Defender: Helm is Complete!

My color scheme for the Defender has been black and silver from the beginning, and now I can reveal why I chose silver. It was all based on this wonderul silver colored horn which is now mounted on the left side of the helm, to assist the wearer in detecting sounds. An auditory amplifier.



The black color was chosen because the last two major pieces I created were both brown, and I wanted some greater variety. The helm is now complete (except for the satin liner which will finish off the interior). I do still have more to do on both the mask and the gorget.

Defender: Mask with Respirators

I have finally gotten the Defender mask antiqued black, and have the eyepieces in place. I also have the pair of respirators mostly done.


Every day it gets a little closer to being complete. I look forward to putting the mask and helmet together for a photo.

Defender: Mask is Dyed

Back to the Defender mask, I have now sewn on the trim for all four openings, and dyed it violet, prior to antiquing it black. One eyepiece is shown. I'm still figuring out what the respirators will look like.

Defender: Helm with Plate

Today I attached the plate onto the front of the steampunk Defender helm. Not a lot left to do now. Mostly things that don't show.

Defender: How I Make an Eyepiece

I thought it might be interesting for some of you to see what goes into creating one of my resin parts. For the Defender mask I decided to make one of the eyepieces similar to a camera lens, with a stepped conical inside. I built the prototype in layers of 1/16" (1.5 mm) thick clear acrylic sheeet. The drawing below shows part of the file I created in CorelDraw.



As you can see, the outside dimension of each piece stays the same, while the inside hole decreases in size as we move down the page. Some of the outsides are zig-zag while others are smooth. The red lines are the cut lines, while the blue lines are just for planning. The tiny red circles are for alignment pins.



Here are the pieces after being cut out with the laser. The parts on the left were extras I didn't use; the ones on the right were put together with three pins, and sprayed white to seal the cracks.



I then molded the prototype with blue silicone rubber and let it cure overnight. The next day I cast it in a charcoal urethane resin. I drilled holes around the perimeter (that had already been marked with the laser) and inserted twelve rivets to make it a bit steamier. I then remolded it and cast it in black.



Here is the finished part with pewter Rub N Buff™ added to the surface to keep with my black and silver color scheme. I'm not sure yet if I will use this one or recast it in a cold cast aluminum.



The small ½" (12.5 mm) diameter hole at the bottom of the lens sits fairly close to the wearer's eye, allowing him or her to see out, while keeping others from looking in.

Defender: Attaching the Aether Collectors

The Defender steampunk helm is getting ever so much closer to completion. Today I added the ten luminiferous aether collection devices.



After riveting the devices to the neckguard trim I stitched and riveted the trim to the neckguard itself.



I then antiqued it to match the rest of the helmet. No more bright colors!



Here is a detail photo of the rear of the helm, showing the crest and the aether devices. Next I will finish and mount the front plate.

Defender: Starting the Mask

With the helmet nearing completion, I have begun on the mask. These two parts—the helmet and mask—could be worn alone, but they are designed to be worn together.



This is a variation of the gas mask, with two respirators on the sides of the snout replacing the single central one, which gives it an eerie alien look.



Each of the two eyepieces will be different. One of them will resemble a camera lens, and the other a porthole.



Here is a photo of the mask after the major leather pieces have all been stitched together.

Defender: Antiquing the Helm

I went ahead and riveted the crest to the helm, and then antiqued it all black. The purple and red now remain only as highlights, just the look I was after.



I've been building the luminiferous aether collection devices that fit into the neckguard trim, and I can't assemble that until they are all cast.



Meanwhile, I have started on the headlamp. Here is a photo of the lamp as I found it at a yard sale. I will break it apart, and then the lamp will attach to the front of the helm.

Defender: The Neckguard Trim

I will be adding a second layer of leather over the bottom edge of the neckguard, in order to reinforce it and make it lay smoother. If I make the trim the same size as the neckguard, and stitch them together, the resulting piece will want to lay flat, which I don't want. The neckguard should roughly form a half circle. In order to get it to readily make that shape I will make the trim piece longer than the base piece.

If you take two pieces of paper—one slightly shorter than the other—and fasten the ends together, it will bend into a curve. If you wrap tape around a tube, and keep adding it on over itself, the tape will build up in thickness, with the circumference of each turn being slightly larger than the previous one. Drafting a pattern for the neckguard uses the same principle.


I can make the patterns in paper, and bend and measure them to find the right size differential, but that won't be accurate for cutting it in leather because the leather is thicker than paper, and thus needs a larger differential. Add to that the fact that vegetable tanned leather—which I cut and stitch while damp—will shrink while drying, and I can only guess at how long the trim should be.



Here is the neckguard trim piece after cutting and dying.



And here it is tacked into position. The oblong openings will hold luminiferous aether collection devices.

Defender: Coloring the Helm

I reworked the helm pattern by enlarging it all over, plus eliminating the center crown strip. The fit on the form is good, although it could have been a scoutch smaller. I also went with a firmer leather. In general leather is described by what animal it comes from, its thickness, and its stiffness. The latter quality being mellow on one end of the spectrum and firm on the other.

My first undersized helm was made of a rather mellow leather, because in the 5-6 oz thickness I wanted to use, that was all I had. Once I realized I would have to remake the helm I ordered a side of cowhide specifying that it be firm. Consequently the new helm is not so floppy as the first one was.

I will be making the helm and accompanying mask predominantly black, but I want a few highlights of red and violet showing through. The first step is dying those colors, shown above.

Defender: Sewing the Helm

I spent many hours both yesterday and today handstitching together the Defender helmet parts with waxed thread. Alas, it turned out to be too small for the plastic form. I cut and sew the leather wet, and when it dries it shrinks, so there is a certain amount of guesswork involved in making the patterns.



For this helmet, the form is important because the leather will be stretched around it to get its smooth shape. Unfortunately I have decided it will be better in the long run to start over again by enlarging the patterns. The other option would be to cut down the form, but that risks destroying it, and rendering all my efforts for naught.

Defender: A New Steampunk Helmet

Time to start a new steampunk helmet/mask. This one has a working title of Defender. My last project—the underground explorer helmet—was met with much critical acclaim.



Since it started with pulling a pattern from a simple toy helmet, I have decided to use the same technique for the Defender's helmet. This time the form is a Darth Vader plastic helmet that I found at a yard sale.



Here I have covered half the helmet in two plus layers of masking tape, and marked with a felt pen where my seam lines will go.



These are the two patterns cut off of the helmet and laid down flat on cardboard. Next I will adjust these pieces so that they will work in leather, then cut the leather and handstitch all four pieces together.