After I got back from the Asylum in 2023 I immediately started work on this steampunk mask. It’s quite common to leave the event buzzing with ideas, so I decided to harness that energy rather than wait until June or July the next year when I usually start working on projects for the festival.
This is very much Version 3.0, following my previous Flight Mask and Bioshock Mask as both of those feature fans to circulate air through the mask. The Flight Mask had the fan unit as a separate unit on my back and the Bioshock mask had it built in. However in that case I’d designed the mask first and then tried to fit the ventilation system in afterwards, whereas with this one I built it around the needs of the fans. As such it was much more reliable and comfortable to wear. The fans sun on USB power, so I simply had a USB power block in my pocket to power everything.
I also improved visibility in the mask by including mesh on the sides of the eye pieces. This meant I retained my peripheral vision which is quite important when moving through a crowded festival.
I wanted to build this out into a complete costume and so I modified a leather coat with some leather armour and cold cast brass emblems. These were made by sculpting over some small picture frames and then making moulds.
I also made some additional pieces for the costume. The gun is made of various found objects and machined brass parts. The leg armour is leather with some additional casts of the pieces I made for the coat.
Here’re some videos covering the creation of the mask and costume.
thedarkpower.com 