Tag Archives: steampunk

On the Third Day of Steampunk Christmas…

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On the third day of Steampunk Christmas,

My true love gave to me:

Three Spooky Eyeballs.

eyeballsThree Spooky Eyeballs in the form of matching cufflinks and tie clip.

Cufflinks are fancy and rarely worn these days, so perfect as a steampunk accessory!  Pair them with a matching tie clip or cravat pin and you’re all set for a evening at the Viscount Montague’s Aetheric Ball.  The photo above shows some cufflinks made out of, it looks like, lightning dragon eyes. Unfortunately, they didn’t include a picture of the tie clip. You can find all kinds of steampunk cufflinks for sale on line–made with gears (of course), watch cases, tiny map swatches, propellers, airships, and scarab beetles.

Where to find a shirt with french cuffs that require cufflinks?  You can find them retail (Macy’s has them), but frequent and judicious visits to your friendly neighborhood thrift shop also works (and you might find some other pieces of a steampunk outfit there too…)

On the Second Day of Steampunk Christmas…

On the First Day of Steampunk Christmas…

Edwardian Camp Equipment

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I’ve camped quite a bit in the past, and as I get older, I’ve started thinking about adding a bit more luxury into my camping experience. This blog post gives me some ideas on how to do just that!  I can envision a steampunk encampment using this equipment!

George Crawford's avatarPreindustrial Craftsmanship

This is a re-post from an earlier entry.  Say what you will about British imperial policy of the 19th and 20th centuries.  They certainly worked out minimalist travel with a fair amount of style and comfort on a very personal level.  These old catalogs give

From The Army and Navy Co-operative Society Store, London 1907

1907-11907-21907-31907-41907-61907-71907-51907-91907-101907-11There are some excellent items here that should give some inspiration for fabricating some classic and classy gear.  From an era before the activity of “camping” was fully segregated from “regular living”.

Much more of this to come…

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Horrible Histories–Charles Darwin

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Charles Darwin is one of Steampunk’s favorite scientists and rightly so for his revolutionary ideas concerning evolution, not to mention his prodigious beard.  While his adventures on the HMS Beagle make for great reading, On the Origin of Species can be deadly dull reading.

Fortunately, along came the award-winning BBC “children’s” TV show Horrible Histories.  I’ve put the quotation marks there because it’s just as entertaining for adults, at least this adult. You can find lots of excerpts and some entire episodes on YouTube (although it looks like you have to pay for the full episodes). Continue reading →

Airships over California!

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If you tracked the frequency of Google searches, you’d find a large spike last week for “Bay Area airship”, but not because of a sudden invasion of dirigibles over the San Francisco Bay.

The Germans were the acknowledged leaders in airship technology during World War I. But they lost the war anyways and as part of war reparations, Luftschiffbau Zeppelin built an airship for the US–USS Los Angeles (ZR-3).  After the successful tests of this airship, the US Navy commissioned two airships from the Goodyear Zeppelin Company. The two airships were christened the USS Akron (ZRS-4) and the USS Macon (ZRS-5).  The ships were huge, only slightly shorter than the Hindenburg.

USS Macon entering Hangar One

The Akron was assigned to Lakehurst, New Jersey. She had an accident-plagued career that lasted less than two years which ended with its crash into the ocean off the New Jersey coast with the loss of all but three of her crew. Continue reading →

Spooky Lego Victorian Houses

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Victorian on Mud Heap (Creator: Mike Doyle, Source: Mike Doyle Flckr stream, see link in text)

Victorian on Mud Heap (Creator: Mike Doyle, Source: Mike Doyle Flckr stream, see link in text)

One of the hobbies that my sons and I share is building with Lego.  While we’ve made some pretty cool creations (maybe I’ll share my steampunk private railway carriage some day), we’ve achieved nothing that compares with Mike Doyle’s amazingly detailed Victorian homes.  The twist? They’re deserted and falling to ruin.  His use of a monochromatic color scheme in these is both inspired and realistic.  Many more examples on his Flickr stream.