In the group of LARP’ers I fight with, we have a ranking system in place that rewards people who go above and beyond both on and off the field, especially those who help the unit and the members within. The highest rank that you can get is an Elite Guard, and with it you are given a helmet that is designed specifically for you, that is loosely based on the helmet worn by the people who originally founded the unit. For the last few years, I’ve been the one tasked with making the Elite helmets.

This is the Elite helmet of the Mad Scientist of the unit, designed and made by me. This helmet was pretty fun to make, albeit a bit on the chaotic side. I made the paper copy from scratch, and cut the leather to find that something had gone wrong in the translation to leather and suddenly the helmet seemed a bit too big to me. So I cut the big section on the top of the head, along with the mouth piece, and reattached it via rapid rivets, effectively shrinking the helmet in about an inch. It came out nicely and he wears it well.