Nope, not steampunk.
So, here in Portsmouth, NH we have a Halloween parade that's been a tradition for something like 20 years (and some people are pretty serious about it). The local makerspace, Port City Makerspace, is naturally a resource for the local costume/cosplay/propmaking enthusiasts. I teach a class in introductory 3D printing and I'm always looking for practical examples of prototyping and rapid design and fabrication to talk about in my class, so of course I used 3D printing in my costume ideas.
I wanted some goggles, similar to cutting goggles, but all the ones I saw on Thingiverse were labeled "steampunk" and that irked me a little. People should like what they like, but I've become a little biased since the aesthetic has become a bit overplayed and the execution has been watered down, by and large, to people hot-gluing gears onto top hats. So I decided to spin my own, in rapid fashion.
I pulled out Sketchup and drew these in about 20min:
This is all pretty stock-standard stuff for someone used to Sketchup, the only slightly weird bit was getting the contour on the bottom of the housings where they would fit against my face. The short version is that I drew a square, put a curved line of the profile I wanted across the square, extruded it to a solid with the contour I wanted on top, and then intersected it with the tubular goggle housings with the "intersect faces" command. I deleted all the parts I didn't need, and was left with nice contours.
These are 100% about looks; they'll be worn on my head or around my neck in the parade. I can wear them on my face and see, but the contour is not really "correct" and make them sit a little frog-eyed. These are props, not intended for actual practical use.
3D printed in PLA and test-fit with some old photography filters from an SLR:
Primed with sandable auto-primer:
Painted with metallic spraypaint and with a little black paint brushed on for "grime":
Let me pause here for a moment and say that if you're interested in distressing objects for cosplay or costume purposes, there are many great resources on Youtube and such to guide you. One of the best I've seen was the video from Tested where Adam Savage demonstrated some of his tricks for aging examples in his prop collection (you can check the video here.) His techniques are an exercise in subtlety; his objects are on display and under scrutiny. I will be taking them to a cartoonish extreme because I'll be wearing these in a parade, at night.
Here are the goggles, assembled, with touches of oxide yellow, burnt sienna, and black paint, as well as some scuffing. They are padded with EVA foam. The strap is old leather and I attached it with some D-ring brackets intended for picture hanging. The nose bridge in this pair is a spring; I made two other pair of these goggles and used leather. Both work fine:
The model is on Thingiverse if you want to print a set, but please be kind and remember that I hacked the model together in (literally) minutes with little regard to fit and precise measurements and sizing.
Halloween is fun.
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