Once I realized how good of a job my old Imperial De Luxe sewing machine did stitching the reused 3-4 oz. leather from a horribly designed old jacket I got from the thrift store, I decided to push the boundaries of what it could do a little more. Rather than make the mask entirely using the thinner jacket leather, I dug out an old 5 oz. leather welding apron I bought at the flea market a few years ago to give the leather mask a little bit more contrast and rigidity. Now I just needed a design to work from.I scratched my head for a little while until I found an old cast brass urn I picked up years ago sitting in a pile of fabric and other sewing supplies near my sewing machine. The bottom plate had come loose awhile back so it wasn't usable to hold things anymore, but it got the gears in my head turning. The shape was almost perfect for making a pseudo-filtration cannister. It just needed a bit of reshaping with my Dremel loaded with a cutting disk to make it work.
So why not make a Victorian inspired leather and brass mask that actually looks more like a gas mask that could have been made some time in the 1890s? Drawing extra inspiration from the Russian SMS Gas Masks from the cold war era, I set about stitching together my own leather version. The resulting design would be called the Zelinky M-1897 Aether Hood. For the majority of the gas mask, I used the thinner jacket leather, but I was able to work in patches of the thicker welding apron leather throughout the design. To add more interest to the design and help shape the leather, I applied a top stitch to a number of the seams throughout the mask. I also worked "footballs" into the design to allow more room for the ears and jaw inside the mask.
When it came time to figure out how to close the mask up, I realized that I still had a couple of brass buckles I got from Tandy Leather when I ordered parts for the first Steampunk mask I made a few years ago. To attach the buckles to the mask, I cut strips of the welding apron leather, added some decorative stitching along the edges, stitched a couple of loops to hold the free strap a little better, and riveted them onto the mask.
To attach the reshaped urn to the mask, I drilled a series of holes around the perimeter and riveted it onto the opening I left around the mouth. For the eyepieces, I decided to use some of the 15 gauge brass plate I had left over from the first mask. To be honest, I went through a few variations in the design for the cutouts in the eyepieces and a bit of extra scrap to take to the local metal recycling center before I settled on the slits. Once these were shaped and riveted in place, I cut a strip of brass plate and riveted it between the eyepieces to add some extra rigidity to the mask and help hold the weight of the cast brass urn.At this point, the only thing left to do was figure out how to close up the opening in the bottom of the urn to give it the look of a functional filtration unit. I must admit I was stumped for a few days trying to figure out the best way to close up the opening, until I went to Meijer to get groceries and decided to look in their plumbing repair section.
Sitting among the replacement sink traps was a thin stainless steel sink strainer that looked to be pretty close to the right diameter to fit in the end of the urn. Of course modern stainless steel didn't exist in the time period I wanted this mask to look like it came from, but there are corrosion resistant iron alloys that trace all the way back to about 400 AD and a number of stainless steel alloys were developed between the late 1890s and the mid 1910s. So it isn't entirely implausible that a gas mask from the Victorian era could have stainless steel somewhere in it. When I got back to the studio, I pulled the strainer out of its packaging and held it up to the mask and it looked like it belonged there. After a bit of trimming and shaping, I was able to get the strainer to fit neatly in the recess in the casting where the original base used to sit and tacked it around the edges with some cyanoacrylate glue to help hold it in place.I have to say that, of the three Steampunk masks I've made so far, I am happiest with how this one turned out. It has its quirks and I ran into a few hurdles along the way involving my sewing machine deciding to spool the upholstery thread into birds' nests under the leather rather than running a smooth stitch, but I think the end result came out better than I originally planned.
Like the Aegis ARS-84 Granel Mask, I'll be listing the Zelinky M-1897 Aether Hood for sale on eBay some time in the next few weeks if you would like to be the pround new owner. They will also both be included along with all the other Steampunk and Dieselpunk art and weaponry I've developed over the years in a nearly 300-page book I plan to publish later this year.
Until then, it's an idea...
Update: The Zelinky M-1897 Aether Hood is currently listed for sale on eBay.
