Dr. Beulenpest: Stitching the Leather

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.....

Tauruscat: Stitching the Leather

After cutting out the skull patterns in 5-6 oz leather, I handstitched the pieces together using waxed thread. After wetting it I pulled the skull over the head form to let it dry in the right shape.

Here is a rear view of the skull with the stitching almost complete.

After drafting the pattern for the brim, I cut it out and stitched it onto the skull. Then to make it a bit stiffer (and to give it a finished look) I sewed on leather piping (shown here partially done).

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: The Aether Collector

Here is the working part of the Defender helmet: The luminiferous aether collection device. The neckguard will have a bank of ten of these little beauties.



Luminiferous aether is the substance which fills the upper regions of space beyond the clouds. It is the medium which allows light to travel. The luminiferous aether collection device was designed to gather the energy from the aether and convert it for personal use.

Defender: Adding Piping

To finish off the two eye openings on the mask, as well as the respirator openings I am stitching on leather piping. The mask parts are 4-5 oz leather, while the piping is only 2-3 oz, so it will more easily fold.



The pattern for the piping is a rectangle. Here you can see the piping piece at the bottom, and on one of the eye openings the piping has been attached. In addition to looking better, it makes attaching the resin eyepieces easier.

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: Designing the Crest

I decided before I remade the crown and neck guard of the helm I would work out the crest, as it plays a prominent role in the helmet's appearance, and could affect how I should redesign the other parts.



This sketch shows my original concept. The helmet—once it was made in leather—really had a samurai feel to it, and no longer looked straight out of Star Wars. I feel that the crest simply adds to the Asian flair.

I used the green paper to work out the pattern of the interlocking leather pieces, then cut and riveted them in leather as seen here on the prototype helmet, in approximately the final position.

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.

Underground Explorer: Oxygen Canister

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.

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.

Underground Explorer: Goggles

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.

Underground Explorer: Designing the Goggles

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.

Underground Explorer: Lamp Comb is Finished

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.

Underground: First Comb Attempt

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.

Underground Explorer: Building the Lamp Comb

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.

Space Helmet to Underground Explorer

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.

Pattern Drafting 101

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).