Darth Pipemaker

Is this thing not hilarious? I've been suffering from an annoying chronic cough for a while, and after various checks and x-rays pronounced that my throat and lungs were perfectly healthy, my doc has narrowed it down to an allergic reaction, possibly to either a new stain or a new type of ebonite we've been working with. The treatment is dual - I'm now on anti-allergy meds and will be making much more use of a respirator in the workshop. I had to find one that was rated for gases, just in case, and the search turned up this thing at Maison du Tournage. It was so ridiculous looking that I had to buy it immediately. Weird though it may appear, it's actually quite light and decently comfortable to wear, enough so that I'm tempted to wear it around the house just for shock effect. It's going to be fun greeting visitors at the door in this thing. Hannibal Lector meets Darth Vader, that's me!

Other than that, nothing much newsworthy today. We've finished a beautiful, bird's-eye-covered pencil-shanked Ligne Bretagne billiard here, but I just haven't had the free time to photo and post it yet. The blowfishies have been keeping me too busy! Here's a "Monster" blowfish being done for one request - It's as big as my three jaw chuck!