Doktor
The current status of Doktor is that the mask is almost complete. It’s cast in rubber and painted and has darkened lenses fitted. I need to sew up the strap which is currently held together with a giant safety pin!
I’ve bought 6m of black cotton to make robes from to give Doktor that grim reaper look. I’ve been hunting for a pair of lightweight black leather gloves but having trouble because summer isn’t the best time to find gloves. Once I get hold of them I’ll glue on the rubber claw pieces.
Today I’m going to try setting up an old laptop with Cubase to run the vocoder for the voice. I’m hoping that it’s going to run ok without clipping and such. I will need to make some sort of sling for the laptop to keep it against the small of my back and hidden out of view under the robe. I’ll need to do some tests on how long the battery will last so I know how long I can perform as Doktor before he loses his voice!
Other things I need to do is to get some foam. The beak is a little too squishy and I’d like to pad it out with foam and also put some foam to deflect my breath downwards. I did a test the other day for misting and there was a little but nothing that would stop me seeing properly.
On the subject of lenses, my eyes are still slightly visible through the darkened Plexiglass. I’m going to be making a lycra balaclava to hide any skin so I think I’ll have to put some nylons or gauze or something over my eyes to hide them.
I’m going to order the components for the electronics this week then at the weekend I’ll travel up to Manchester to put it all together with a friend who actually knows something about this stuff! The costume should come together pretty quickly.
There are some additional bits that I may or may not make. It’s been suggested that I make latex coverings for boots so that the toes look more alien. I quite like this idea but I’ll try this out after the costume is complete as it’s lower priority. I will need some kind of pole which the plague doctor will use to poke at his patients. Not sure what I’m doing with this yet. Finally I need webbing to hold medical bits and pieces.
