Steampunk

[Simon Bar Sinister]

Off The Beaten Path bookstore is now carrying my jewelry!

Off the beaten path also has a Thursday night Stitch n' Bitch session, where you can work on your outfits in the presence of others and share tips.

more info here: http://www.otbp-bookstore.com/

[Simon Bar Sinister]

Every so often, there's a Steampunk Dance Party at the Phoenix Cafe in Hazel Park. The next one's on April 15, and there's another one on May 7.

Doors are at 8, and the Phoenix is on John R just south of 10 Mile - east side of the street, a couple of doors down from what I'm told is an awesome Thai food joint. Entrance and parking is at the back.

No idea what admission may be.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

[Simon Bar Sinister]

steampunk goes arena-size! check out neil's durmkit!

[Joey Deadcat]

Did I already bring up Raygun Gothic?

[n0Mad]

steampunk goes arena-size! check out neil's durmkit!

Those drums are beautiful. Even without the steampunk theme, the woods and lacquer are stunning. I love DW drums and will get some, someday, when I can afford them. And DW hardware is top notch of course. I play Sabian cymbals pretty much exclusively and Peart's are gorgeous! That finish, and the alchemy symbols ... awesome! Massive drooling going on right now.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

I loved the walnut decking on the drum riser - brilliant touch.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

[Simon Bar Sinister]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW5trrXS1e8&feature=player_embedded#t=89s

[Tyger]

^^^

Super kool video!!!

[phee]

I am going to start my own subculture... Fog Ruffian.....

[Fierce Critter]

Wow. Has it really been over 3 years since I last posted in this thread?

Anyway...

First note - if you are going to check out things steampunk on Etsy, avoid, at all costs, a seller by the label Tempus Fugit. The watches they are selling are cheap, mass-manufactured timepieces of shit. There have been a lot of complaints about that seller to the powers that be, as they are pushing their crap as "handmade" by simply attaching a chain or something equally inane. Etsy is run by a bunch of lazy fucktards, so they won't pull their account or items. So the only way to try to keep people from wasting their money on shined-up-shit is word of mouth.

Anyway deux...

In the 3 years since I posted here, there have been a lot of developments with River Otter Widget Studios, my husband Jon's Etsy shop. He actually lost interest in it, as his true passion is wood carving. He got a lot more satisfaction from bringing art out of a piece of raw wood than he did assembling this's and thats's into functional art (most of his pieces were lamps of some kind). By the end of 2010, his shop was down to about 10 items, and he planned to let it die and close it after the last item sold.

Then, in November, 6 of his last 10 items sold to one person. The shipping address was a film studio in Wilmington, NC. He was contacted by the buyer, who turned out to be the set dresser for a film, "Journey 2: Mysterious Island," a sequel to the Brendan Fraser "Journey" film(s). (Fraser doesn't appear in this sequel.) He planned to use the pieces - mostly lamps - on the set of the film.

He inquired as to whether he could commission some custom pieces in addition to the ready pieces he purchased.

Jon was happy with the sales, but equally unhappy. By this time, we were comfortably ensconced in our new north woodlands lifestyle, and Jon was seeing some real success with his woodcarvings. He just plain lost the passion for the steampunk assemblies, and had actually already de-stashed over 90% of the gears, geegaws, and gadgetry that he had amassed to do the steampunk stuff. Nevertheless, the kind of cash we would have been looking at buys a LOT of Swedish woodcarving tools. So with the help of my professional actress sister, we composed a response to the guy stating we'd be happy to provide him custom pieces and let us know what he's looking for.

Well, we never ended up hearing back from the guy. Shooting was to wrap this past February. And release date has been pushed back a few times into February of 2012. Realistically, this doesn't bode well for the film. So we're hoping we'll at least see some of Jon's pieces in the finished flick, and that it doesn't go straight to video.

Jon closed the shop entirely earlier this year.

But then...

In May, a book went into early release which features several of Jon's pieces. Jon's etsy shop address is given in the credits section. By July, the book went into full release. By then, he decided to contact Etsy and have them reopen the shop for him, just so he could see what happened.

What happened was traffic to his site exploded exponentially. We're talking from a few looks per day to dozens, into the hundreds weekly.

Typically looooooooong story short, River Otter Widget Studios is back in business. Jon has taken a break from the woodcarving, and is once again amassing bits and pieces of copper, brass and steel and assembling them into decorative, functional lamps and art pieces for his website. It's only been back up and running for a couple months, and he's already having trouble keeping the shop stocked.

If you want to see his shop: River Otter Widget Studios

The book in which he is featured: 1,000 Steampunk Creations . To see Jon's featured pieces, click on "Google preview" below the picture of the book. Type "Jonathan Gosling" into the search bar, and 3 pages will come up to check out.

He's still getting hit up by promoters of steampunk events, but Jon's really low-key. Just not interested in pushing himself in that way. He'll probably keep this going for an occasional break from the carving, since "carver's block" does strike once in a while and he just needs to put down the chisels.

/shame-free wifely spouse promotion

[taysteewonderbunny]

^Very cool.

[n0Mad]

Here's another one of her:

[Simon Bar Sinister]

thank you.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

this is so fucking badass I don't even know where to start:

:peanutbutterjellytime: :peanutbutterjellytime:

[n0Mad]

Not exactly NSFW, but not exactly SFW either, so I'll hide it behind the spoiler tag:

[Nymada del Sol]

I like a mix of steampunk, cyberpunk and Gothic style.

[Simon Bar Sinister]

1st TV network steampunk series on the way: http://io9.com/5935972/abc-is-developing-the-steampunk-adventures-of-tom-sawyer-and-huckleberry-finn-yes-really

[Simon Bar Sinister]

even aliens are hopping on board:

[TronRP]

I love Steampunk...my look is actually derived from Steampunk Victorian Gothic...

[TronRP]

I love Steampunk...my look is actually derived from Steampunk Victorian Gothic...

This posted twice, so here are some photos from the World Steam Expo 2 in Dearborn, Michigan 2011

Marty McFly

The Lauber Family

[Simon Bar Sinister]

Steampunk Batman, friends and nemeses:

[uroboros1640]

I love Steampunk...my look is actually derived from Steampunk Victorian Gothic...

I love your style. I saw that one red dress on the photo section of DGN, it's amazing. I am married to a pretty normal guy. If I dressed up as I did 10 years ago, he'd probably stay home LOL.

Have you heard of Kato? Steampunk couture.

[uroboros1640]

Btw I didn't read through all the pages, if someone already mentioned about Kato, my apologies...