Tips for Makers: You Can Fake it When You Make it Part 1, “Gathering Resources”
I hope you have been enjoying my Tips for Makers series based on the sessions at the Weekend at the Asylum festival so far. “Taming Metal” parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, were for the people who want to use real metal in their props, costumes and gadgets, but that’s not for everyone. Sometimes you want things to look a certain way but you don’t have the time, materials or skills to make it happen. And there is no shame in cutting corners or substituting one thing for another. I know some people are all about the “authenticity” but Steampunk should be a bit of silly fun and lack of know-how shouldn’t keep you from trying your hand at making something cool.
I went to a session hosted by “Major Quicksilver” during my great weekend in Lincoln and he had tons of advice about materials and how to get them at an affordable rate. The most important thing he told the audience was if you see something, buy it right then and there. Don’t wait for a project to start gathering materials, because chances are when you go back to get something it will be gone, or it will have gone up in price. I have been moving around a lot in the last few years so I have been holding off from gathering too much myself, and I can’t wait until I get settled enough to amass the craft room of my dreams.
“Sky “Shadowbox by ForWhomTheGearTurns
But even with my space restriction I can’t help myself from going into overstock and scrap store I come to, and I usually leave with at least one treasure. It may take years before I use it, but whenever I start a new project I take infinite pleasure in going through my materials and rediscovering things that will enhance my work. For instance, I started collecting pieces of chandeliers because they were crystaline and shiny. Then I discovered if you turn them upside down they make wicked mini hot air balloons. Some of the scrapbook paper in this piece were from the first pad I ever bought years ago.
There are lots of random things around your house that can be put to new uses. Pill bottles, for instance, can hold tiny things like beads or screws, and the covers can be used as knobs or dials on a jet pack or ray gun. I made a pair of aviator goggles for my toy poodle and I used the caps from pill bottles as the makeshift lenses. He was never going to let me put goggles on him for real, so it didn’t matter if they were functioning. Unfortunately he and the goggles are back stateside or I’d post a photo, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that they are adorable.
Want to add a little brass? The wire used for hanging framed art comes in a brassy color and you can get it for pretty cheap. There are also a lot of old cameras and other gizmos at your local thrift store just waiting for you to take them apart and find all the goodies inside. Drawer pulls which can do double duty as various cosmetic adornments and come in lots of shapes, sizes and finishes and there are often bucketloads of these are scrap yards.
So get on out there and start gathering your resources, you never know when a project will come up!
Here are a few places where I get my arts and crafts supplies. (Sorry UKers, I mostly make and therefore shop in the US).
Ax-Man (4 locations in MN)- hands down the best place to get random mechanical parts that actually function, or just look cool. Glass bottles and beakers, circuit boards, switches, leather scraps, magnets, you name it, they have it and it is SUPER cheap.
ArtScraps (St. Paul, MN)- When I got married I made my own wedding invites by getting cheap art prints and cutting them down to size. They have stamps, fasteners and bulk randomness, plus classes and birthday parties for kids.
The Scrap Box (Ann Arbor Michigan)- This is where I got all those pretty chandelier dangles that I use in my shadowboxes. There is a back room where they charge you by weight so you just go in, load up a grocery bag and it may cost you $5 for a full one.
Scrap Creative Re-Use Center (San Franciso, CA)- This is advertised as a great place for teachers to come and get supplies for their classes. In addition to overstock and bulk goodies, there are magnets, wooden blocks and whiteboards.
Urban Ore– This is a pretty hardcore scrapyard with lots of doors, furniture, marble tiles and other home
Do you have and advice about where to find cool and useful stuff? Please comment below!
Weekend at the Asylum: The Markets
Europe’s largest Steampunk convivial was the host to several markets and tons of talented traders and craftspeople. There was one open to the general public in Castle Square, but the rest were only available to convention attendees. It was fun to be at the open market because of the opportunity to see all the “normals” mixing with the Steampunk crowd, but the closed markets were a great opportunity to visit booth after booth without being overcrowded.
I got a chance to talk to lots of people and collect several business cards, so I will do some posts on individual folks and businesses where you can get some stuff to add extra steam to your own cosplay. For now, here are some pics of the general hub-bub and the kinds of things you could purchase as part of the convention. Even with the pounds to dollars conversion I found the prices for vintage and handmade goods to be very reasonable. I picked up a utility belt, some art supplies and lovely lace collar for less than 50 GBP total.
Victoria and Albert Museum Part 1: Incredible Iron
Some people might think the V&A is not up their alley if they hear the focus is on ‘decorative arts,’ but believe me when I tell you this is not a place where you are going to be inundated with doilies and end tables. Personally, I love the decorative arts because these are the objects that people really did touch, see and experience in their everyday lives, including architectural features. In addition to the fabulous clothing and sumptuous household goods, there is an amazing gallery of just samples of ironwork.
There are still lots of examples of wrought and cast all over London (which will get their own post soon), but these items have often been painted and repainted so many times that the delicacy and detail that can be achieved when working in metal has been totally obliterated. This is not so at the museum, where everything from window grates to railings to candlesticks have been preserved for posterity. If you are a fan of metal, you should definitely make sure you stop by the Victoria and Albert Museum if you are visiting or living in London.
Here is sampling of what I saw when I visited.
Steampunk Songbirds by Mullanium
Steampunk Cardinal by Mullanium (BD1)
I first saw these birds years ago in a store in San Francisco. I made a point of always visiting that store whenever I was in the area just to see the gorgeous and ever changing array of songbirds. I didn’t know who made them until today when I found Mullanium.com! Below are just some of the many examples of birds on their website, but because they are decorated and perched on found objects each one is unique.
Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
Some Steamy Home Decor from an Unexpected Place
Pier 1 is definitely not somewhere I was expecting to be blogging about, but I found some really charming metal sculptures that were shaped liked bicycles. I took the pictures a few weeks ago so you can probably still find them in stores, and definitely at the Pier 1’s website.
I also really liked this wire umbrella stand that was shaped like an umbrella, which is cute but also really smart because of how umbrellas try to fall open once they are upside down in a stand.
There were also some lovely antiqued clocks that were probably 2 feet in diameter that looked like giant pocket watches, but those pictures were on my mother’s cell phone instead 🙂
Have you ever fun across something that reminds you of Steampunk in an unexpected place?
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Steampunk Engineer
I found this awesome figure (garden gnome?) from “a loft full of lead.”
This Lead Adventures Engineer is a nice steampunk figure, armed with a massive spanner and equipped with a steam powered mechanical arm.
The boiler on his back has some detailed gauges and dials, not that he can read them very easily…
Up, Up and Away!
The term aviation was coined in 1863 by French aeronautic engineer Guillaume Joseph Gabriel de La Landelle. The term comes from “avis,” which is bird in Latin and embodies our desire to drift through the sky like our winged friends. Steampunk literature, movies and art are full of hot air balloons, dirigibles (which are filled with gas rather than air) and all manners of flying machines and after writing my Wheels Whir and Away You Go! post I decided I couldn’t stop at just Steampunk vehicles that were subject to the laws of gravity. So check out my gallery and let me know which one is your favorite by leaving a comment below.
Click on the thumbnails for larger images.
Mechanical Menagerie: Under the Sea
Automatons need not be confined to human-shaped robots when the whole animal kingdom is out there for mad scientists to toy with! I absolutely love the combination of the organic with the constructed so I am always collecting cool images of “mechanimals.” If you have an image to share or you see something that has been mis-attributed please let me know by leaving a comment below.
Click on any thumbnail to open a gallery of larger images. You can also see lots of Steampunk octopus and squid in my Steampunk Sourcebook: Cephlapods post.
Check out this amazing video by Pes Film, whose 2013 “Fresh Guacamole” was nominated for an oscar. .
For Whom the Gear Turns 