Steampunk News

Mage Ingeneur | July 3, 2012

I was asked to film some book launches by Lisa (my partner) for an author (Robyn Caughlan) who has asked Lisa to make her book into a film.  The book is called ‘Waiting at the Gate‘ – where you can share the journey from book to film.  It’s billed as ‘one woman’s journey out of hell’ and it’s a pretty apt description of the tumultuous life and times of incredible Aboriginal artist and fashion designer Robyn Caughlan.  Lisa’s going to be doing her trademark giveaways and ‘meet the makers’ events during the film’s production so liking is a good way to be amongst the first in line for previews, sneak peeks etc.!

Anyway I wanted to use an iPhone to film the launches but wanted to find a way to stabilise the phone and this is one solution I came up with.  It is gyroscopic in nature similar to what they use on ships.  The pendulum keeps the camera upright and the ‘disks’ keep it level no matter how you angle the handle attached to the outer disk.  It is very easy to make and can easily be worked out from the photographs – enjoy!

The iPhone slides into the cradle quite snuggly.

Category: Aether Salon, Steampunk, Steampunk Bitz, Steampunk Home, Steampunk Librarian, Steampunk Workshop, Victoriana | No Comments »
Tags: iPhone, Robyn Caughlan, Steampunk Steady Cam

Mage Ingeneur | June 25, 2012

I was asked if I could donate an iPhonograph to NSW Cavalcade of History and Fashion charity to raise some much needed funds in a raffle.  So I created this more modern version (compared to my previous iPhonograph) as 1st prize in their biggest fundraising event this year – their 50th Anniversary Fashion Parade raising money to preserve clothing of past eras which provide unique clues to our social history.  Here is a link to NSW Cavalcade of History and Fashion.  Click here to see the pictures of the iPhonograph in its original form.

She’s a beauty and has an input for a microphone (with it’s own separate volume control) and you can control the Treble, Bass and Volume.  This baby has 50 watts of sound and what a SOUND!!  You can plug in your iPhone, iPad, iPod Into the cradle or any audio device through the microphone input.

Category: Aether Salon, Steampunk, Steampunk Bitz, Steampunk Home, Steampunk Workshop, Victoriana | No Comments »
Tags: Audio, Electronic, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Steampunk Facebook, Steampunk Home

Mage Ingeneur | June 22, 2012

I was asked if I could donate an iPhonograph to NSW Cavalcade of History and Fashion charity to raise some much needed funds in a raffle.  So I created this more modern version (compared to my previous iPhonograph) as 1st prize in their biggest fundraising event this year – their 50th Anniversary Fashion Parade raising money to preserve clothing of past eras which provide unique clues to our social history.  Here is a link to NSW Cavalcade of History and Fashion.

She’s a beauty and has an input for a microphone (with it’s own separate volume control) and you can control the Treble, Bass and Volume.  This baby has 50 watts of sound and what a SOUND!!  You can plug in your iPhone, iPad, iPod Into the cradle or any audio device through the microphone input.

Category: Aether Salon, Steampunk, Steampunk Bitz, Steampunk Home, Steampunk Workshop, Victoriana | No Comments »
Tags: Sound

Steampunk Bitz | July 30, 2009

Up in Vallejo, CA every year for the past few years, they hold a “Pirate Festival”, open to the public for free. In my humble opinion (and I hope no one gets their panties in a bunch over this) it’s a rather fringy Renn Faire, but its free and a TON of fun. “Pirates” cover a lot more time than the Renaissance does. So you get a wider variety of costumes and goods.

Best Find and the ONLY thing I wanted to buy that I can still remember months later:
Wandering in front of a stall, my husband spotted aviator glasses on a hat. “Oooo” came the simultaneous response from both of us as we changed direction and headed for the display. And there to find some absolutely STUNNING steampunk hats, sitting all anachronistically quiet on a hat display. A wide variety of women’s hats. Wilamina makes them herself. She puts together little collage bitz of things together, finds a hat, forms it if needed and makes a unique hatpin designed specifically to go with your hat.

They are well worth the money and totally deserving of designing an entire outfit around them.

At the time, she hadn’t a website for them yet. But, thinking about the hats this morning I did a quick search and (God Bless the Internet), there she is! I had to come and spread the word!

So, without further ado, I would like to introduce, “W, the House of Wormwood” and Wilamina’s fantastical hats!

http://www.houseofwormwood.com/

Hands off the grey hat with the lightbulb, I own that hat in my heart and it will come home to me soon!

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Steampunk Bitz | March 5, 2009

Cubicles are meant to be droneish for a reason. The less difference in one cubicle to another means the less the employees stop to chat about anything unique. It keeps things productive. But when you spend 8+ hours of your day in your office, you want to have things around you that make you happy.

Having an office that looks as awesome as This One: http://www.wired.com/culture/design/multimedia/2007/06/gallery_nemo_office would be wonderful. However, that level of Steampunk Goodness is out of reach or impractical for most of us.

So, how do you steampunk your office into your happy place without driving your boss over the Edge?

Like all nice touches in life, the key is accessorizing.

A small industrial fan.

An Old Radio

A old library dewey decimal card cabinet for office supplies

Lightbulb with solar reactor

Venus Fly Trap

What are your ideas?

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Steampunk Bitz | January 7, 2009

Heh.

For a modern off the shelf item….. this is the ONLY watch I will wear. <3 my husband muchly for making it my Christmas present.

It winds itself by using a pendulum that swings with your body movement. You can see the jewels, the gears, the movement, the winding mechanism. Being on time has never been so much FUN! It’s ENJOYABLE to watch time pass.

Oh, and the model number, in case you wanted to track down one of your own: KC2486, made by Kenneth Cole

Kenneth Cole makes this Steampunk Watch

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Steampunk Bitz | October 9, 2008

It seems less intimidating to me to modifiy dollhouse parts. Less risky than trying to modify the life size (and considerably more costly) versions of things. Since folks seemed to enjoy my tinsy keyboard, I thought I’d add something else I had been working on.

Thermal Grandfather TimeKeeper

Just a fun little thing… nothing fancy. Just amusing.

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Tags: Steampunk Dollhouse

Steampunk Bitz | September 1, 2008

My family went to the California State Fair on August 31st. Mightily disspointed that the Sky Coaster had been replaced by a bungee jump.

However, there were some very Steampunky items on display at the fair.

The was the “Garr Scott”, a true steam-run tractor. It ran a large belt down to a columbine or thresher. It put out a mighty horn blast as steam poured out of the stack. It startled me a number of times. I’m not sure if there is much traffic out in a field that would neccessitate having such a powerful horn.  But there is a more than decent chance I’m ignorant of what kinds of audible communication might be handy while plowing or planting.

 There were a number of sculptures that had a very Steampunk look to them. The best of those I’ll save for last. Some of these are more steampunk than others.

There was a bizarre sculpture that doesn’t really fit into any catagory. A winged lady with knives for wings…

The gear turns her around and rings a bell. Her name is Lilly Rose.

There were the automotive bulldogs…

“Junkyard Dawgs”

There was a beautiful sculpture of a dragon done in stainless steel and copper. It was selling for $26,000. Done by William Mang, entitled Zanthony Chinese Dragon. It large and beautiful and has a surprising secret. Taken without a flash, the dragon is stunning. Take a photo with a flash and the copper in the wings gives the impression of the wings actually being on-fire.

And lastly, the most steampunk item I saw at the California State Fair was this humongous sculpture. Done by Dave Lane, he says about his sculpture:

Read more...

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Steampunk Bitz | August 5, 2008

While gathering parts for a project I’m working on, I stumbled across a very nifty object that begs for someone to take it home and steampunk it. This poor lonely object is sitting on the basement floor of an antique conglomerate of dealers. I took pictures of it for you. I can give you their name and phone number and you can make arrangements to purchase it through them if you want. If they are unwilling to ship it, I’d even be willing to pick it up and mail it for you… though beware, its heavy. (obviously, if you pay for the shipping).

Secondhand Rose 14 N School St Lodi, CA 95240     (209) 339-1166‎

Working Oscilloscope

It’s a working Oscilloscope. It’s $69.00 at the somewhat antique/consignment/mix of stuff place called Secondhand Rose in Lodi, CA. If you call and they say the What? Where?… It’s in the basement. Go down the stairs. If you walk straight ahead, it’s not the dealer RIGHT next to the stairs, but the one after that, on the right side. It’s on the floor behind his/her display case. I’m not selling this myself, nor do I get anything for it… I just think it’s begging to go home with someone who will treat it right. By right, I mean, do something awesome with it.

Closer view of the front

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Tags: CA

Steampunk Bitz | July 11, 2008

I was going through a handful of tiny watch parts I purchased on Ebay and a few of the bitz reminded me of a certain infamous keyboard. With much appreciation to Jake Von Slatt for the original, I present the Steampunk Dollhouse “Von Slatt” Inspired Keyboard:

Look a tiny bit familiar? The curved side pieces really are brass and the supports are metal painted to look like brass.

That's a tiny battery door type screw driver behind it. Notice the supporting copper bar.

Front View

Side view of the original

Jake Von Slatts original can be seen at his Steampunkworkshop website

Category: Steampunk, Steampunk Bitz | No Comments »
Tags: Steampunk Dollhouse

Steampunk Bitz | July 10, 2008

Let me say to begin with…   I am a firm believer that you cannot just smack a gear on something and call it Steampunk. The most beautiful Steampunk mods I’ve seen combine asthetics with function. A gear turns something, it makes something else move that makes something else do something. If you are going to use a gear in a steampunk item, hopefully it is useful, or at the very least, makes something move. There is, thankfully, more to steampunk than just gears and old watch parts!

If you already know what steampunk is, you can skip this next paragraph.

What is Steampunk? Good question… Look here: http://steampunkworkshop.com/ and here: http://thesteampunkhome.blogspot.com/ , try here: http://www.datamancer.net/, and of course, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

It’s a genre I’ve been following for a while. Until this point I’ve been too scared to attempt anything serious myself. Well, I’ve done jumped in the Time Machine and turned the key. I’ve taken apart something relatively expensive and I will post pictures of its progress soon.

In the meantime, some Steampunk treasure hunting tips!

When I first learned that such a genre existed and saw pictures of the wonderful mods of Jake Von Slatt and Datamancer, among others… I was very excited. How thrilling! To me, like jumping off a cliff! How could they RISK something as expensive as a computer, laptop, LCD screen, an entire piece of furniture!? Well, perhaps they have more money than I do. Or perhaps just more guts. I looked up “Steampunk” on Ebay and saw maybe one page of a few random things. That was a year or more ago, and steadily the market for Steampunk is increasing. There are hundreds of items listed on Ebay now. Folks are catching on and getting creative. Which in turn mean things like Cogs and Gears are becoming harder to find. The secondhand (haha) market for used watch parts is quite brisk.

Read more...

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Tags: Condensed Recommendations, Time Machine

Steampunk Bitz | March 2, 2008

1. Do not fill one plate and sit down to eat, rising again to get seconds. This is how they delay you so that your brain catches up with your stomach. Go through every bar / station and fill multiple plates, making several trips if necessary to gather all the food you want to try. You want it all to be in easy reach without having to rise again.

2. Speaking of delays, if they’ve set out Crab or Shrimp, likely you have to crack it or peel it yourself. This goes for fruits or any other food they make YOU prep at your table. If you’ve followed step one and gathered all the food you want, then before you start eating, shell, peel, or prep the food. Cracking and shelling crab, or peeling shrimp or fruit: It’s all meant to slow you down! Don’t let them do it!

3. Do not assume that you should use the plate, bowl and/or utensil they have thoughtfully provided you with. By thoughtfully, I mean, they thoughtfully found a way to slow you down or make you take less. Those tiny tongs designed to pick up one shrimp at a time… Pshaw… find a good slotted spoon somewhere. Those tiny dessert cups don’t hold enough for a taste test. Go get a soup bowl for your Ice Cream Brownie Sundae with cool whip and sprinkles you know you are dying to make.

4. Speaking of dessert: Eat it first.

5. Do not drink too much. Beer, Wine, Water, Soda, Tea… it’s alllll going to fill up your stomach. Only sip something to drink if you need to help you chew faster. “May I get you a refill ma’am?” “No, you may NOT fill me up on liquids so that I eat less of the good food I paid for.”

6. Small Portions of EVERYTHING!There are dozens upon dozens of foods to try! This is your chance to eat them all! Take a small portion of everything to get in as many food experiences as possible. That being said,  beware foods that don’t go well together. Very acidic things with creamy things  tend to curdle your wame.(cream of broccoli soup and cranberry sauce; Pineapple and milk; Marinara and pudding)Avoid bad combos.

Read more...

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Tags: Condensed Recommendations