Dragon Helm

I'll be trading at Nerd East at the weekend, and I'm quite determined to make something Big And Fancy to take with me. I've got a few pauldrons/spaulders on the go (anyone fancy telling me which?), and a few post-apoc bracers, and some of my usual masks... but I don't see any of those as Big And Fancy. Maybe the Scavengers are, but I'm just too used to them now.

Anyway! I decided to have a go at an actual helm. I've toyed with the idea in the past and had a look at a few patterns, but I've never actually gave it a go. This is my chance, right? And what goes nicely with LARP? Dragons, of course!

I went with my usual straw kip rather than something sturdier, because it's nice and cheap for when I end up doing it wrong, and I can stiffen it up later. So, here we are, bits of the dragon so far.

So, that's pretty much obviously the face-part up top. Not sure about any more shaping to it yet. Might add some more bits. We shall see! Next are little fin things which will go to the side like so. Can't have a dragon helm without wingy bits, right? The face-part is the first thing I've properly hand sewed with the appropriate tools and thread, so it's a little messy, but it does its job.

The other bit it supposed to be like a little tail, which will hang somewhere on the back. It has a little bit of movement in it, which is nice, as long as it doesn't get stuck or fall apart. 

More updates as I do stuff. Possibly. I am ridiculously bad at blogging.

Industrialist

Need some face protection while working in the factory or repairing your airship? Well, the Industrialist is for you! 

This stylish mask would also be a wonderful addition to the battle suits of any of you fine sky pirates.
(Warning: Leather will not protect you from ray guns.)

Now, this one was named by a good friend of mine. The idea behind it was to be more like a worker's mask - nothing fancy, but nice and protective.

Apparently, the idea of having sticky-out guard eyebrows is hilarious. Perhaps it was just that I described the function as 'To stop things falling onto your eyes, I guess.'

Still don't understand that myself, but hey.

It's probably pretty obvious with all the brown and brass, but this little guy is supposed to be over at the steampunk end of the spectrum.

Of course, it could look a bit nifty with some weathered nickel rivets and some black or battered brown for that lovely post-apocalyptic look which I am slowly falling into these days.

Unlike all of my other masks so far most of which I need to finish (I'm looking at you, Famine!), this one has an adjustable strap over the top of the head which makes it sit just nicely on your face and has very little chance of falling off. Also, it looks pretty cool.

Hats could be a problem, though, depending on your type of hat. I'll have to try some.

If for some reason anyone wants one (and I don't see why not - It's my favourite so far), they're for sale over here.

AFWVG - Doctor Stockill II

Another costume (mostly) down and time for another post. The infamous Doctor Stockill is nearing completion, and I am very excited about it.

First up, the coat.
Simple black coat, not particularly fitted. The leather on the arms hold syringes and knives (which I still need to make most of), and straps are trigger-clipped from the D-rings on the back of the shoulders to the back of these arm bands.


I am very much hoping that it does indeed look rather doctory. Black rather than white for this doctor, because, of course, he is a plague doctor. As far as I know, they were all black with pointy faces, right?



Speaking of pointy faces...

There he is with that plague mask and the air tank for it. Luckily for Peter, my model for Doctor S., it's not too heavy.

My favourite thing about this costume is how similar it actually looks to my final design for it. That, and when Peter decided that he would walk through the canteen at college while wearing it. The comments ranged from 'Oh my god...' to 'Holy crap, that's creepy.'

Perfect.

AFWVG - Plague Mask II

Updates on Stockill's plague mask!

On the right is the first costruction - craft foam, duct tape and those goggles. That got chopped up to make the pattern for the leather version.

The lenses for those goggles ended up being the lenses in the final version too, but the 'goggle' parts were made from wonderflex. Amazing stuff.

And the (almost) finished version. Veg. tan leather, coloured with antique stain and joined with brass rivets. I'm thinking that it's quite good considering that it's my first leather project. The finished version (which will be photographed eventually) has a few more rivets and has been waxed to give it a nice, almost shiny finish. Somehow, it looks more like 'real' leather to me. Strange, since it is real leather.

AFWVG - Plague Mask

The plague mask is an interesting one. It's mentioned just once in the book, I think, in a single paragraph at the bottom of page 206. I could have easily decided to do a generic 'doctor' outfit for Stockill, but since I'm only making the one costume for him, I thought I'd go for something a bit more iconic.

I think the 'plague doctor' is a fairly important aspect to the story since, and here comes a spoiler, Doctor Stockill is trying to create his own strain of the plague so he can create a cure for it, thus getting rich from it when he releases said plague across London. Alongside that, plague masks just look menacing. And menacing is perfect for your average evil doctor.

My first plague mask idea came to me while I was about to fall asleep one night (actually, that's a lie. My first ones came to me when I was in Germany, but those drawings aren't all coloured and pretty. And, quite frankly, they're pretty boring.). The thought was this; one step up from the usual plague mask. I can't help but think that, since he is trying to make the plague, Stockill would be quite aware that it wasn't transmitted by smell. Although, in the book, the mask is described as being stuffed with herbs and things, I thought that I'd industrial it up a bit. Industrial and a bit more high tech - air tanks. Air tanks and filters.

I've played with different shapes of mask (though they are all fairly similar), different types of eyes, different brass fittings... Since I can't cast metal, the interesting bits would have to be very lucky finds or made out of something else and painted. Ideas are sculpey (which I don't think would work too well), Wonderflex (something which I've never used before but read a lot about) and casting things in resin. 

With the eyes, I'm considering going with something styled like eye-cup welding goggles. They just scream 'industrial' and have that same shape as your generic plague mask. I have a couple of pairs with a 'cybergoth' styling to them, which cost me a fair bit of money, so I don't especially want to mess with them. I hunted down a plastic version that I can happily ruin. Probably wouldn't use them, instead using them to make a copy out of Wonderflex or whathaveyou. Going to start working on fake brass bits next week, see what works, and finalise my mask design from there.