After seeing all the wonderful steampunk masks made by Ukrainian artist Oleg Petrov (Bob Bassett Workshop), I figured I would try my hand at creating one myself. I'm still pretty inexperienced with leather work, so this would be a good exercise to build up my skill. Growing up with a seamstress for a mother helps a great deal when you are going to be hand-stitching anything.So I worked up a couple of sketches and settled on making the one pictured at right. Now that I had a basic idea of what I would make, I could then set about acquiring all the supplies I would need to create it.
Back in July, I had picked up one of those Star Wars Darth Vader voice-changing helmets at the local junk store for a couple of dollars.
It was missing the top part of the helmet and I didn't feel like trying to sell it on eBay, so it had sat neglected in a box in the corner of my studio for some time. Fortunately, since the eye pieces were removable and fit with the design I worked up, I decided to reuse them for the mask.On most Sunday mornings after I get home from working at the bar, I usually go with a friend of mine to check out the various flea markets that are scattered about Southwest Ohio. There's a leather merchant at one of them that sells leather remnants at great prices and happened to have a small pile of 5 ounce tanned leather up for sale. I was originally planning to go with vegetable tanned leather, but I couldn't beat the price he was asking and was able to buy enough leather to make about three masks.
I knew I would also need some brass for the mouthpiece, ear covers, and forehead plates.
Fortunately, there's a metal recycling place a few blocks from my studio that sells steel, copper, and brass by the pound. On one of my trips, I found an 18" x 24" sheet of 14ga brass (that usually sells for $50-100 online) that I was able to purchase for $2.50 a pound.Once I placed an order with Tandy Leather for rivets, snaps, and eyelets, I had everything I needed but a head shaped object to work on. I wasn't having any luck at the flea markets and craft stores finding a mannequin head, so I decided to check with eBay. If you're ever in the market for a heavy duty polyethene mannequin head, I suggest checking out Easy Discount Displays on eBay. I was able to get a white mannequin head (that retails for about $45) for only $24 including shipping and it only took a few days to arrive. I now had everything I needed to get started.
After twenty-five hours, a bit of blood from accidentally stabbing myself with a leather needle a few times, and a fair amount of sweat and calluses over the course of a week, I had managed to complete my first steampunk mask out of hand-stitched leather and brass. I forgot to take any pictures of the mask while I was making it, so I don't have any in-progress shots to show. However I did manage to take a great deal of photos of the completed mask. I humbly present...
The Neuro-Burst Exploration Helmet
Overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. Once it sells, I'll probably start working on another one using the eye pieces from one of the Russian Gas Masks I bought awhile back.If you'd like to be the proud new owner, I recently listed it for sale on Etsy ($300 + $9.00 shipping).
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