Steampunk

[freydis]

This one, too!

[freydis]

This is so freakin' cool!!!

[phee]

[GothicRavenGoddess (3)]

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Jake von Slatt (not his real name) is quickly becoming something of an icon on the steampunk scene. In his Steampunk Workshop, he's constantly cranking out fabulous fabrications and conducting thoughtful experiments in brass etching, electrolytic machining, kerosene lamp making and other steam-era arts. But Jake's probably best known for his computer mods, namely his steampunk keyboard, and most recently, his steampunk monitor.

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If it's got "punk" in the name, there damn well better be music involved. Jeff Ritzmann is a Baltimore custom-guitar designer and the craftsman behind Thunder Eagle Customs. After customizing plenty of guitars with skulls, flames and other boyish tropes of heavy metal, he decided to create a steam-themed guitar. The response was so enthusiastic, he immediately began work on another. The result is The Nautilus, an ax inspired Jules Verne's Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

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Andrew Leman's fully functional computer is inspired by the retro-futuristic machinery in Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

"Despite the ridiculous amount of abuse I subjected it to," Leman says, "and despite the fact that all its components are now exposed to the air, the 1988 Macintosh SE which forms the heart of this piece still works just fine." The typewriter is a 1923 Underwood, and that's a working Fresnel lens that can be pulled down over the screen, something early Macs really could have used.

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What constitutes steampunk is something that is frequently argued among the genre's fans and practitioners. Like pornography, you know it when you see it. Greg Brotherton's work may not be mainstream steampunk, but his desire to "juxtapose mythology with pop culture and invest ordinary objects with fantastic -- sometimes diabolical -- function" and his recasting of antique tech as future tech, certainly puts him in a similar vein.

His Minitron, seen here, crosses the mythological Minotaur with a robot, as rendered in parts from a '40s Kirby vacuum. He's done a series of robots and ray guns built around antique appliances. So what's next for Brotherton? "I'm working on a series of punk robot prostitutes with a WWII espionage look to them." Maybe we're sorry we asked.

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If you went to last year's Burning Man, you may have seen this "art car" crawling across the playa. It and its pith-helmeted and corseted crew also made an appearance at the 2007 Maker Faire.

More of a moving Victorian mansion than an art car, Neverwas is a project of a group of Bay Area artists and dreamers looking to reinvigorate a spirit of adventure and possibility they see missing in today's mall-rat-infested monoculture. You haven't lived until you've seen this baroque wonder roll up, disgorging bushwacky, monocled adventurers and unnatural scientists prattling on about voyages of wonder, exploration and discovery. Seriously.

Every cult has its fetish object. For punk, it's the safety pin; for ravers, it's glow sticks and pacifiers; for cyberpunk, it's mirror-shade sunglasses. For steampunk, it's goggles -- either welding or aviator. Atomefabrik is a U.K. artisan who makes all manner of customizable goggles for sale, mostly decorative ones that live on the top of your head and sport lights inside and colored slides for lenses. These machined brass goggles are not currently for sale, but that could change soon given the response they've generated.

[Head Wreck]

[Head Wreck]

http://www.abneypark.com/

[Scales]

I just want to thank everyone for posting in this sex thread. :drool

[freydis]

http://www.abneypark.com/

I *must* have some of their CDs.....after i finish moving, i think i'll order at least one....!

[Head Wreck]

their all rather grand (have them all MUAH HA HA HA HA). thier first few albums are a bit more darwave but their latest album was a mix of many styles a very good listen.

just a fucking shame i'm stuck here for a while as i wouldnt mind a trip to see them live. the Edison sounds a perfect venue for them.

http://www.myspace.com/abneypark

their myspace

[freydis]

i am in definate need of some new music.

also..... i have a steampunk jewelry project in mind, which i will complete after the move. Then I'll post pics.

[Msterbeau]

I'm taking my broken prescription glasses and turning them into a semi-steampunk design... Muuuaaah!!

[jynxxxedangel]

Hehehehe, hey Marc, we should have a Steampunk-themed campsite at the camping trip..would be fun!!

Start collecting JUNK now!! Let's brainstorm, and invite anyone else who wants in on this jive..

P.S. I'm real good at reconstructing, deconstructing, thrift store shopping, and quite handy with a needle and thread..not to mention, I've had a real itch to do some cool performance art! I also have a few extra bucks, thanks to your direction!

Edited May 28, 2008 by jynxxxedangel

[Nightgaunt]

My first introductions to Steampunk was Bruce Sterling's The Difference Engine and this old roleplaying game called Castle Falkenstein. Check out instructables.com for a ton of steampunk projects...

[freydis]

Just ordered the new Abney Park CD and the one before it...... yay!

[Nightgaunt]

Just got From Dreams or Angels and Lost Horizons by Abney Park. Outstanding! Y'know, I have access to a ton of brass fittings and wires and junk at work. Maybe I'll give these long-dormant creative muscles a stretch and see if I still remember anything from my industrial design classes.

[Msterbeau]

I love that pic of Lincoln.

Steampunk has an entry on Wikipedia that's pretty good.

Offshoots include Dieselpunk. Jon's putting together outfits that actually are more of the Dieselpunk look. More WWII than Victorian/Edwardian.

Basically, take Victorian/Edwardian fashions and throw in lots of gears, rust, patina & "post-apocalyptic" stuff like Mad Max, the movie version of Wild Wild West and you've got steampunk. Think if they had computers, cell-phones and other modern electronics back in the late 1800's-early 1900's and how they'd look.

Dieselpunk includes a lot of deco/20's-40's fashion, lots of military-type bits, etc.

I like a lot of Dieselpunk stuff too. I LOVE 30's and 40's military gadgets, aircraft bits... cast metal objects... And the fashions. :love:

[Head Wreck]

oh heck yes, the fasions. the women in the media of the time were damn hot.

women, period clothing = Head Wreck wants to play

[TygerLili]

I really have no strong feelings about this, pro or con. I'm not sure I get it. I just don't see why this is different from the period garb that many of us have been wearing for years and years, other than it seems more acceptable to throw a modern pair of boots, glasses, etc. in with what would otherwise be a period outfit; or mixing genres and carrying a futuristic ray guy with a turn of the century pilot costume. People have been cheating and doing that for years. As for the stuff, yeah, I guess some of it's cool-looking, but why not just collect antiques?

[Fin]

Some pretty cool photos, etc.

My one rhetorical question: Doesn't this look more like "Steam-GOTH" than "SteamPunk"?

[Fledermaus]

-punk or -goth, doesn't matter - the first showed e-guitar is incredible cool, wow!!!

Fledermaus

[sass_in_the_pants]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/extramatic/1332742873/

[Head Wreck]

sweet.

the burning man festival always has some good shit going

[Nightgaunt]

Steampunk wartime propaganda posters...

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5889416

Kinda neat.

[freydis]

I GOT MY ABNEY PARK CD'S IN THE MAIL TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:happydance :happydance :happydance

[Head Wreck]

enjoy them as much as i do :D