The Bennett Valve Ocular Overmask

The newest steampunk goggles are finished and are for sale in my etsy store.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/106234262/the-bennett-valve-ocular-overmask

Here are the finished pictures of different views of the goggles:

The Faraday Pathfinder Visual Enhancers

At last, the Faraday Pathfinder Visual Enhancers are ready for deployment into the Aether.  I have the goggles finished and most importantly for my blog I have the pics ready for display.  It took longer on these to get everything ready because I did more experiments on somewhat new features.

I think one of my favorite features is the hand painted red lens that really gives the goggles a different visual effect.  Plus the armature on the right side was really pretty interesting once it was finished.

The pathfinder element in the name goes right along with the attached compass on the left side plus the loupes that can adjust to help find things that are a little too far away.

I never really solved the whole stickiness issue with the flexible areas of the mask but I am sure that if these were placed on a hat, like my own goggles are, then it wouldn't matter much.  I have been watching a store on eBay where they sell lots of goggles like this style that have the mask part in black so I could probably avoid painting them altogether.

Carolina Renaissance Festival

We made it to the Renaissance Festival early on Sunday morning and I have to say that it was a lot of fun.  We met several friends and a lot of people that were really interested in asking about our steampunk stuff.  This is Lauren who sported one of my cup style goggles.  This was the more classical look, I think, with the loupes, faux locks and added parts that looked like an older more victorian style.

This is the outfit that I wore including the Excelsior Goggles and my steampunk side arm which I will detail more a little later on.  (BTW, I think that may have been John Kerry in the background but I never talked to him so I cannot confirm this one way or another.)

My outfit turned out a little more western than I had originally envisioned but all the responses to my goggles and steampunk gun were really positive so I can't feel bad about it.  I have really focused more on the gadgets than on the clothing so I can modify the rest later on.

This is a pic of myself and a lady that we met who makes her own costumes, Peggy.  She was really nice about encouraging us both to go after out dreams of making costumes/steampunk stuff and she related that she has been successful in these areas herself.  She made her entire costume, including the hat, in about a week so I can only be in awe of that level of talent.

This young lady was wearing handmade steampunk wings which were just too cool not include on this post.  Very interesting stuff.

The entire day was a lot of fun and I feel more motivated about continuing with steampunking just about everything that I can get my hands on.

The Rush to Get Ready for the Event

I asked my friends if their daughter, Lauren, would be interested in a pair of her own steampunk goggles a few days ago.  She had made her own halloween costume out of some everyday stuff and the pictures of it were really impressive.  I was quickly told that she would really love to have her own pair of goggles so I started the hunt to find some of the cup style goggles to work on.

I thought it would be easier to finish these quickly since they would be smaller canvases than the one that I had created for myself.  Finding them at a store ended up being quite a feat in itself though.  I finally ordered two pair from a seller on eBay but I did eventually find out that one of the local Ace Hardware stores carries this style of goggle. 

My partner had ended up mentioning during this part of the process that he would like to have a set of steampunk goggles of his own thus the reason I ordered two goggles to work on before the Renaissance Festival. 

Here is what the work space started to look like.   

I epoxied on wing nuts on one set of goggles then acorn nuts onto the other one.  I tried a few different things this time around too like trying to glue most of the stuff on first then painting later. 

These pictures mostly show the goggles I did for Lauren because I ended up being in sucha hurry on the last day before the festival that i didn't take as many picture of the other pair as I would have liked.  The views here show the stuff I glued onto the side vents which could already turn on a center axis so it gives a little more potential motion to the gears.

 The only thing I'm not thrilled about are the elastic bands thatcame with the goggles.  They do the job of keeping the goggles in place but I would have preferred using leather straps again on these.

Excelsior Aviator Ocular Shields

These are the pictures of my steampunk goggles with all of the painting done and cool stuff glued on.  I'm calling them the Excelsior goggles because they were "the great experiment."  I will probably still list them as being a WIP just because there are still some things with the lenses that I may try later on but for now I like the targeting assembly I made and I have to say that overall I am really happy with the way they turned out.  Next stop, the Charlotte Renaissance Festival.  Comment if you like them.

Rub-N-Buff Finish

I have read different articles on line about the AMACO brand of Rub-N-Buff finish that can be used to give your experimental sculptures and projects a weathered, metallic look. Although the product was ostensibly created for use on picture frames to lend an old metallic feel this stuff works really, really well on making basically anything look like tarnished metal. It is primarily a wax metallic paste that carries tiny particles of soluble copper and other metals.

This is to be applied either with your finger tip, a cloth or a stiff bristled brush.  The warning on the package says to use small amounts as they dry quickly.  I decided to experiment on something other they either of my main projects first so that I could get used to this new medium that I have never worked with before.  I chose one of the things that I found at one of the local junkyards in an old car, an after market horn assembly.  I removed the large, internal magnet, circuit board and the few other things inside and cleaned the housing really well before getting started. 

Once I broke the seal on the rub-n-buff I got started with a little on my index finger and started painting the back half of the housing.  The warning on the instructions about the stuff drying so quickly does not do justice to how fast this stuff will no longer spread.  I would almost classify it more closely to drying almost instantly.  I also could not resist the urge to really "paint" the plastic surface probably because I am so used to working with canvas rather than plastic.  It turned out to be best to make short quick strokes on the housing and to put larger amounts around the more raised details.  The key way to imagine what you want to accomplish with this is to look at the black base color as the tarnish and everywhere you touch with the rub-n-buff is where the "metal" is cleaner and showing through.

One technique that I was able to bring over from past painting experience is that you should choose a brush stroke to work with as you apply the metallic paste.  When I first started on the back half of the plastic housing I was using a more circular pattern but as I moved around the sides and then on to the front half I realized that I liked it better when I just more dashed on strokes in a single direction.  Plus, it will really help to either paint multiple sections of one item together so the patterns match.  I ended up holding the two sections together at the last and bringing a few lines across both to make sure they looked like they aged together.

Later, when all of this has dried, I will go ahead and coat the housing with my Krylon clear sealant as to make all the new coloration permanent.

Time to Get Out the Vote

For the We Love Fine contest for the best steampunk shirt graphic design submitted.  Check it out an vote on all 143 designs.  There is some good stuff in the line up.  The more folks who vote the more the overall prizes increase.  So that's fun.  Click over and take a look.

Steampunk Flight Dock

"This is a view of an airship leaving the local flight dock used for all medium sized skycraft in the area. The cityscape was never the same once the flight docks started becoming a regular feature and cropped up everywhere. Personal airships opened up the skies for exploration such as mankind had never seen before and the intrepid adventurers who braved the winds became both heroes and villains. Much like humanity in any other situation."

~

I was able to find a few places around my neighborhood that are very industrial and helped to supply me with the raw photo materials I needed to put this scene together. The different elements were treated to a few filters in Photoshop and then arranged to make the final picture.

Sketched Gears

Just playing around with some filters on some of my gear photos.  View it full size, it has some interesting textures that way.

Top Hat Follow Up

It turns out that if you do a search on Amazon for top hats you get some pretty interesting results.  Related searches are Black Top Hats, Bowler Hats and Mini Top Hats.  The prices range quite a bit from $2.40 for a white satin top hat up to $75.00 for a Jaxon Victorian top hat.  So this would be another avenue to try when starting on your own hat finding excursion for your steampunk outfit.  This is what the search looked like tonight:



*Please note that I do not own, nor claim ownership of Amazon, Amazon search results nor any of the listed hattery items pictured above.  All implications of such ownership are due primarily to the fevered imagination of the reader(s)

Nothing Like A New Hat

In order to start your steampunk look you have to begin collecting the right items to modify whether they be goggles, weapons or articles of clothing.  I started in earnest with one of the most basic things, a top hat.  This goes in line with what I envision when I think about making a steampunk outfit.  A basic black top hat can be modified with a leather hat band that has gears or some type of metal/mechanical pieces added to give it a sort of petrochanicle look.  I have decided to opt for a modified set of goggles to be worn around my top hat to give it the steampunk look I'm going for.

The best advice I can give anyone who might be trying to make their own outfit for whatever occasion is to try to invest the least money initially as possible.  This is usually easier said than done but trying to stick to thrift stores, yard sales or even postings on Craig's List can help you save a lot of cash that you can better spend on things that may not be able to be found second hand.  Paints and some types of hardware that may be needed to help with your project will normally have to be bought new so I try to save as much as I can on everything else.

I purchased my top hat almost one year ago right after the Halloween season was over with from a specialty store, Spirit, that is only open during that time of year.  My brother and his wife had just moved out of state and their old townhouse was just around the block from the costume store that was having huge markdowns since the season was over with.  The polyester hat that I bought is not necessarily the highest quality head gear you can find but it looks good and I'm not worried much about experimenting with it since I don't have a lot of money tied up in it in the first place.  For right now it is simply a black hat but once I start adding more stuff to it there should be a distinct look achieved.