Respirator Workshop at Nova Albion

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 replaced 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.

Respirator #4 with Canisters

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.

Respirator #4

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.

Skull Respirator: A New Project

I've decided to make a new respirator (I'm defining a respirator as a device that covers the mouth and nose, as opposed to a gas mask which covers the mouth, nose and eyes). Top hats and respirators go nicely together in a steampunk world, and heretofore I've only made the one pictured below, plus the Defender's anemone respirator, both of which have two canisters. I wanted to try something different—a respirator with just a single central canister.


As I contemplated just what that canister might look like, it occurred to me that I had a small skull that was about the right size and shape. I found this partial plastic skull several years ago at a yard sale, without knowing just what I would do with it. This seems to be the right project for it.

To make it look steampunk I will need to punkify it. I want to join the natural with the mechanical, combined into a single integrated unit. I am planning on casting the skull canister in a faux pewter (cold cast aluminum), and attach it to a leather mouth and nosepiece, with leather straps.

Human teeth are laid out roughly in an arc, a shape which allows me to replace these plastic "human" teeth with gear teeth. While I rarely utilize the symbol of the gear in my work—due to its ubiquitous appearance and overuse in so many things that are called steampunk—I do think it is appropriate in this instance. In the photo above I have removed the lower jaw, flattened the back of the skull, and sanded off the upper teeth in preparation for fabricating and installing the gear teeth.

Defender: Adding to the Respirators

I previously showed the mask with the partially finished respirators as pictured above. I knew I wanted to add more to them, but hadn't quite decided what yet. I was thinking of a coiling aluminum tube coming out the end and wrapping around the respirator, and I also considered having a thicker tubing connecting the two respirators together, perhaps with an elaborate filter that hung in front of the chest.




This is the Jello™ mold from which I started, and on the right the resin respirator after adding top and bottom and engraving a diamond pattern on it.



Ultimately I decided on going for a sea anemome look, or a cactus flower. I wanted an organic mechanical quality (or was it a mechanically organic quality?) I needed just to make the "flower" top piece. I cut the petals out of acrylic sheet, and molded and cast a sprayer nozzle for the center. On the left are the original acrylic and metal pieces, and on the right in blue are the cast resin parts after modification.



Here are the two resin pieces glued together, ready for molding. This will be cast in the same cold cast aluminum resin that I used for the respirators in the top photo. They will then be screwed onto the top, completing the anemone look.