Steampunk Animal Masks
Rhinoceros
One of my later masks, this one was done just for fun. I was especially intrigued by the horns, which I made in cold cast aluminum.
Donkey
This was a commission for a steampunk movie based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Of course the character I made was Nick Bottom the weaver. The long ears were made to be adjustable, so that the donkey could have different expressions. The actor looked through the cold cast aluminum grate on the front. The cheeks and head hair are lamb’s wool.
Elephantine Masks
Pachydermos
Shortly after I started making steampunk masks I mentioned to my son Jesse that I was working on a mask design that resembled a mosquito. He suggested that I make one to look like an elephant. Thus was born the idea of Pachydermos. The mosquito mask never got past the drawing board.
Pachydermos features a leather trunk that is folded back upon itself to resemble an elephant's proboscis. For the long lower section of trunk I wrapped thin leather around a vacuum cleaner hose. I constructed a large respirator canister from laser-cut acrylic, then molded it and cast the pair in cold cast bronze. I made them hollow so they wouldn't add too much weight. And then my favorite part, the copper ears, I fabricated from two lamp reflectors.
At the bottom of the trunk I fastened a sphygmomanometer gauge. The mask is all handstitched with waxed thread and stained an antique brown. The lenses are clear acrylic.
You can see how I designed and constructed Pachydermos on my blog here: Pachydermos Blog
Olifant
I liked Pachydermos a lot but thought that I could improve it, and after it sold I decided to make another but slightly different. Different in fact that I give it a new name: Olifant aka Son of Pachydermos.
I made two changes, in addition to the coloring. I felt that the vacuum hose trunk was too long, and I had been interested in working with neoprene, so I made a new shorter black rubber trunk. And since the canisters had been used already on a respirator, I built new ones and cast them in cold cast aluminum. Everything else I left the same.
You can see how I made these changes on my blog starting here: Olifant Blog
Aardvark
I was commissioned a few years ago to make several masks for the Los Angeles Opera's production of Verdi's I due Foscari . One of them was based on my elephantine mask design. I changed the ears, making them of leather. I also changed the eyepieces, respirators, and trunk.
