I was sketching and sketching and sketching. Drawing what this could possibly look like in 400 different ways, but with more sketches brought more questions. More questions that could only be answered by actually sitting down and doing it. SO that is exactly what I started to do.

Questions such as: How can I make it so it doesn’t simply just slip right off my head?

How should I make the front visor portion?

My Materials so far have been

Pencil Rod: for the base

Bailing Wire: for pretty much everything else

Thin(er) Wire: to tie it together

The problem: To create a garment/prosthesis that inhibits or activates the body in some sort of fashion.

At first I was so confused, I felt like everything that I drew was just bondage equipment. A vest of belts, I mean COME ON! Finally I came to something rational. I wanted to make some sort of headdress. More specifically the Native American Variety. These headdresses are sometimes referred to as “War Bonnets.” A War Bonnet at its simplest level was a headband with 10 or so eagle feathers that flared out from the top. These eagle feathers were the probably the most important component to this garment. These “Coup” Feathers were awarded to Braves, Warrior, and Chieftains for extreme acts of bravery, and could only be earned one by one. Even if a warrior had gone out and collected his own eagle feathers he was not allowed to use them until he had proved to a council of the tribe, his acts deserved the honor of the “Coup Feathers”.

I want this piece to be inspired from these War Bonnets of old, not only in how it looks but also what it does for the wearer. I want this to (for lack of a better term transcend the wearer’s reality. I want it to give the wearer a type of warped vision (perhaps from mirror tiles or maybe glass lenses) I want the wearer to be able to smell a unique scent while they wear this, I want this piece to excite the senses.