Day 1 Update.

The decision

After finding out about the contest a bit later than I would like to, which is not a reason to get discouraged, i got to work.
1800-1920
A quite difficult period of time to chose from, where do i even start? Choices were never my strong suit,
So i started browsing.
Fireplace? Orrery? Astrolabe? Automatons? Ornamental, ritual weapons? Guns? Photography equipment? Avionics? WW1 equipment?
This is just a fraction of the things that went on through my mind, the 19th century and a bit of the 20th truly has it all.
Which of those is a nice combination of difficulty, aesthetics, appeal? After spending honestly too much time thinking about it all I settled on a helmet,
notably the 19th century French Cuirassier Helmet, It's unique design, composing of multiple interesting materials, an iconic silhouette, a not too big of a scope,
seems just to be perfect for a contest like this. Also it feels like its not something too commonly modeled, which might also end up being beneficial.

References

Then comes the time to gather enough references, to be able to visualize the prop from every angle, simple enough!
There's a decent bit of surviving helmets from that period to have a good reference, and if needed to go back to looking for more!

Sadly with this, partially because of my difficulties deciding, and just enjoyment of doing research this took me waay too long, resulting in my time budget for today or at least his part of the day, being spent.