Tom Banwell—Leather and Resin Projects

Strange Artifact from Tokyo

2012-01-24T13:54:00.000-08:00

Bassist/composer Yuki Tsuda of the Japanese band and steampunk unit Strange Artifact recently performed in Tokyo wearing my Ragnarök gas mask. From the report I received the mask was a big hit!

You can read about the band and see more pics on their Facebook page.

You too can own one of these fabulous steampunk gas masks, which I'm selling on Etsy.

Eviction

2012-01-20T14:10:00.001-08:00

Another commissioned leather and resin mask. I decided a couple of months ago that I really should learn to take good photographs of my work, and to that end I bought a Canon eos T2i, some good lighting equipment and Adobe Photoshop. I have been studying all three since then, and here, ladies and gentlemen, is my first Photoshopped image of my steampunk leatherwork.

I've titled it Eviction, and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Models are my wife and myself. Background is the entry to Empire Mine State Park in Grass Valley, California. The two models and the background were all photographed separately and assembled in Photoshop. What a great program!

Fire Breather

2011-12-13T19:45:00.000-08:00

The Fire Breather mask is a recently commissioned piece.

Black Bunny Mask

2011-12-12T16:31:00.001-08:00

Perhaps my most photographed mask. Here is a selection to enjoy.

This mask can be purchased at my Etsy store.

Krankheit

2011-11-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

I want to thank everyone who sent in a name idea for my latest plague doctor mask. I received over 200 names, many of them really good, and I had a very hard time choosing my favorite for this mask. Ultimately I chose Krankheit, sent in by Phoenix, for both its sound (pronounced like "Cronkite") and appearance, and meaning (German for sickness).

Congratulations to Phoenix for winning the Krankheit plague doctor mask in black. I am selling these in both black and white on Etsy.

Phoenix, please post your email so I can get your mailing address.

Naming Contest for Plague Doctor Mask

2011-11-01T07:01:00.000-07:00

I've had many people want my classic plague doctor mask but wished it didn't cost so much ($285). Much of the cost comes from the hours and hours of handstitching that goes into each one, so I have designed a variation that is faster to make. I have replaced most of the stitching with metal rivets, which not only lowers the price ( to $195) but gives the mask an edgy steampunk look.

I've kept the shape of the mask as close to the original as I could, so it still has a look of historical accuracy. Here is the original classic plague doctor mask on the right, and the new riveted mask on the left.

I took some photos while making it, shown here. Once the holes are cut the two-part rivets are set by hand.

Then hammered together with the ball peen hammer on a steel shoemaker's anvil.

Here is the mask all riveted together, ready for the eyepieces to be stitched in place and then painted.

And here is the completed mask all painted black and with gray acrylic lenses.

I'm holding a contest to come up with a name for the new mask. It will run until midnight PST, November 15, 2011. The winner will receive the mask pictured, which is the first one I've made. Winner will have to pay for shipping from Penn Valley, California, US. I will be sole judge to determine the winning entry.

To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, here is how I named my other steampunk plague doctor masks. Beulenpest is the German word for bubonic plague. And Ichabod is named after Ichabod Crane from The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, because the long beak reminded me of a crane's. So send in your creative names for the new riveted mask (by commenting on the blog post), and maybe you will win. You may submit as many entries as you like. In the event of duplicate entries of the winning name the first posted in this blog will be the winner.

PSHoudini meets the Top Hat.....

2011-10-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

....and here is the result.

Photoshopped picture of Donald Trump by Brazilian artist PSHoudini.

Recycling Parts

2011-09-13T16:17:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that I had some gas mask parts that could be combined in a new and different way. If I took the Pachydermos/Olifant leather pattern and made it without the copper ears or the rubber hose trunk, it could serve as a gas mask with a snout. Not out of the question, after making the RHINO mask with the big horn.

For the canisters, almost two years ago I made some custom ones for one mask and then never used them again. That seemed like a good start, and I could easily enough make a variation of eyepieces and fabricate something for the exhaust (to fill the hole in the snout). Using these preexisting pieces would save me a ton of work and allow me to produce a new gas mask in a fairly short amount of time.

Let me explain the history of the different canisters, eyepieces and exhaust ports that I have used in my steampunk leather and resin pieces.

The first steampunk leather piece I made (Sept 2008) was the #43 gas mask, copied from a yard sale find. For one of the eyes I molded and cast a camera lens. For the other I used the end of a flashlight. For the combination canister/exhaust I scratch built it using acrylic sheet, screws and a knob from a camera.

The next mask I made was a respirator I call the Bad Air Transmutator. It has no eyes, and I scratch built the pair of canisters. Two months later (Feb 2009) I made Pachydermos, my elephantine gas mask. It had a lot to it, and I scratch built the matching eyepiece bases and caps.

I made a leather covered vacuum hose, and leather trimmed copper ears, and when it came to the canisters I didn't want to scratch build them as well, so I used the Transmutator canisters. My first recycled piece.

Fast forward to July 2009 when I built the Defender gas mask. I scratchbuilt new canisters, and used a camera zoom for the right eye. For the left eye I used the Pachydermos eyepiece. Recycle #2.

For the indy film After the Fall I modified the Transmutator canister design by shrinking it down and covering it with a metal grid. My first two-part canister. That is the canister I'm using on my latest gas mask.

In Jan 2010 I constructed the RHINO gas mask with everything newly scratch built: Eyepiece base, eyepiece cap, canister and exhaust horn.

In June I made the steampunk plague doctor mask Dr. Beulenpest, using the Pachydermos eyepiece base and a new nonagonal eyepiece cap. For the other eye I used the camera eyepiece from #43.

That brings us to my lastest mask Ragnarök, a term which means the end of the cosmos in Norse mythology. For the new exhaust port I'm using the Pachydermos eyepiece base and the Beulenpest cap, along with a circle of drywall sanding mesh and scratch built screen to hold it in place. For the matching eyes I'm using the Pachydermos eye base and a new domed eyecage.

Domed Eyecage

2011-09-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

For my latest steampunk gas mask I wanted to make an eyepiece that was a domed cage. After considering various ways to build such a thing I settled on what I know best, leather and resin. I began by laser cutting a circle of vegetable tanned leather with cross bars, shown on the left in the picture below.

My goal was to have it shaped like the dome on the right, with the cross bars spaced so that the wearer could still see through them adequately.

I stretched the dampened flat piece of leather in three steps. I began with the wooden knob I had used for forming the ear on Pachydermos, shown above on the left. In my wanderings I had collected the steel fence post ends shown above on the right, one with a higher dome than the other that I used for steps two and three.

Once the leather dried it became rigid, and I molded it in silicone rubber. Here is a photo of the leather original on the left, an unfinished cold cast aluminum casting in the middle, and the finished, polished casting on the right.

And here it is placed into the undyed leather mask.

James Vaughan Meets the Minx...

2011-08-26T16:43:00.000-07:00

...and here is the result.

I recently designed the Minx mask in red for the Halloween season. We also make it in all black. It is available on Etsy.

James Vaughan Photography blog

James Vaughan Photography on Flickr

A New Steampunk Gas Mask: Hosehead?

2011-07-28T13:32:00.001-07:00

I found this rubber gas mask some time ago at a yard sale, and it is my inspiration and starting point for making a new leather and resin steampunk gas mask.

It is marked USN for United States Navy and I am guessing it is from World War II. Maybe someone out there can tell me.

It is distinguished from any other gas mask in my collection by the two rubber hoses running to a (missing) tank of breathable gases, and that is a feature I definitely want to keep on my mask.

My first challenge is determining how to make the rubber hoses. I looked into simply buying a comparative hose but wasn't having much luck finding it. Then I considered building it out of a small latex tubing covered in leather washers. They would have to alternate large and small to allow for the flexing required.

At this point I am thinking of molding the original (shown above removed from the mask) and reproducing it in black neoprene.

The natural curvature of the hose would make building a plaster mold challenging, and so I inserted a wooden dowel into the hose to straighten it out. Making a rigid mold will now not be so daunting.

I chose "Hosehead" as a working name for the piece (for obvious reasons), but I would like to hear from my reading audience any suggestions for a permant name.

Alexi Torres, Painter

2011-07-26T08:55:00.000-07:00

Alexi Torres is an oil painter from Atlanta, GA who grew up in Cuba. He wrote me "My works on oil/canvas are based in the idea of redoing, recycling and reusing. I get an image already conceived and transform it, painting it with organic material, like basket weaving, tree leaves and feathers. I came across your creative masks and I did ... paintings on canvas that I wanted to share with you. I did transform it a bit."

Pictured above is my Rococo mask in red leather.

And here is Alexi's painting of the same subject, turned into leaves on a basket woven face. I suggest you click on the painting to see it in a larger size in order to see the detail. More of his work can be found on his website.

California State Fair Fine Art Competition

2011-07-25T09:39:00.000-07:00

I entered my steampunk gas mask Olifant into the California State Fair's Fine Art Competition and won an Award of Merit. Whoopie!

They asked for a display case to keep the dirty fingers of the 250,000 expected viewers from caressing my work of art, and I obliged by building a clear acrylic case with black steamy straps and buckles holding it together. Now it really looks sinister. The photo shows it on display.

Ye Wenchie's Customized Ronin

2011-07-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

My friend Wenchie's take on the Ronin respirator, shown below. And a fine job it is!

Ye Wenchie's Flickr

Dr. Beulenpest: Tatoo?!

2011-07-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

My photo of Dr. Beulenpest wearing a leather top hat has been turned into a tatoo. Although I don't much care for tatoos in general, I must admit this one is well done.

http://news.bmezine.com/2011/06/27/the-doctor-is-in-2/comment-page-1/#comment-230751

Tauruscat: The Final Photos

2011-07-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

The Tauruscat Dream Helmet has been done for several months, but I just got around to photographing it.

I had been planning on shooting video of it with lights in action, but alas, that still hasn't come to fruition.

Here is a detail shot of many of the resin components.

The rear view showing off the six aether collectors.

Ichabod: Completed

2011-06-18T14:48:00.001-07:00

I've remade the straps, and painted them black as shown below. Let me explain why these straps were more of a challenge to design than my other steampunk masks.

After making a traditional looking plague doctor mask last year, I quickly followed it up with a steampunked version, Dr. Beulenpest. The traditional mask is rather squat, and Beulenpest is sleeker, with a longer narrower beak.

Here is the (more or less) historically correct version plague doctor mask.

This is Dr. Beulenpest. Notice the longer, narrower beak.

And here, ladies and gentlemen, is Ichabod. Longer and narrower than even Beulenpest. The only way I could slim the good doctor down further was to move the bottom of the mask from below the wearer's chin to near his mouth. Notice in the photo above the black lambskin throat cover, which hides the wearer's chin, and gives more of an avian illusion.

In order for the wearer to speak and be generally comfortable, the base of the mask must be lifted off of the mouth, and not be touching it. While my other masks rest on any part of the face and head that they touch, the Ichabod straps need to hold the mask cantilevered. And so I came up with a headband and a top strap that can be adjusted to fit securely on the head without relying on pulling back on the mask. I then simply attached the mask to the headband with rivets.

The mask is now complete, and I will list it on eBay this afternoon. I am very pleased with how it turned out, and feel that it is some of my best work. Below are a couple more shots of the finished Ichabod.

Here is the eBay listing with more photos.

Ichabod: The Straps

2011-06-15T19:27:00.001-07:00

Returning to the Ichabod, I adjusted the pattern so that the beak opening wasn't so large, and now the fit is good. Next up is making the straps.

I've made a simple one inch wide band and temporarily attach it to the mask to see how the beak will sit on the face.

That will basically work, but I need a nicer way to attach it, and I need a strap running over the head (front to back) to keep the beak cantilevered and off of the chin. Here I've added tabs to the leather mask to accomplish both things.

I've decided to make this mask white (a classical plague doctor mask color), and so I paint it with acrylic latex paint. I also finish the eye and beak hardware and attach them to the mask.

And here it is with my first attempt at the straps. I think that they are too busy, and so will simplify them before moving on. The challenge is to have it be adjustable, both circumferentially around the head, and over the top of the head.

Ronin: Respirator Gas Mask Tutorial

2011-06-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

This tutorial is adapted from a workshop I lead at the Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition last March in northern California. I am attempting to make this easy to follow and doable even for the novice leatherworker. The pattern pieces are all to scale, and include holes for rivets, slits for thread, holes and slits for buckles and a button stud, plus decorative openings for ventilation.

Materials and Tools needed:

2 square feet of vegetable tanned cowhide, 3-4 or 4-5 oz weight.

Awl or lacing fork

1 stitching needle (Tandy 1195)

4 pieces of 32” long waxed thread

22 medium rivets (Tandy 1373)

4 rectangle rings ¾" wide (Tandy 1137)

2 buckles ¾"

1 button stud

Hammer for setting rivets

Anvil or steel plate

Heavy shears for cutting leather

Scissors for trimming thread

Screwdriver for setting button stud

Leather dye or wood stain or shoe polish to color leather

Contact cement to glue leather

Enlarge the pattern so that the ruler marks are one inch long.

Assembly

Wet these four leather pieces: Front, two cheeks and surround.

Stitch cheeks to the front with needle and waxed thread using a running stitch. Front goes on top of cheeks. Match up colors as shown on diagram, ie. green to green, pink to pink. Begin at one end from the flesh side of the leather (inside of mask). Stitch to the other end going through every hole, then turn around and come back to beginning. Tie two thread ends in a square knot on inside. Trim thread to less than ¼’. Sew the other cheek on in the same manner. After both cheeks are stitched onto front, place damp surround over mask with pointy end facing up. Take two sets of rivets (male and female) and attach the surround to the mask through the center holes, one on each side. Press rivets together with your fingers till they snap into place. Don’t hammer flat until later. The rivets will keep the parts aligned while you stitch them together. Stitch the bottom part of the surround to the mask using the same running stitch as before. Tie a square knot, then stitch top half of surround to mask. Tie off, then hammer two rivets flat. Attach two rectangle ring straps to sides of mask with two rivets each. Pointy part of strap goes up. Place four rectangle rings onto straps (one per strap) and fold straps back, aligning the rivet holes. Hand place the rivets and hammer flat.

Attach two head straps to each other using four rivets. The free ends go to outside (grain side). Take two buckle straps and attach to ends of head straps. Round end of buckle straps goes to inner holes of head straps. Hand place rivets. Place two buckles over free ends of buckle straps. Fatter end of buckle goes to outside. Place rivets through two buckle strap holes and then head strap holes. Hammer all four rivets flat. Shape mask to face and allow leather to dry.

Attach button stud with screw to left lower side strap. Mark where button stud cover goes behind button stud and attach with contact cement. Fold upper and lower side straps over rectangle rings and rivet.

The two resin canisters as shown can be purchased at my Etsy shop, or you can create your own. Mine attach to the mask using a bolt and washer. Attach two canister bolt covers to inside of mask with contact cement.

Buckle upper side straps and adjust to your head. Attach lower side strap to button stud behind your neck.

Participants at the Nova Albion workshop received a kit of most of the parts. I still have a few kits available which I am selling for $49 and include everything except dyes and contact cement.

If any part of this tutorial needs clarification please make a comment, and I will attempt make it clear.

©Tom Banwell Designs 2011

Ichabod: The Pattern

2011-04-30T16:23:00.001-07:00

Now I'll make the patterns for the leather pieces (which will support the three cold cast parts).

I begin by marking where the seams will go on the plasticene with a Sharpie™ felt tip pen.

After sealing the clay with a coating of pink urethane resin, I cover it all with strips of masking tape. The resin is necessary as masking tape won't adhere to the clay.

Once I am satisfied with the pattern pieces I use an Xacto™ knife to cut off the individual masking tape patterns.

Now I test my pattern by cutting them in a thin cardboard, stapling and taping the different parts together. All looks fine, so I will proceed to the next step.

And finally I cut the pieces out of leather and stitch them together. The eyepieces fit nicely, however the beak opening is too large. I will have to adjust the pattern and try again.

Ichabod: The Beak

2011-04-21T19:17:00.001-07:00

I have built the beak with the same sort of relief decoration as the eyepieces.

This is the beak in progress with the lasered relief applique in the background.

Here is the final cast beak, showing both the side and bottom view, in cold cast aluminum.

And here is the beak on the plasticene sculpt, giving an approximatation of the final mask.

Ichabod: Eyepiece Cap

2011-04-13T15:56:00.001-07:00

I've made the eyepiece cap (the ring that keeps the lens in place) with a decorative design similar to the eyepiece itself.

Here—left to right—are the model, the unfinished casting, and the polished cold cast aluminum cap.

And this is the eyepiece with cap in place on top. I am quite pleased with how it is looking.

Ichabod: The First Sculpt

2011-04-09T13:22:00.000-07:00

With the eyepieces done I move on to sculpting the mask in clay.

I place the two eyepieces onto the face form and start adding plasticene, which I've warmed in the microwave oven to soften it.

I build the beak up to where I think it should be. I'm not concerned about getting it smooth at this stage. I just want to get the proper proportions.

I use my clay tool to remove a layer of plasticene at the bottom of the beak, where the leather will lie over the resin.

And I cut off what will become the resin beak, and prepare to make an RTV silicone rubber mold of it.

Once the mold is cured I cast it in urethane resin and proceed to refine it. Sanding down the resin is easier to do then smoothing out the clay, and achieve a nice clean surface.

Ichabod: The Finished Eyepiece

2011-04-07T15:04:00.000-07:00

After staring at the eyepiece prototype for a few hours I have decided that the foam relief is too pronounced, so I've replaced it with a much thinner material.

The new prototype is on the left, the cold cast aluminum part just out of the mold is in the middle, and the polished eyepiece is on the right. The cold cast is a dull gray until it is sanded to reveal the metal powder and polished. Next I will move on to the sculpting of the mask in clay.

Ichabod: Molding the Eyepiece

2011-04-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the Ichabod eyepiece, I seal the outside with Bondo™ auto body putty so that the mold material won't leak in between the individual pieces of acrylic.

I hot glue the model to a small piece of Formica. Here I am hot gluing a paper popcorn cup down around the model to contain the rubber.

This is the model, cup and wooden dowel (to make it easier to demold and to save on rubber) ready for the silicone rubber.

The silicone rubber RTV (room temperature vulcanization) is ladled out with a spatula.

First I weigh out the white rubber base......

.....then I weigh out the dark blue activator, which is 10% of the base weight.

After mixing it completely with the spatula, the silicone mix is placed into a vacuum chamber to boil out any excess air. This picture shows the rubber mix boiling away (at room temperature).

Once it is vacuumed (deaired) the silicone rubber is poured over the model.

The next morning I demold the eyepiece, and cast it in a charcoal colored urethane resin. I sand smooth both the interior and the exterior of the casting.

Now for the decoration. Rather than add screws or bolts as I have with earlier steampunk eyepieces I have decided to add a design in bas relief. First I draw out the design with a black Sharpie™ on white paper, then scan it. Bringing it into CorelDraw™ I vectorize it and clean up the lines, then laser cut it out of green card stock to check the fit onto the eyepiece.

All looks well so I proceed to laser cut a thin piece of foam with mirror images of my design. The pressure sensitive tape on the back allows them to be attached and ready to mold.

Ichabod: A New Plague Dr Mask

2011-04-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

I have decided to create a third version of the plague doctor mask, in addition to the classic historical style, and the steampunked Dr. Beulenpest, shown below.

I have had several requests for an extended beak, and that will be one of the modifications in the new mask. In my initial sketches (shown below) the mask reminds me of a crane, and so I am calling the new piece Ichabod, in a nod to the 19th century author Washington Irving and his Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Before I can sculpt the new mask in clay I'm going need to build new eyepieces for it. Here I have lasered out several rings in acrylic sheet, which will be aligned and assembled using the brass rod. I slide each piece in the proper order over the three rods and use epoxy cement to hold them together. A stationary belt sander is used to turn the stepped bottom into a smooth angle. And here I've cemented a flange on the bottom to keep the eyepiece in place on the mask. Next step is molding it in silicone rubber.

Nova Albion Costume Contest

2011-03-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

Photo by David Bedno

I am pleased to announce that the Banwell contingency at the Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition won the Conquering Hordes category of the costume contest at the Ball of the Brass Dragon.

Photo by Arandale

My wife Jill went as Dr. Beulenpest, son Erin as the Sentinel, daughter-in-law Kristina wore the Rhino gas mask, and I donned the Olifant.

Watch the video

Marcus G. Meets the Black Bunny...

2011-03-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

...and here is the result!

Marcus G Photography

Tauruscat: Electronics

2011-03-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

We are hard at work on the electronics of the helmet. Here is a peak into the guts of it.

Sgt. Stubbs, Lab Assistant

2011-02-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

My latest steampunk project, Professor Tauruscat's Dream Helmet, will be on display at the Museum of Curiosities, part of the 2011 Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition.

Demonstrating how the helmet works will be the professor's able lab assistant, Sgt. Stubbs (pictured above), on whom the professor has relied for many years.

Respirator Workshop at Nova Albion

2011-02-25T16:38:00.000-08:00

In less than a month Nova Albion, this year's northern California steampunk convention will be taking place in Santa Clara, March 25 - 27.

I will be teaching a hands-on workshop in which participants will begin construction of a leather respirator, very much like the Excursionist pictured. The only difference is that most of the rivets will be repaced with hand stitching so that everyone can be working on it at the same time.

Cost of the workshop is $20 to cover materials, and everything is included except for stain (for the leather and canisters) and contact cement. The Excursionist sells at my Etsy shop for $125. Such a deal! The schedule for workshops has not yet been announced.

Photo by Topher Adam Photography

Tauruscat: Front Plate Finished

2011-02-06T10:03:00.000-08:00

Here is the front plate stained and antiqued and in place on the front of the helmet. The colors look better now, don't they? And the URF does not stand out as an anachronism.

Tauruscat: Front Plate

2011-02-05T09:55:00.001-08:00

My son Erin is designing the electronic components of Professor Tauruscat's helmet, and has included an ultrasonic range finder as a switch for the lights. I am mounting this on the front of the helmet. It works by sending out an ultrasonic beam that measures how far away the object in front of it is. Depending on the distance it signals the Arduino to perform a certain sequence of lighting the LEDs.

The URF is shown above at the bottom center, and will be press fit into the acrylic mount on the right, than inserted into the leather plate that is shown being stitched together.

I constructed the mount to incorporate the URF into a Victorian looking plate so that it would not look out of place. The leather and mount still need to be antiqued.

The URF switch will allow me to wave my hand in front of the helmet and activate the blinking lights.

The Cape Revisited

2011-01-19T09:26:00.000-08:00

Last March I posted about my top hat being purchased for the NBC show The Cape. Well, last Sunday in episode three Kozmo it appeared in the hands and on the head of magician character Max Malini.

The only problem being poor Max is wearing it backwards! The seam shouldn't be in the front. Later in the episode the Russian villain Gregor Molotov poses as Max by wearing his coat and hat. He also has the hat on backwards! Watch the full episode here.

Useless triva: Keith David, who plays the character of Max and is pictured above, also played the father in There's Something About Mary. His wife's character was played by Markie Post with whom I went to high school.

Steampunk Gas Mask Calendar

2011-01-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

Topher Adam Photography has published a calendar featuring his photographs of my steampunk leather and resin art. It is available at Red Bubble.

It measures a generous 11½" by 16½". Check it out! He is also selling greeting cards of the same photos.

Tauruscat: All Hooked Up

2011-01-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

I have taken my replica of Professor Tauruscat's dream helmet from the shelf and dusted it off. Although it has been six months since I last worked on it, I have a good excuse. I've been busy! My leatherwork has been much in demand——and I am grateful for that——to the point of where my wife and I are making a living from it. Huzzah!

In my last missive on the helmet I had completed the insulators which attach to the crest, seen in the photo above. Next step was to cut the crest trim out of 2-3 oz leather and attach it to the bottom of the crest.

Here is the bottom view when the trim is mostly screwed in place. I then set the crest in place and bolted it to the leather helmet.

At that point I could attach the connecting hoses to both the insulators on the crest and the sensors all around the helmet.

Finally I can see what this crazy helmet is going to look like. Now a few blinking lights to give it life, and some aether collectors on the back to power it, and I'll be wearing it proudly to the Nova Albion con coming in March.

For those of you who may have missed the beginning of this saga (or forgotten due to it being almost a year ago) you may read it here from the beginning.

Why I Make Steampunk Gas Masks

2011-01-12T13:45:00.000-08:00

A gas mask is a piece of equipment worn on the face whose purpose is to purify the air being breathed. While it is fundamentally functional it becomes part of the costume as it dramatically alters the appearance of the wearer. This can be perceived by the viewer as either terrifying—as one resembles a monster—or humorous—as one becomes a silly clown.

Modern gas masks are made of synthetic rubber, but historical gas masks—first made in the late nineteenth century—were constructed primarily of leather with metal fittings. In a dystopian steampunk world which might have been, there is greater unregulated industrialization and unexplained disasters, resulting in gross pollution of the air. This in turn leads to ordinary folk wearing gas masks on a regular basis.

As a steampunk artist, my creative challenge is to imagine what this equipment might have looked like. I like to combine the terrifying with the silly so as to invoke curiosity and wonder. The antiqued leatherwork looks like it came from the nineteenth century, but the form of the masks—which might resemble a rhinoceros or an elephant—are pure fantasy.

Still More from Topher Adam

2010-12-31T16:27:00.000-08:00

Cowhide with Fur Shako with Aether Detector Gauge

Sentinel With Sword

Underground Explorer Enters the Cave

Rhino Gas Mask

Airship Captain's Helmet, Excursionist Respirator and Raughnold Raygun

More from Topher Adam Photography

2010-12-19T07:17:00.001-08:00

Olifant Gas Mask & Model 81 Raygun

Underground Explorer

Sentinel

Plague Doctor

Firemaster

Dr. Beulenpest

Topher Adam, Photographer Extraordinaire

2010-12-10T15:40:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I spent the day at Tapat Studios with photographer Topher Adam, and the first images from the shoot are amazing! Topher not only works the camera, he also is the stylist and makes many of his own costumes through his company Skull 'n Crossbows. I took in several of my steampunk leather masks and helmets for him to photograph. The feeling he achieves in these pictures takes my breath away.

Dr. Beulenpest
A steampunk plague doctor mask

Firemaster

Gas mask and fire helmet

The Bad Air Transmutator
A steampunk respirator

Underground Explorer

Helmet, goggles and respirator

Topher Adam even finds time to publish his own dark glamour magazine Dark Beauty. There will be many more shoots with Topher Adam in the future, I am sure. The model is Kellen Hart.

A Steamier Raygun Holster

2010-12-05T14:29:00.000-08:00

When I created the Raughnold Raygun almost two years ago I made a holster for it with sort of a Buck Rogers look. Futuristic, but not particularly steampunk. Along with gears and goggles, rayguns have become an iconic part of the steampunk atavistic reality, and I started thinking recently how I would like to construct an alternate holster with a steamier look to it.

Original leather holster

The one element that I came up with to accomplish this was to add straps and buckles. Above is my concept sketch.

And here is a full-size paper mock up.

Next I began playing around with how a single piece of leather could incorporate straps that interwove, like clasped fingers.

Here is the pattern I worked out in a heavy paper, before committing the design to leather.

After a few minor alterations I fashioned it in leather. I decided it still needed some changes, including lengthening the straps, and adding a reinforcement around the belt loop opening.

Here then is my final design.

And here is the back view, showing the interlocking straps.

Looking for a Steampunk Art Book?

2010-12-01T06:59:00.000-08:00

Well then you're in luck! Or will be in 2011. Just since May of this year I've been asked by six different authors/editors/publishers to include photos of my steamy gas masks, helmets, etc. in their publications. Six! Next year is shaping up to be a banner year for steampunk art books.

Here are several of them:

The Art of Steampunk: Extraordinary Devices and Ingenious Contraptions from the Leading Artists of the Steampunk Movement

Steampunk: Victorian Futurism

1,000 Steampunk Creations: Neo-Victorian Fashion, Gear, and Art

The Steampunk Bible: An Illustrated Guide to the World of Imaginary Airships, Corsets and Goggles, Mad Scientists, and Strange Literature

Raven Mask as Fine Art

2010-11-16T17:00:00.000-08:00

Kathrin Longhurst of Seaforth, New South Wales, Australia was kind enough to share a painting she did of my raven mask. Cool, eh?

Respirator #4 with Canisters

2010-10-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last month I started on respirator #4, then had to set it aside while I filled all the Halloween mask orders coming in.

I have at last had time to get back to it. I redesigned the ventilation holes, and constucted the canister, making it smaller than my previous respirator. Pictured above is the undyed leather mask and canister prototype.

Here is the respirator assembled (except for the straps) and dyed and antiqued. I'm hoping to be able to retail this piece for under $100.

Lois Lane: Dominatrix

2010-10-13T16:37:00.000-07:00

More TV news. On the CW's Smallville (the story of a young Clark Kent), Erica Durance plays the role of Lois Lane. When Lois goes undercover as a dominatrix in order to get a story, she chooses my violet Swirly mask as part of her disguise.

I don't know if I should feel pleased or insulted! This scene unfolds on the episode titled "Supergirl", season 10 episode 3, and can be watched on hulu.com.

Black Rabbit Mask in Vogue Paris

2010-10-02T16:17:00.000-07:00

My Rabbit mask in black leather is featured in the October 2010 issue of Vogue Paris magazine in an article entitled Bal Masqué.

Photo by Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott. Modeled by Mariacarla Boscono.

The Power of a Photograph to Sell

2010-09-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have recently begun incorporating professionally shot photos of our masks into our Etsy listings, and in doing so have discovered just what a powerful tool a good photograph can be.

This filigree Hearts mask in red was first offered a year and a half ago. I thought it was a good design, but it barely sold.

A couple of weeks ago WinterWolf Studios took this photo of the Hearts mask, and suddenly sales of it are going through the roof! Same mask, different photo.

In a similar situation, my photo of the Raven mask on a mannequin drew little attention.

However this photo by Anya E Photography has got buyers clamoring for it. Same mask, better looking model!

PS. We are well into our Halloween season for masks, and are super busy, so don't expect too many posts until November.

Respirator #4

2010-09-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

As I recall the first steampunk prop I ever made was the bad air transmutator respirator, which I still sell for $225 on Etsy. Ever since then, I've been wanting to design another respirator that I could sell for less. I make both respirators and gas masks, and the distinguishing feature in the nomenclature that I use is that respirators cover just the mouth and nose, whereas gas masks also cover the eyes.

I made a series of sketches to work out the design. I wanted to use mostly rivets in the construction, which is less labor-intensive than either machine- or handsewing.
Initially I wasn't going to provide any resin canisters as another cost savings measure.
Ultimately I decided to add two smaller identical canisters, as functionally it made little sense to have none.
Once I was happy with the pattern I tested it in green paper, and when that looked like it was working I cut it out of leather and riveted it all together. I need to add straps and make a few alterations, but I think it's a good beginning.

Olifant: The Completed Gas Mask

2010-09-08T10:43:00.000-07:00

Here are photos of the completed gas mask Olifant, son of Pachydermos.

Made of veg tan leather that's been antiqued black. Hand sewn with waxed thread. Lenses are tinted acrylic. Lens frames and tusk canisters made of cold cast aluminum, steel wire and bolts. Detachable ears are copper and leather. Gauge is a sphygmomanometer. Hose is black neoprene.

WinterWolf Studios Meets the Eyecage Mask...

2010-09-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

...and this is the result!

Visit WinterWolf's website to see more of their gorgeous work. The Eyecage mask is for sale at my Etsy store.

Olifant: Neoprene Trunk Hose

2010-09-06T16:20:00.000-07:00

The second batch of black neoprene arrived safely, and so I proceeded to build the plaster mold.

First I softened plasticine in the microwave, then built it up around my model. I leveled it out right at midline, and I poured the first half of the mold in plaster.

After curing I removed the plasticine and poured the second half. After letting the mold halves dry for a couple of days I held them together with large rubber bands, and filled the cavity with the liquid neoprene. The plaster absorbed moisture from the rubber and a thin wall of solid material built up.

I emptied out the liquid neoprene and let the casting dry overnight before removing it from the mold. Here I am preparing for the final assembly, with the neoprene hose connecting the leather mask and the pressure gauge.

Zipper Cap >>> High Priest Helmet

2010-09-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

I showed the zipper cap to my assistant and she immediately said it looked like a bathing cap from the 1950's. I about died, because I knew she was spot on, and that wasn't the look I was after.

After a bit of thought I decided that if I added a military type neck guard it just might rescue the project from ignominy.

It was important that I kept with the non fastener method of assembly, and so I pondered how I could make the neck guard flaps interlock with the cap I already had. By repeating the lower edge and constructing mountain tabs to interlock I arrived at the pattern shown above.

I dyed the nine neck guard pieces in matching colors and assembled them in groups of three.

And here is the result. After assembly the entire helmet was antiqued black to give it an aged look.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and this model really gives it an other culture look.

Zanni Leather Mask

2010-09-04T13:45:00.000-07:00

Here is something a little different for me. A Commedia dell'arte style mask of the long-nosed character Zanni.

Making this mask entails a lot more hand shaping than I normally do.

I have it listed for sale on my Etsy shop.

Zipper Cap Construction

2010-08-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

I really appreciate everyone's comments on this mystery project. Now it's time to reveal what I'm making. It's a cap, and totally a conceptual piece. I've been wanting to make a leather cap that was different and unusual, and I realized I could construct one that had no fasteners, and that struck me as a worthy project. Back in January 2009 when I first began my blog I built an experimental leather zipper, shown below.

It consists of two pieces of leather cut with interlocking teeth, which like a zipper will hold the two pieces together with sufficient force to allow it to function as a single piece. The tentacle endings are strictly ornamental.

I had never done anything with this "lipper" until now, when I realized it would work well with a six-panel cap. Shown below is a cap of a similar design that I made several years ago, and it consists of six identical symmetrical panels, each shaped like the bottom of an electric clothes iron (thanks to Craig for that insight).

I started with the six panel pattern, then added the interlocking teeth. I liked the tentacular extensions I had made on the experimental piece (reminiscent of Cthulhu) and so opted to keep them. The tight spiral is intended to provide the longest strip of leather in the smallest amount of space (leather is expensive and I don't want to waste it).

I dyed the panels different colors on the fronts and backs because as the spirals are extended and twisted into tentacles both colors are seen together. Likewise I added the "mountain" cuts so that the leather can be bent down revealing the contrasting inner color as well as providing ventilation. Above I have begun to "zip together" two of the panels.

Here you can see the two panels completely zipped together.

And finally, all six panels are shown zipped together.

Zipper Cap Dyed

2010-08-25T11:51:00.001-07:00

I cut out six identical pieces in leather, and have dyed them.

On the grain side I dyed it red all over, then faded in black on the tips

On the flesh side I dyed half of them violet, and the other half teal.

Here are all the colors together for comparison. Can anyone tell what single object I'm going to make from these?

New Project: Zipper Cap

2010-08-24T15:07:00.001-07:00

Here is the start of a new project, and I need help with the backstory. What culture or religion or art style does this appear to come from? Any or all thoughts and comments are appreciated.

Modifying a Straw Hat

2010-08-17T19:19:00.001-07:00

I wear a wide-brimmed hat on weekends when I go yardsaling to protect my fair skin from the sun. It's been this floppy fabric thing that has no shape to speak of, so I decided to buy myself a straw hat to replace it.

I went to K-Mart and found this basic straw hat for $7.99. I removed the hatband and the elastic sweatband (one size fits all!)

After soaking it in warm water I shaped it using a piece of stretch fabric (to hold up the brim on the sides) and metal clips (to weigh down the brim in the front and back).

I placed the stretch sweatband around the outside of the crown to keep it from stretching out too large. Plus I reshaped the top of the crown.

After it dried I stained it with dyes and antiquing to give it a bit of character. Now I just need to come up with a hat band to finish the look.

So You Think You Can Dance

2010-08-13T09:25:00.001-07:00

Last night's finale of the television show So You Think You Can Dance featured some of my leatherwork. America's best dance team Quest Crew performed a steampunk themed dance routine. Hok wore a violet Bemused half mask, Lydia wore a Victoriana mask, and Ryan wore both a funky top hat and a steampunk respirator. I don't know how he managed to keep that hat on!

Jason Hyde Meets the White Rabbit Mask

2010-08-10T14:51:00.001-07:00

Jason Hyde Meets my White Rabbit leather mask and this is the result:

A wonderful Alice in Wonderland tea party scene.

School of Villains: Spanish TV show

2010-08-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of my props will be used in the upcoming Spanish television show Escuela de Villanos, or School of Villains.

The Raughnold Raygun in copper

The #43 Steampunk Gas Mask

Olifant Update

2010-07-22T16:55:00.001-07:00

I've finished the ears and attached the tusk canisters to the Olifant mask. I've been waiting for my order of custom tinted black neoprene to arrive, only to find out that after traveling across the country the pails began to leak, and FedEx refused to deliver them. So now I'm awaiting the arrival of the new shipment, at which time I will cast the trunk hose.

Tauruscat: Insulators

2010-07-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

When last we visited the making of the Tauruscat thinking cap I had constructed the crest lenses. That was almost three months ago. Yes, I've been bad and was ignoring this project for others. Don't ask me why.

At any rate, I have done some more work on it over the last few days, and here is what I made. These are the connectors that sit atop the crest, and attach to the hoses. I fabricated two of them as shown above.

Then I molded them, cast eleven of them in black, and sandblasted them to remove the sheen (which turns them gray).

After antiquing them a rust color I put them (except for the front one) in place on the helmet crest. I'm calling them insulators cause that's what they look like to me, the kind that are mounted on telephone poles.

Making Imitation Ivory Buttons

2010-07-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

Here is another tutorial that I wrote back in 2006.

I needed ½” diameter carved “ivory” buttons as decorative elements on a Rus Viking helmet (shown above), and this is one way to make very nice ones.

I started with Sculpey polymer clay and built a little blob on the end of a short 1” diameter wooden dowel. The dowel gave me something to hold onto while I sculpted, and also started me off with a round base. I knew I was going to shrink the 1” diameter down to half that size, so I didn’t have to make the sculpt very detailed. I sculpted a little Viking face with big eyes, a simple helm and a big moustache.

Next I hot glued the dowel down onto a board, and hot glued a small paper cup around it with the end cut out. Then I mixed up silicone rubber and poured it into the cup to make a mold of the face.

After the rubber had cured, I cast the face button in a shrinking material called Hydroshrink™. It is available through The Compleat Sculptor . Hydroshrink is a urethane compound that you mix with water, and shrinks uniformly to about half size as the water evaporates. I placed the Hydroshrink casting in a warm place, and waited several days for it to shrink to my desired size of ½” diameter. It took three days.

I then molded it again in the silicone rubber. After curing I cast out several parts in a fast cast urethane TC-808 available from BJB Enterprises . These castings I sanded flat on the back to the exact size and shape that I was after. Then I glued on a stem to make it into a button without having the thread show from the front. At this point the button face is .5” diameter by about .3” deep, and the stem is .3” diameter and about .3” in length (it will be shortened as a button).

I molded these pieces yet again to get my final production molds. I then cast as many as I needed (in my case 24) in the TC-808 (which is a white urethane resin) and a very small amount of yellow brown dye to get my ivory color. Alternately I could have added ivory alkyd pigment or paint.

My challenge for these buttons was that the stem could only be .1” long where they set into the leather helmet. To accomplish this I drilled a 1/16” hole through the stem as close to the back of the button as I could. I then sanded down the stem from .3” to .1” on a power sander.

At this point the only thing left to do was to antique the buttons so that they looked aged. For this I used Jel’d brand wood stain by Wood Kote in the Fruitwood color.

Elevated Shoes

2010-07-17T10:55:00.000-07:00

The following is a tutorial I wrote four years ago on constructing elevated shoes.

This is a good way to add eight inches to the height of a costume. I built them to become a tall wizard for halloween. The concept is simple. Glue four layers of two inch thick foam to the bottom of a pair of boots. Cover it all with fiberglass. The foam/fiberglass combination is both lightweight and strong. Add a rubber sole and two lateral steel bars for support and you will soon be standing--and walking--eight inches taller than you actually are.

Start with an old pair of boots that fit--I bought mine at a thrift store. Buy a sheet of R-Max insulation. It is designed for insulating building walls, and comes 2” thick with aluminum foil coverings. It is a urethane foam that is rigid but lightweight. Trace the boot sole onto the R-Max and cut out four layers for each boot. I used a bandsaw. Shape the upper layer to fit under the boot sole fairly closely. Glue it onto the boot using hot melt glue. Glue on two more layers that are full thickness. Add a fourth bottom layer on which you round off the heel and the toe..

In normal walking your foot flexes as you walk and your toes bend. In this elevated shoe everything is rigid, so you need to round off the toe to make walking easier. Same for the heel, although not as much as the toe. Cover the outside of the foam with two layers of fiberglass, continuing up onto the sides of the boots. The foam by itself will simply break apart once you start walking on it. The fiberglass will hold it all together.

Carefully walk in the boots to check the roundness of the toe and heel. Once you have them shaped how you like them, glue on a piece of sheet rubber to act as a sole and to protect the foam from breaking on the bottom.

Now you will need to add lateral supports to keep your ankles from bending sideways and potentially seriously injurying yourself. They need to be strong enough not to bend. I used a shelf standard--the kind that is shaped like a ‘U’ and has slots in it to hold the shelf brackets. They are available at hardware stores. You can hacksaw them to the proper length which is just below the knee.

Attach the lateral supports to the boot by means of two bolts running horizontally from side to side through each boot in two places (see diagram). Fasten them with washers and nuts. Rivet on a nylon or leather strap and buckle near the top to hold the lateral supports closely to your calf.

It's a little scary at first until you get used to it, but you can become quite comfortable walking in the elevated shoes.

Olifant: Tusk Completed

2010-07-12T15:41:00.001-07:00

The first tusk/canister is now complete, and is shown below on the right. The piece on the left is the casting with the aluminum powder straight out of the mold.

To finish it I sanded, buffed and polished it, then gave it a coating of antiquing. After it dried I screwed in the eight black steel bolts, and attached the coiled wire thingamajiggy on the right. Now it kind of looks like a bomb!

Ladies Bridal Top Hat

2010-07-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

I was thinking of making a ladies bridal top hat when it occurred to me that I could do some fancy filigree cut outs on the crown. This is what I came up with.

Olifant: Trunk Fabrication

2010-07-08T14:24:00.001-07:00

Pachydermos' trunk was a commercial vacuum cleaner hose that I covered in lambskin wrapped with waxed thread. I like it a lot, but I was thinking how cool it would be if I could build the trunk from scratch. I've decided that neoprene would be an ideal material to make a corrugated hose from (needed for the trunk to bend smoothly), and that is a material I can buy and cast into a plaster mold.

I thought and thought about how to make a steamy corrugated hose, and didn't really come up with much that would still allow it to bend easily, so I decided to put more emphasis on it graduating from a larger diameter to a smaller. After some experimenting I came up with the model above built from laser cut acrylic sheet mounted on a bolt.

To smooth out the surface and to fill in the cracks I've coated it with urethane resin, letting it build up in the recesses.

Over that I've brushed a layer of casting latex, which will make it easier to free from the rigid plaster mold, because it will have a little give.

And here I've started laying plasticine against the bottom half of the model to form one of the two mold halves. Next step will be to pour plaster over the top half.

Olifant: Tusk, Take 2

2010-07-05T14:22:00.001-07:00

While going through my collection of yard sale finds, I came across the flashlight shown below. I bought it because I loved its Buck Rogers futuristic look.

Since I've been working on the new Olifant tusk canister, it ocurred to me that the missile end could make a good finial for such a canister. And as I wasn't feeling all tingly inside about the versison I had been working on I decided to begin again with the flashlight as my starting point.

After molding the flashlight in RTV silicone and casting it in urethane resin, I cut out a series of acrylic discs and stacked them around the "missile".

The flashlight has nine vertical grooves spaced evenly around its circumference except for one place, which is wider than the other eight. I decided to add a piece of hardware there above the discs, bigger than the other eight screws which will be added to each finished casting. Then I coated the acrylic discs with urethane resin to seal them and smooth them out so that the canister will rotocast more easily (that's the white stuff in the picture above).

As it was difficult to see what I really had with the white and black and gray all contrasting, I sprayed a coat of white sandable primer, which makes it much easier to view.

Olifant: Tusk Construction

2010-06-29T16:42:00.001-07:00

In addition to giving Pachydermos' offspring a new set of tusk canisters, I have decided to also give him a new trunk hose. To celebrate that differentiation I have named him Olifant, a variation of the word Elephant.

I have molded the assemblage of brass parts (on the left) and cast it in a gray urethane resin (on the right).

Here I have sanded irregularities, filled cracks with Bondo™, and engraved the cap to match the hex acorn nut that will sit on top and hold the canister against the mask. I've also drilled and mounted twelve brads, which are meant to simulate rivets holding the top to the case.

Pachydermos Tusk Construction

2010-06-26T16:42:00.000-07:00

I'm going to give Son of Pachydermos new tusks, different from his father's, just to make him more interesting. I want them to look a bit like a steampunk boiler, but still tusk shaped.

I've pulled out a box of mostly brass parts that I've collected over the years, most of it from yard sales, but some just hardware store purchases.

Here I've chosen the parts I'm going to start with: A paper cup, a brass doorknob (that I just bought today at a local flea market for 50¢), an acorn nut, and two other parts that I can't identify.

By cutting out the bottom of the cup (and turning it upside down) the doorknob fit right into the hole. The other metal parts are just stacked on top of the knob. I plan on molding and casting this combination, then adding screws and other bits and pieces to punkify it.

Bustier

2010-06-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

This is a new direction for me. My first leather garment since I made sheepskin coats at Tahoe thirty some years ago.

I've been toying with the idea of making a steampunk leather corset, since they seem to be the rage among the ladies of steam.

I decided to start simple by making this black leather bustier with rivets and leather lacing running through eyelets. I haven't made a back strap yet, as I am undecided on how to do it. What do you all think? Please take my poll (upper right) and let me know.

Pachydermos Ear Trim

2010-06-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Moving along on the copper ears, I have sewn on the leather trim with needle and thread.

Here I am just starting out with the hand stitching of the waxed thread. I've also exposed the copper to vinegar in order to age it.

Here you can see the multicolored copper, in all its glory. The top ear has the trim all attached, while the bottom ear is waiting to get trim.

This photo is after I have stained the ears a brownish black, darkening everything up, especially the leather.

Pachydermos Copper Ears

2010-06-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

I'm making a variation of Pachydermos, sort of a Son of Pachy. I had made the copper ears for the original Pachydermos before I started my blog, so the steps of how I made them were never recorded. This set of ears is identical to the first except for the color of the trim.

I've started with copper lampshades from an old Wagon Wheel chandelier. These I found at my local thrift shop, but I have also purchased some online at Ebay. I'll be covering the outer edge with leather, so my first step is to make regular indents with a hole punch.

This photo shows the original shade on the left, and the reworked one on the right with its punch marks showing through on the front lip. I have also buffed off the lacquered antique finish that the original came with and which made them look so 1950's.

Next I drill small holes through the copper, using the punch marks to keep the drill bit from wandering.

And here I'm sanding off the rough edges from the drilled copper on a drum sander, so that the holes are smooth enough to allow the waxed thread to pass through without cutting it.

Dr. Beulenpest: Mask is Complete

2010-06-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished steampunk plague doctor mask. I made the straps so that it is adjustable to fit any adult head, and the lenses are dark enough to keep others from seeing in, but allowing the wearer to easily see out.

Hope you like it (although I have to wonder why none of the five posts on this mask has received a single comment)!

Dr. Beulenpest: Trim and Coloring

2010-06-13T09:17:00.000-07:00

After much contemplation I've decided to simplify my original plans by combining the resin piece between the eyes, upper beak trim (which hides the handstitching) and transitional beak trim into one piece of leather.

First I airbrushed the mask with an undercoating of violet dye. Then I cut and attached the trim piece with domed rivets. As you can see I made the shape of the trim a bit more interesting than I had originally planned.

Here I have added matching domed rivets all around the surround, purely for decoration.

I then stained the mask brownish black, and left some of the violet (and undyed trim color) showing through to give it more character. Plain old black would have looked bland and modern.

These are the two eyepieces cast in cold cast aluminum. The one on the right is a nonagon (a nine sided polygon) with a nonagon cut-out which has been rotated 20°. I find its mechanical look quite pleasing.

Dr. Beulenpest: Stitching the Leather

2010-06-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

I've cleaned up the patterns and used them to cut out the 5-6 oz vegetable tanned leather pieces.

I begin by handstitching the two left pattern pieces together. I then repeated for the right side, then joined both halves together.

Here I've stitched on one of the eyepiece trims, and am checking how it looks with the resin beak and two eyepieces. So far so good!

I have stitched on the second eyepiece trim, as well as the surround that will support five buckles for holding the mask on the head.

This is my attempt at adding a leather trim piece to ease the transition between the resin beak and the rest of the mask. It's proving awkward to fit well, and I am thinking of other ways to accomplish this. I am also struggling with the resin piece that will fit between the two eyes. Hmmm, what to do, what to do.....

Dr. Beulenpest: Making the Pattern

2010-06-12T06:26:00.000-07:00

Now that the sculpt and resin beak are done I have moved on to making the pattern for the leather pieces.

Here I have finished the beak casting by removing the extra resin, and I've returned the plasticine I cut off earlier to the end of the beak.

Since the resin beak will sit atop the leather I need to extend the clay underneath it, but reduced in size to fit within the beak. I've marked in red where the leather trim will go.

Tape won't stick to plasticine, so I have covered the clay in a brushed on coating of urethane resin.

Once the resin has cured I remark my seam lines with a black Sharpie™, and then I've started covering one half of the face in blue masking tape. Since the mask is symmetrical I only need a pattern for half of it.

As the layers of tape cross one another I keep remarking the seam lines so I don't lose sight of them.

Lastly I cut the tape pattern along the lines I've marked with an X-acto knife. Ideally they should lay almost flat, and these do.

Dr. Beulenpest: Casting the Beak Tip

2010-06-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

I have now cast two beak tips in urethane resin for Dr. Beulenpest's plague doctor mask, one for the upper beak and the other for the lower.

On the left is the rough casting right out of the mold. On the right, after it has been sanded down a bit, on its way to the final shape of the upper beak.

Here I've placed the combined beak casting onto the clay model to check that it's looking right.

In pondering more about the joint between the resin beak tip and the leather I'm thinking I need a piece of leather trim piece to ease the transition.

Dr. Beulenpest, A Steampunk Mask

2010-06-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

My leather plague doctor mask has been very well received. I made it as true as I could to the historical model, with nothing added, but all along as I worked on it I was thinking of how I could make a steamier version. I have enough ideas to start and so I've begun creating it.

Above is my preliminary sketch. It includes cold cast resin eyepieces and beak tip, along with a leather surround studded with domed rivets.

I started by lengthening the beak (from the first one) in the plasticene model, and incorporating the eyepieces into the clay. I also altered the seams to make the mask more interesting.

Since the resin beak tip is a major change I decided to start there in the fabrication stage. Here I have simply cut off the plasticene beak. Next I hot glued a popcorn cup down around it in preparation for pouring a silicone rubber RTV mold.

Above is the clay beak partially covered in the rubber. I will add more silicone into the cup, then wait 18 hours for it to completely cure. I will cast the beak tip in resin, then shape it to how I want it. I am calling this mask Dr. Beulenpest, the German word for bubonic plague.

Plague Doctor Mask on Ebay

2010-05-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

I have listed the Plague Doctor mask on eBay with a starting price of $25.

Plague Doctor Mask Finished

2010-05-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

I've added the straps and darkened the color a bit, and here it is, all complete.

The mask has a strap over the top of the head to keep it from sliding down the face.

The eyes have been moved forward enough so that the wearer can easily see out of them.

This is my original sculpt in plasticene, from which I took the pattern.

Plague Doctor Mask Stained

2010-05-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Both lenses are in, and I've applied antiquing to the leather. I will make the mask a bit darker after the straps are attached.

Plague Doctor Mask Revised

2010-05-27T19:31:00.001-07:00

I have altered the first pattern in several places to make this revised mask. I eliminated the center forehead seam and replaced it with two temple seams which extend to the eyes. In addition to looking cleaner it also allows the eyes to have more shape. I also added a dart to the underside of the beak so that it has a better curve.

The first picture shows the left eye being stretched open with an acrylic ring. I have also added tabs for attaching the straps with three rivets.

In the photo above I have stitched one eye lens with its leather trim into place. The darker leather is due to its being wet, which makes the hand stitching easier and lie smoother.

Maker Faire 2010

2010-05-21T06:46:00.001-07:00

Come see me and my leatherwork this weekend at Maker Faire in San Mateo, California. I will be an exhibitor at Bazaar Bizarre, booth #56.

I will be showing (and offering for sale) hundreds of leather masks, plus selected steampunk items. Both Sentinel and the Rhino gas mask will be on display for the first time ever in the US.

I am also bringing a couple of steamy top hats. If you come to the show please stop by and introduce yourself.

For info on Maker Faire

Plague Doctor Mask

2010-05-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

I've recently had several requests for a Plague Doctor's mask, and as it appeals to my sense of beauty I've begun working out a pattern.

I particularly like this one shown above (which resides in a Danish museum) as inspiration, because the beak flows gently from the face, rather than looking just stuck on. Unfortunately it does have a major flaw in that the eyes are too widespread, and the wearer would scarcely be able to see out of it.

This is my first attempt, with corrected eye placement. I'll be adjusting the pattern in a couple of places and trying it again.

Return of the Sentinel: A Video

2010-05-02T19:22:00.001-07:00

I bought a Flip camcorder in order to show some of my steampunk leatherwork better. Here is my first video, with myself portraying an old warrior who has been called back to service, as a way to show the Sentinel helm, gas mask and gorget in more detail. It is filmed in HD. Please let me know what you think.

Return of the Sentinel video

Tauruscat: Crest Lenses

2010-04-27T13:57:00.001-07:00

Why does the crest have lenses? you might be asking yourself, and a good question it is. While Professor Tauruscat's central processing engine is working, I felt it would be convenient to have some physical manifestation of its inner workings, and so I will be hooking up some lights which will make the lenses glow as the wearer's thoughts are processed.

From left to right above, I fabricated the lens model out of clear acrylic sheet and clay, molded it in rubber (behind) then cast it in the pinkish resin. This piece I reworked, smoothing and shaping to better fit the spaces in the crest awaiting the three lenses. I molded it yet again (behind on right), then cast the final part in a translucent amber colored resin. Sanding off the gate gave me the finished lens on the far right.

I cast three such lenses, then inserted them into the crest, as shown above. The photo shows them illuminated.

Sentinel Portrait

2010-04-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'm still working away at making movie props for After The Fall, and have made some progress on the Tauruscat crest lenses. Meanwhile, my old friend Lew came over last night and was kind enough to try on the Sentinel helmet and gorget for a photo.

Dennis Manarchy Meets Pachydermos.....

2010-04-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

...and this is the result. Manarchy Photography

Tauruscat: Crest Casting

2010-04-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

Here is the crest cast as one piece. I'm happy with the ornateness of it, but I may change the colors. I haven't decided yet.

Next I'll be building the lenses that fit between the crest wings.

Making a Microphone Prop

2010-04-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

I've been working on making seven headsets as props for the upcoming film After The Fall by Randolph Scott. After futzing around with different approaches to fabricating a microphone, none of which were working, I stepped back and took a different approach.

I looked for a simple turning of the right size, in this case a rook chess piece, and paired it with a brass concho.

With a little plasticene I stuck them together, molded them in silicone rubber and cast it in urethane resin. After laser engraving some texture onto the top, voilà, I had my finished mic, shown on the right.

The Making of the Underground Explorer

2010-04-04T19:42:00.000-07:00

I thought some of you might like to read one of my builds all the way through from start to end. Here is the blow by blow on the creation of the Underground Explorer helmet.

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Today, Sunday, my wife and I went to some yard sales. Now sometimes you find nothing, and other times you find one gem. Just as we were about to leave one sale emptyhanded, I spotted a plastic astronaut's helmet. When I inquired about the price, the seller said $1--uh, 50¢--fearing I wouldn't cough up a whole dollar for this plastic helmet that was missing the visor. Of course, I saw much more in it. I knew I could pull a pattern off of it and remake it as a steampunk leather helmet!

Here is the plastic helmet as I bought it.

After thinking about how to break it up into separate leather pieces, I taped it all over with duct tape to make the patterns, and marked the divisions.

Here I've cut off the duct tape using an Xacto knife, and laid it down on heavy paper.

Next I've smoothed out the lines, removed the duct tape, and cut out the heavy paper patterns.

Next using the patterns I cut out the leather pieces, and punched the stitching holes, along with snap and buckle holes. I am leaving the front piece that covers the mouth removable so that the wearer can take it off for eating, etc.

Here I've stitched together the left center piece and the left side piece to see if it will work. I used a seam that exposes the edges, but after seeing it I think I'll remove the thread and do it over with an overlapping seam so that it will lie flat.

I will post more later as I progress on this project.

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I have now cut and stitched together the four main parts of the helmet, and then shaped the wet leather over the yard sale plastic original. The toy astronaut helmet serves not only as a pattern source, but also as a shaping form. It reminds me of the underwater helmets worn by the crew of the Nautilus, with its roundedness.

At the end of yesterday's blog I decided that the plain exposed seam I had tried (and was planning for the entire helmet) wasn't the best choice, so I ripped out the one seam that I had done, and restitched it.

I replaced the side seams with overlapping seams, and for the center seam I chose a butt seam (since an overlapping seam has to favor one side or the other, and won't be symmetrical).
There are three different types of handsewn seams that I use in my leatherwork: Overlap, butt and plain. Below are the three types illustrated.

The plain seam can add structural strength and really emphasize the seam line, as can be seen on my firemaster's helmet. It is the historically traditional seam for firefighter's helmets, but it requires more effort to shape. On my steampunk gas mask you can see examples of the butt seam and the overlap seam.

Once the wet-formed helmet has dried, I will figure out the removable front piece that will cover the mouth, and also design a piece with a lense to cover the eyes.

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When I tried on the plastic child's astronaut helmet, I could barely squeeze my head into it, and it touched my nose, so I decided early on to make a removable "snout" to give room for the nose, and to allow the wearer access to the mouth and nose without having to remove the helmet. Today I worked on designing that piece, working with green paper to figure out the patterns.

Once I was satisfied with the pattern I cut it out in leather, wet it and sewed it together with waxed thread. The snout will have two matching cold cast respirators on either side (where the two holes are), and one small something on the front. I have mostly built the respirator model out of acrylic sheet, and will mold it in rubber and cast it in resin.
The snout attaches to the helmet with four snaps on each corner, plus a buckle on each side (notice the protruding rivet where the buckle will attach on a short strap).

Next up will be making a visor which will completely cover the eye opening, and a collar to hold the helmet up off of the head, and to help keep its shape.

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I'm pretty much making up the design of this piece as I go along. When I found the helmet at the yard sale, I knew I wanted to copy the basic shape in leather, but beyond that I had no plans. Once I had stitched the leather pieces together and removed them from the helmet, I knew that I would have to reinforce all raw edges to keep it from being too floppy.

So today—besides antiquing the helmet and snout, and adding the required snaps—I made a trim piece to go around the eye opening. I gussied it up a bit to make it interesting, adding some cut outs, dyed it black and riveted it onto the helm. Sure enough, it reduces the flop factor.

When I add on the collar it should significantly help the helmet hold its shape.
I have just cut out and sewn on the collar. Next I will cut out the collar trim to match the eye opening trim.

The Spaceman Helmet
Above are several views of the collar that I wanted for the spaceman helmet. For the helmet itself I had the toy helmet to tape and pull a pattern from, but how do I come up with a pattern for the collar?

The illustrations above show the theory of attaching two flat pieces of leather together to form a three dimensional object. The silver objects are tubes which represent the helmet (or the crown of a hat). The gold objects represent the collar (or brim of a hat).
If we cut the collar in a donut shape with the inside hole having the same diameter as the tube, when attached the collar will be horizontal. If we cut the collar in a rectangle, when attached the collar will be vertical, ie. continue the lines of the tube.
Since the shape we want is somewhere in between these two extremes, we need to cut the collar in a large curve, as illustrated in the bottom drawing.

However, we don't want a collar that is uniformly angled down. Looking back at the first set of drawings we see that over the shoulders the angle needs to be closer to horizontal than vertical, whereas over the chest and back the angle needs to be closer to vertical than horizontal.
This final drawing shows the compromise made. Since the seams fall at the front and the back of the helmet wearer, the center of the pattern will be over the shoulders. And so, the middle is quite rounded (to make it more horizontal), while the two pattern ends are almost straight (to make them more vertical).

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I've done a lot of little things since the last post. The black trim is riveted onto the collar, the resin respirators have been cast, painted and mounted. I put trim around the nose area with a buried wire that has been shaped to fit better. I've attached the two side buckles holding the snout straps. I've added a snap fastener to the front of the collar to hold it in place. And I've antiqued the entire helmet, darkening it up and giving it more character. I am very happy with how it's turning out, and now await the result of the poll to see which accessories I will be adding.

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The poll is over, and Underground Explorer won with exactly 50% of the vote. So I must prepare our courageous traveler for whatever conditions might await. Darkness of course, and probably heat, maybe pressure, foul air, unknown creatures, etc. Thanks to everyone who voted.

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Our underground explorer is certainly going to need a light to see where he's going. Last year at a yard sale I acquired an old physician's head lamp. Nowadays these head lamps have LED's for the light source, but this one has a bulb, and three multi-jointed arms which allow it to crazily point in any direction. Very mad scientist looking. I've decided to mount this lamp on a comb (also called a crest) which is on the top of the helmet.

Today I designed it and cut out the pieces of the comb in ¼" thick plastic, and then glued them all together. Above you can see the individual parts.

And here is the assembled comb bolted to the top of the plastic astronaut's helmet. I will be covering the comb in molded leather, and the lamp will attach to the front vertical surface.
I constructed the helmet comb out of leather and it has some problems, the major one being it is too small once the wet leather shrank.

Although I will have to remake it this picture gives a pretty good idea of how it will look. Of course once the lamp is mounted onto the front it will change again.

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After focusing on the whale tooth for awhile I have returned my attentions to the Underground Explorer's helmet. Yesterday I reworked the comb pattern and remade it to fit properly, then I cut out the leather and hand-stitched it over the acrylic comb form. Today I painted it black, and antiqued it brown to give it that old look. After drying, I bolted and riveted the comb to the leather helm, and attached the lamp to the front.

I have decided on all of the design elements of the helmet, and have just two more to complete: The eyecover/goggles, and the oxygen canister which will hook up to the snout. With this equipment our intrepid explorer will be protected from extremes in pressure and temperature, as well as falling rocks. They will also have a bright light to see what lies before them, and have a fresh supply of oxygen to weather the pockets of foul air. Hopefully this will protect them from all unforseen dangers that might lurk ahead.
These giant sized paper glasses are my beginning attempt to work out the pattern for the goggles. This is going to take a lot of trial and error to get it right.

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With every additional piece (snout, comb, lamp and goggles) added to the helmet the weight increases, and along with it the pressure applied from gravity. At this late stage of construction I know of no way to stiffen the leather itself to better support this weight, and so I decided to build a fiberglass inner shell.

Since the original plastic astronaut helmet is made out of poyethylene--a rather slippery synthetic--I figured I could make the fiberglass directly over it. I took a piece of 5" wide nylon stockinette and it just stretched over the plastic helmet. Then I saturated it with polyester resin and after curing I had a thin strong form that matched the inside of the Explorer's helmet.

I cut the fiberglass shell in half, removed it from the form, and trimmed it down to fit my leather helmet. Above you can see it being contact cemented into the helmet.

Next I attached the recently completed goggles, which can easily be removed. The photos show it with the optional snout removed, so that we can see the face inside.

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I am holding a competition to write the back story that will accompany my Underground Explorer helmet. I am looking for an original and creative tale of a steampunk genre that explains who the owner of the helmet is, and how the helmet came to be. Most if not all of the helmet’s features should be touched upon: The goggles, the respirator (snout), the comb with attached headlamp, and the attached breathing device.

The helmet as pictured is almost but not quite complete. The explorer will have an oxygen canister which connects to the respirator with a black corrugated rubber hose. The canister can be worn on the back or over the shoulder.

This story will be used to promote the sale of the helmet, and will be seen on Etsy, Flickr, and DeviantArt as well as being posted on my blog. The one element that must be adhered to is that the helmet is for underground exploration. It is made almost entirely of leather. The lamp is positionally adjustable. The goggles have dark lenses. The respirator has two side faux metal pieces in addition to the hose that connects to the oxygen canister. Both the goggles and the respirator are detachable.

The competition will run from now until May 31. I alone will be the judge and will determine the winner, who will be announced on June 1. The winner will receive a prize which consists of a $39 credit at my Etsy store, plus shipping. Most all of my cut out masks sell for $39, so think of it as your choice of a mask, although the winner can apply it anyway they want.

Please make your story between 300 and 500 words. You may submit more than one entry. Have fun and start writing! Get as crazy as you like. If you have any questions post them here on this blog. For your finished entry please email it to tom (at) tombanwell (dot) com.
I have had a good response to my writing competition. Seems like there are a lot of writers happy for an excuse to create a short steampunk story.

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The final piece of the undeground explorer helmet is the oxygen canister which connects to the leather snout. Pictured below is the antiqued canister with rubber tubing and the connection at the other end.

Still to construct is the leather strapping which will allow the canister to be worn on the back or over the shoulder. Brownie points to anyone who can identify the original item from which the canister was made.

I leave for Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA exactly one week from today, and the finished helmet will be the centerpiece of my display.
The steampunk writing competition is closed. I am still recovering from exhibiting at the Carnivale Mechanique encampment at Maker Faire, and will need a day or two to choose the winner. I received eight entries, from Brazil, the UK, Singapore, Canada and the US. Many thanks to all who participated.
All of the eight entries I received were wonderfully creative and deserving, and it was a difficult choice for me to select the winner. However I feel that the story of an alien subterranean invasion submitted by Terry Sofian from St. Louis, Missouri reached the highest level. Many thanks again to all who participated.

I will be posting all of the stories in my blog within the next few days, so that everyone can enjoy them. Below is the winning entry.

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Here is the winning story by Terry Sofian:

It was a scene even Dante could not have imagined. The sound of explosions was a continuous roar, not discrete individual blasts but a hot ocean of noise pounding over the Cornish hills. Dust and smoke blotted out the blue sky and vast banks of deadly fog hugged the ground, pouring from cylinders, draining into the deep wounds carved into the earth. Occasionally an alien arthropod would scuttle above ground, desperately trying to escape the subterranean trap The Hive had become. Field artillery or machineguns would bark and the alien’s carapace would shatter. More chitinous fragments would be strewn across the nightmare landscape. Even through the periscope in the armored railcar the panorama was horrific.

Major Barnes and his Company had the terrible task of finishing this war. The end would not come until every inch of alien tunnel under the soil of England had been searched and each last maggot and egg destroyed. Paramount was determining if any mated couples had survived the bombardment or worse yet had escaped to start the horror all over again. That was a job for the PBI, the Poor Bloody Infantry.

Barnes enjoyed a final puff on his pipe before handing it off to his batman. Odd, he’d gladly inhaled the sweet tobacco smoke but would need to protect himself from even a tiny hint of the gases now filling the enemy Hive. Even a single breath of that stew would kill a man. To allow him and his men to breathe Woolwich had provided the new Mark IV Respirator Helmets; a vast improvement over the ones he had worn as a young subaltern during the disastrous Christmas Assault eight months earlier. With built in goggles to give a wide angle of vision and prevent the debilitating blindness of chemical burns, he’d not risk having his glasses jolted from his face. The backpack tanks held septoxygen a dense liquid form of the life-giving element which would be made breathable by catalysts within the mask’s snout-like face-piece. Finally a bright headlamp would keep the soldiers’ hands free. They would have more deadly things to carry than torches.

Leather vests with pockets holding bombs, gas canisters and ammunition kitted out each soldier as they stood waiting for the signal to go “on air” and leave the safe confines of their armored railcar. Barnes stood by while his experienced NCOs did a final inspection. He knew that for many, perhaps for all of them, it would be a final inspection indeed. He drove the thought from his mind as being un-English. “England expects” and all that. With a smile pasted on his face he nodded to his color sergeant. The batman fitted the helmet over his head and turned on the supply of breathing gas. Shortly the last barrier between his men and hell would be opened. He checked his double rifle and howdah pistol. All four barrels were loaded. He stepped off leading his troops towards the nearest tunnel.

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To finish off the underground explorer's outfit for his formal photograph I put together a down and dirty "rock blaster" raygun.

You can cut through solid rock likes it's butter with this puppy!

Anybody recognize what I made this from?

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Photos have been recently uncovered of our intrepid hero—the underground explorer—at the beginning of a harrowing journey into the bowels of the earth.

Properly outfitted, our hero naturally returned to much public admiration and acclaim. I have no idea if the raygun was actually utilized.

Tauruscat: Engaving the Crest

2010-04-03T13:25:00.000-07:00

Just to let you know I haven't been totally ignoring the Tauruscat helmet, here is a picture of the engraving that I've been doing on the crest.

These various parts make up the master, from which I will mold and cast the finished crest.

Zchel Meets the Black Rabbit Mask....

2010-04-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

...and this is the result. For more of Rachel's photos see her website. This mask is available at my Etsy store.

Eyecage Leather Mask

2010-03-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Here is the first one I am happy enough with to offer for sale. Listed on my etsy page. I think it has that nice creepiness to make it interesting.

Mask with Eye Cages

2010-03-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

What's that you say? Mask with Eye Cages? Huh?

I was intrigued by the idea of using the leather within the eyehole to create bars, rather than just cutting it out and discarding it. I'm experimenting with it in two versions.

The two samples cut from the larger piece of leather (shown above) are sewn together at the apex. The three other pieces are made with solid leather bars all the way across the eyes.

Here is my first attempt at making the bars integral with the mask, and stitching them together.

Here is a second version, with twisted leather bars. More work needs to be done on this, but it looks promising.

And here is one with the eye bars as a separate piece that is riveted on. I've marked the leather where I will be making changes. I am optimistic that these will turn out as saleable steampunk items.

Tauruscat: Completed Sensor

2010-03-16T17:21:00.000-07:00

After several coats of Liver of Sulphur and one coat of wine vinegar I have completed the sensor tube fittings.

Shown along with the sensor is a polished brass fitting to show how much it darkened with treatment.

Head Protectors for Shipwrecked Persons

2010-03-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Patented in 1878, the patent begins as follows:

Be it known that I, Francis P. Cummerford, of Wilmington, in the county of New Castle and State of Delaware, have invented a new and Improved Head-Protector, of which the following is a specification:

This invention consists of a protecting-helmet, for the use of firemen, shipwrecked and other persons, made of rubber or other elastic material, that closes tightly to the neck, but fits loosely on the head, it being provided at the upper part with a ventilating device, and with a mouth-piece and closing device to admit of speaking.

Another wonderful inspiration for those of a steampunk persuasion. My favorite paragraph reads:

The mouth-piece is used in case it is necessary for the wearer to give orders or to communicate with his companions. The protector may be used also as a covering against rain, sleet, snow, and spray, when on the deck of a vessel in storms; or it may be used, when made of fire-proof material, by firemen, or, when made of lighter material for ladies' use, in bathing, as it will effectually protect the hair from salt water.

Yes sir, for you ladies wanting to protect your hair there's nothing else like it! Thanks to André Granum for sending this to me.

Tauruscat: Tubing Fitting

2010-03-14T09:16:00.001-07:00

I have spent quite a bit of time attempting to locate the perfect fitting to cover the end of the tubing where it joins the resin sensor. I looked at clamps and crimps and ferrules. I bought two sets of parts from Ebay—fifty brass hose ferrules, and another fifty copper end caps—both of which were too large. And then to my chagrin, I discovered the perfect metal piece at my local hardware store. It is a ½" brass compression fitting.

The photo shows my steps for aging the fittings, and making them a little less recognizable as a part you probably have under your kitchen sink. The top piece is in its originals state. Going around clockwise, I sanded off the sharp edges; I sandblasted it to remove any lacquer; and I buffed it. On the far left bottom I've dipped it into vinegar a couple of times which brings out the cuperate patina. And above it I dipped it into Liver of Sulphur which turns the copper in the brass brown.

I will age all eleven of the fittings together to hopefully a nice dark brown.

Daguerreotype of Sentinel

2010-03-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

A recently discovered daguerreotype of a gentleman wearing the Sentinel helmet, gas mask and gorget has been revealed by X Encontro de Jogadores de RPG. An airship, about to dock, can be seen descending in the distance.