Just a whim, really - I've been fascinated by them for years, and had been considering having a go at making one for a while, so after I found a surviving example in Berlin last year that I could base it on, I thought I'd have a go.
I've no idea if I'll ever have a chance to wear it to anything, but if I still did any teaching it would have been very tempting to wear it for the first few lectures of term, to ward off the various illnesses that the students inevitably turn up with... ;)
The lighting was something of an accident, as the flash for my camera had died so I had to improvise with what other lights I had to hand, but I was quite pleased with the way it turned out.
There's a surviving example in the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, which was the main basis for it. I was amazed when I saw it, actually - I've been interested in them for years, and had no idea that any of them had survived (other than as the caricatured masks for the Comedia dell'Arte doctor).
I wondered how comfortable it would be to wear, but it's not bad at all - as the beak is more or less in front of the mouth and nose, it's easy enough to breath and the eye-pieces don't tend to fog up too badly (certainly not enough to obscure vision).
On the original they were smoked glass, but I used dark grey perspex instead - partly because it's far easier to work, and partly because if I do ever wear it for anything I don't fancy having glass that close to my eyes...
I thought I might have to stuff the beak, but it held it's shape well enough without so I've left it as it is (and, of course, it makes breathing somewhat easier...).
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I've no idea if I'll ever have a chance to wear it to anything, but if I still did any teaching it would have been very tempting to wear it for the first few lectures of term, to ward off the various illnesses that the students inevitably turn up with... ;)
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There's a surviving example in the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, which was the main basis for it. I was amazed when I saw it, actually - I've been interested in them for years, and had no idea that any of them had survived (other than as the caricatured masks for the Comedia dell'Arte doctor).
I wondered how comfortable it would be to wear, but it's not bad at all - as the beak is more or less in front of the mouth and nose, it's easy enough to breath and the eye-pieces don't tend to fog up too badly (certainly not enough to obscure vision).
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I thought I might have to stuff the beak, but it held it's shape well enough without so I've left it as it is (and, of course, it makes breathing somewhat easier...).
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