Dr. Beulenpest: Tatoo?!

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

Dr. Beulenpest: Mask is Complete

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

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

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: Casting the Beak Tip

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

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.