Greensboro Generals. They gave me my first pair of skates at 5 years old. They were always hanging out at my dad’s shop working on their cars too. My dad says he wished he knew the goalie mask craze would be the way it is today so he could have been first to start that - he admits the idea did happen but nothing was ever done.

Funny…a very wise man once told me to buy Yahoo! Stocks when they first went public…and I said, “Who the hell would buy into a company called Yahoo???” Since you started, do you have any idea of how many masks you’ve completed?

I could never give a number as to how many masks I have painted because it's just too many and I have no way of counting!

Are there any that easily stand out or come to mind?

I am proud of all the masks I have done, but one I am very proud of was a mask for Jerry Bruckheimer - he does a lot of the big movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and hit TV shows like CSI and others. I am a big fan of his work and he is a Hockey fan, and I was lucky enough to paint a mask for him that sits on his desk in a glass case of the Pirates of the Caribbean (see the attached photo).

Jerry Bruckheimer Pirate Mask, by Masked Expressions

And, if you HAD to pick an all-time favourite…?

One of my favorite masks was for Kevin Weekes while with the Florida Panthers - it had big Palm Trees and the Cat on top peeking out between the trees while the hot sun was behind him. Simple, but looked great even from a distance.

What would be the ‘weirdest’ or strangest mask you have ever done?

I have done some weird paintjobs, but my theory on that is what is weird to me might not be weird to you? Whatever the customer wants or likes is fine with me. I do see a lot of interesting ideas come my way, some challenging. I remember in the beginning a good customer came to me and wanted a mean Snowman. I thought, OK… I started the work and realized how do you make a Snowman mean - I always see them happy! I was unable to create that artwork and lost that customer, now I can do that and I just laugh it off.

What actually goes into the design process - can you describe this a bit for any goalies thinking of having this done? And maybe touch specifically on how the design is arrived at?

I spend good quality time with each customer to decide all of the details for the final artwork. I make a lot of notes and we match colours, and I always like to use as much existing art reference as possible. I believe that goalies want to show their personality on their mask…It shows if you are aggressive, or like happy things, or you just want the mask to match your gear.

Do you see this evolving into another branding opportunity for advertisers? Hell, logos are now everywhere in arenas (and hockey video games), so what's to stop it from the mask?

I had the idea of painting goalie masks using brand names and logos during the late nineties; I thought teams and goalies could get paid to have Coca Cola, Pizza Hut or anything on the mask to help sell products, but goalies did not like that since it had nothing to do with them!

For us "Beer-League Guys," what can we expect in terms of turnaround time, cost ranges and warranty stuff (if it chips and I can't paint, then what?!?)

Turnaround times for custom paint jobs now range around 2-4 weeks on average, and maybe a extra week or two for very detailed jobs. Prices vary, but an average is $300-450 U.S. Of course more is spent at times, but I try to keep the prices down as much as possible. I guarantee quality on every paint job, even single colors, and offer free touch-ups on normal wear and tear.

Any final comments about where you see the business going, or maybe the next evolution of goalie mask design?

Not sure where the mask is headed, but I hope to continue going forward with this; I really enjoy working with the people and making new friends as I have done for a long time now. I am now also working with Kevin Marlowe, the owner of a brand new mask company called 21 Degrees LLC. They are making the all-new Phantom mask formally known as the NXI Phantom. These masks are going to be awesome - they have been some of the most popular masks on the market for years, and I am glad to see them coming back. I will be helping by housing all of the products as they are made, as well painting all colours, custom paintjobs and doing assembly and shipping all over the world. Most companies that sold these masks before are looking forward to selling them again; they were easy to sell because of the price, quality and safety!

The business also has another facet as well, where I paint motorcycle helmets (for example players such as Henrik Zetterburg and A. Fronzen from the Detroit Red Wings), and have also now painted the hood of a racecar, taking things into some new directions. However, the goalie mask will always be the mainstay of the business…

Masked Expressions

The Phantom was actually on my top-choice list of masks, but I was unable to find one locally at the time…I think that may be the mask Loungo wears? At any rate, Tony, I would like to thank you on behalf of the FarParker Team for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this interview with us – it was really fun and interesting, and I look forward to many more years of watching your work and success – best of luck! (And, here are a couple of images from my own mask you helped create - two years in, and still glistens like the day it arrived...thanks so much again!!)

Thanks PuckGobbler for being a great friend and a long time customer. I am glad I could answer these questions for you and will be glad to do so anytime! Thanks again!

Tony Jarrett

MASKED EXPRESSIONS

www.MaskedExpressions.com

PuckGobbler Visits Vancoouver's Gay Pride Parade (Not That There's Anything Wrong With That!!)

Another year of Vancouver Fireworks has come and gone, but I did manage to take in this Saturday's 'China' Show from my parents rooftop patio in English Bay...along with about eight martinis. As such, the decision to crash at their place was easy. The decision to get up Sunday morning and go watch the Gay Pride Parade (for the 1st time), was a little more challenging, but I'm actually very glad we went....simply put - this was a blast.

I've been to many parades before, and hands down, this takes the cake for fun, energy, crowd enthusiasm, things to see, variety of floats and participants...and sheer colour. There were tens of thousands of people lined along Denman, and not ONE hint of biggotry, racism, anger or angst. This was an event based on understanding, compassion, education and true spirit that brought people (gay and straight) together in a way I'd never seen before.

Speaking with an Iranian women in the crowd beside me, she nearly had tears in her eyes from the joy of now living in such a tolerant city. People are still executed in her homeland for coming out, and her decision to stay in Canada has been firmly rooted.

Now, I'm not gonna be all soapy and stuff here, but I did want to throw this out there that I am so dearly happy to live here in Vancouver where we can all get along, regardless of who we are and what we do. And, yes...the organisers of the parade were also quite kind to include several floats to make my enjoyment of the event that much better, kind of like watching 'The Bachelor' with your girlfriend or wife. Show sucks, but damn there's something for everyone to see to keep you entertained! If you haven't been before, do check this out next year; it was as big a bang as the fireworks the night before...