Its been too long

Been so long since I wrote in this blog....it was gathering dust. Done alot of growing in the realm of steampunk no longer a newbie Now with several more projects under my belt and am working on some current works. Taking from two of my favorite movies Mirrormask and Labyrinth I even have a new line : Masks

Came from steampunk and inspiration from two of my favorite movies Labyrinth and especially MirrorMask

Independence Day boost

A five day vacation!
While celebrating the birthday independence of my native land.


More importantly enjoying being around family (Mommy, Cuz, Aunt and Uncle). Theres a bonus when you artistically inclined family members. More so when they are open to your genre as my Aunty is. A regular virtuoso with polymer clay and other mediums her work is available at http://www.etsy.com/shop/marciapalmer

She is somehow able to work her magic and create pieces to almost any genre/subgenre as if she were a fan with a little research pictures and simple explanation.




These were done at the last minute how bout that?

She got me so hyped up and hooked up with spare metal washers, bolts and odds and ends that I was in daze almost forgetting that I was there to see family. But as artistic as they were they understood..
And look what I whipped up!

It's more than just slapping gears on something I know that now more than ever

Well(heaves heavy sigh) After an entire Memorial Day weekend giving thanks to our heroes in uniform current and past, I holed myself up in my house devoted myself to gears paint and glue,

Labyrinth,

Legends,

Mirrormask
and a multitude of other prop making mind bending movies. I also got to fight my own little battle with one nosy cat who just had to stick his cute furry nose into my workplace to see what I was doing every hour on the hour
It was twelve hours of precise gluing and fitting...why? Because After placing a couple of gears I wanted to place more gears. I'm not no engineer or mechanic by any stretch of the imagination, but its all about the illusion of functionality because that is a facet of steampunk: Gadgets, machines and science from the future mind you but using the materials that were available to the time period.

Since I'm going for an early twentieth century Victorian look but at the same time, trying to be a bionic kind of assassin, my eye-piece needs to convey that n'est pas?
Well its finished and I am quite proud and funny enough quite protective of it and quite anxious to see if I can do another and I'm going to steampunk some other props too. It's like Pringles and Lays...
I've started now I can't stop

My progress and frustration so far

Three months left till the first con: DragonCon 2011 and I'm not as far as I would like to be. I'm reallly having to put the nose to the grind to get it done.
After being too tired during the week, I decided to get off my butt and work on the goggle and hat. Progress is with the goggles. Frustration is with the hat. I wonder if I'm using the wrong material or just not smoothing it out enough or what. But I'm contemplating starting from the ground up and fleshing out a hat that way. The material is just not settling right with the Stitch-A-wich. Most of the how-tos online are for top hats. So imagining the "ground up" scenario I took a measurement of my head. Outside of the fact I have a big head...he he I saw this idea about making a hat of thin cardboard and tulle steampunk style...maybe starting small
My progress is a little better

I buffed it a lil bit need to buff it some more though. It still looks a little too "golden" And as good friends reminded me Steampunk is more a brassy sepia colored feel. Well that's one approach

Here it is taken apart:

What alot of steampunkers there are!

I guess that I underestimated the growth of steampunk. Or maybe I just havent been in it long enough. But in my search of parts to upgrade and retro grade I have been in some of the most interesting places from the yard sales, pawn stores, goodwill and you would be surprised how far the mechanical gauntlet reaches. Up here on Howell Mill where I live. I found a belt at the secondhand store which well ya know after I'm done with it is not going to be a belt cause I was trying it around my wrist. And as luck would have it, I found some shower hooks that if glued on to the right places would make great conductor knobs.
I'm thinking to myself "The belt had a nice buckle which a thermostat or some kind of device would glue very nice right on top of yeah! Didnt know one of the volunteers was stacking clothes behind watching out the corner of her eye as I was fitting the belt on my wrist envisioning the final product. So when I paid for my things which came to under $5. I shyly mentioned it was too bad that they didnt have any watches or old clocks or thermostats as I was looking for one of those.
"Well you can try the Goodwill in Buckhead. They always antiques." She said kindly bagging up my purchase then turning to attend to another women in the store
Then another young volunteer spoke up Hey I was just wondering you wouldnt happen to be in that new thing that's going around now.. I just saw at that big trekkie thing they hold in downtown Atlanta every year. People walking around with fancy hats, guns with light bulbs and googles on What's it called? she snapped her fingers jogging her memory. She turned toward her coworker
I think it's called Steampunk. Her coworker
Yeah! Steampunk Are you into that?
I could only chuckle. It wasn't new I wanted to open my mouth to say but I guess it was new to her. And it was so much more than light bulbs, guns, fancy hats and goggles but it would an eternity to explain and there were other customers so I just nodded my head and smiled,
Yes I am a steampunker
Oh cool! she said Yeah we've had a couple of them in here before asking for watches just like you She very excited at the prospect.
I had to chuckle slightly. I was glad to have made her day. Though I can't have imagined how. Maybe to her I was rare oddity that she could one day say that she saw on TV...who knows
But she wasn't done Hey you never know. If you check back every now and then we get like you guys are looking for.
Okay. Thanks
And as I went home to the cat and lunch all I could think.
My what alot of us there are!

Letting my mind wander

Okay fast forward to the present. Im here in the middle of the state on day two of refresher training. Hotel rooms are nice, two big soft beds I get it to myself would be better if my sci fi steampunk partners in crime were here though but its work its not supposed to be pleasurable. So I decided to devote my free energy to watching City Confidential and hitting up my blog and gearing up for costume for this year. During training sessions my mind drifts to the list inventoring what I have and what I need while paying half attention to the instructor, nodding my head where it was appropriate in agreement with everything said pretending to care. Yeah mean I know. So far all I got are the goggles which I managed to get by pure Cajun luck at AnachroCon 2011. I netted a sweet deal if I say so myself 2 for $20. I got two just in case.

Instead of the standard steampunk goggles, I decided to make a monogoggle which is rather easy I found out with the brand I bought

I got the monogoggle down thank you Lord Montague!
I have a vial full of gears and need some more. At a loss of whether to spray it red or burnt gold which would look better with the outfit. Would you believe I was actually pondering that throughout the training instead of policy...yeah naughty me!
Black wont stand out as much, red might be somewhat garish. I wonder if I should buy both this weekend and test it out.

My first steampunk convention

AnachroCon 2011! I kick myself for not knowing about this little jewel of a convention before being a late blooming steampunker. This would have been the ideal place to start. So to remedy my lateness I pre reged for next year. I'm even debating becoming a life time member as it is $250 for now. I've learned the hard way with conventions of my favorite genres offering lifetimes is to catch the lifetime before they get bigger. Cardinal rule: As the conventions get bigger in rep so doeth the pricing of the badge/ticket/membership. And once you get a lifetime it pays for itself. I made that "If I only knew then what I know now" mistake with DragonCon. Well I stepped into the Holiday Inn and saw corsets, gauntlet, goggles and history galore.



I got to meet President Jefferson, Ben Franklin hear what the teachers didn't tell me about my country's Founding Fathers, get a great deal on goggles and gears. I discovered what a small world it is when the girl in the lovely golden steampunked dressed happens to know my seamstress friend Aleathia...whoooo!

I made the acquantaince of a trailblazer in native punk regalia at a panel on proper Steampunk costuming and makeup. To me she is a trailblazer as she is representing her heritage with a steampunk feel and doing it right! I couldn't resist following her around praising her costume and gleaning tips from her about corsets. She was as good natured as she was informative about her craft. To get to know her I have the link on the side. I also learned just how broad, vast and wide the world of steampunk is. It spans the imagination. And I saw so many versions varieties and flavors it was an inspiration and a sensory overload at the same time. As the parade of gaunlets goggles corsets guns and leather passed my eyes my own steampunk creation was building in my mind. And I vowed to myself after gleaning tips pictures etc that if my own wasnt something I could be proud of I would only have myself to blame.