Steampunk Sunday

Went to the Medieval Fair last weekend...WOW talk about a lot of fun things to see and do!  I enjoyed visiting with a lot of my friends that are in the SCA and one of the main supporters of the fair each year.  They have an encampment at the fair that is intended to help educate people on what the Society for Creative Anachronism  is and how it fits into everyday life.  I am not a member but just hang around the fringes thanks to Heather and Michael but I am a firm believer in what they are about.  At the fair there were a lot of booths with a lot of fun things to see and purchase.  I really limited what I bought for various reasons but this was something I just couldn't pass up!!

Right!  I know a real shock for most of you who know me!  I am going to do some alteration on this beauty and possibly wear it to the Steampunk Convention here in Oklahoma next year!!

Speaking of top hats...  I was teaching a tags class this past Saturday and while the class was working on a tag I made up this sinister gent wearing a hat similar to mine!  :-)  I think the big difference is a 7-7 1/2" crown where mine is only about 5". 

A couple weeks ago I showed my desk with a picture of a canvas I was starting to work on.  Here is the canvas mostly finished.  I am not for sure I like the canvas or not but it is as done as it is going to get right now.  I am tired of fiddling around with it!

 

There isn't any one thing wrong with the canvas really it just doesn't seem to say much more then bland!  I wanted purples, creams, and black and that is what I got but it is blah somehow!  Any thoughts on what I could do differently?  

Hope you have a great week and lots of time to get in the room of stash and create a lot of fun stuff to share! 

Steampunk Sunday!

I decided I was going to start doing more steampunk stuff and I think I will start posting them on Sundays...why?  Because I think it rhymes...sort of.

I had never heard of steampunk until about 3 years ago when a student in a card class asked me if I ever made steampunk cards.  No I hadn't but I have been ever since.  I don't know what about it appeals to me so much but tugs at my heart and I love steampunk!  Urban Dictionary defines steampunk as:

a subgenre of speculative fiction, usually set in an anachronistic Victorian or quasi-Victorian alternate history setting. It could be described by the slogan "What the past would look like if the future had happened sooner." It includes fiction with science fiction, fantasy or horror themes.
Medieval Steampunk: Speculative fiction set during the Middle Ages.
Victorian Steampunk: A modern Science Fiction work (post-1930s) that is set in the early parts of the industrial revolution.
Western Steampunk: Science fiction set in the American Old West.
Industrial/Modern Steampunk: Science fiction taking place in the late industrial age, early modern age; i.e. World War 1, World War 2 

Examples of steampunk:
Wild Wild West
Final Fantasy 7
Van Helsing
The Time Machine
Hellboy
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 

I have to say I love the Industrial and Victorian Steampunk most of all.  I didn't realize that there was such a thing as Western or Medieval Steampunk and will have to look into it!  

Here is my Victorian Steampunk tag for today.  I tried something a little different that an artist on another blog suggested...I cut 3/4" off the bottom of this tag to try her size tag.  The artist says she loves this shorter length but I am not so for sure about it yet.

The shortened tag makes everything look closer together and gives less play room. 

Victorian elements:  flowers, balloon, top hat, lock and key, Victorian gentleman, feather...btw that feather is one of my grand bird Nyasa's feathers!

Industrial elements: gears, clock, pen nib, film strip

I love playing with these tags!  I used Tim Holtz Tiny Things stamp set, Ideology film ribbon strip, paper tape, Pen nibs, gears and clock are from Michael's jewelry findings, black bubble bling.  I first covered the tag with silver metallic Distress Stain dried it with a heat tool, stamped the gear stamp several times on it in Archival black ink, then ran it through the Vagabond in a Sizzix gears folder.  I love the layers and depth!  Cool huh!  

Give Steampunk a chance it isn't all doom and gloom...  Here are some elements of Steampunk clockworks like gears, cogs and wheels that make up mechanical motion.  Steampunk doesn't mean steam has to power it and it can be run by wind or sun so small windmill like blades, balloons or dirigibles.  Weather vanes, compasses, goggles, and tools and weapons of the Victorian era.  Clothing of the Victorian era like top hats, feather hair pieces, and corsets...anything goes.  Try it and have fun!