Professor Tauruscat left scant record of what connected the eleven brainwave sensors to the processor on top of the helmet. In looking for a period material I felt that latex tubing would be an ideal choice, and easy to work with. It would also provide a somewhat comical effect by providing bounce (
when the wearer perambulated) which I could not resist.
However once my latex surgical tubing arrived and I fitted it onto the barbed end of the sensor, I immediately realized it would not work, as it simply did not look right.
See top of photo below.
I briefly considered aging the latex—darkening it and giving it cracks—but still I felt this would fall short of the look I was after. After much research I came upon a braided sleeve (at the bottom of the photo) which seems appropriate. Not only does it look Victorian to me, but the black color blends in with the other dark colors of the leather and the sensors.
Now I am looking for a metal finding (or other piece of hardware) to finish off the braid and prevent it from fraying.
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.
