It’s true I should have posted this earlier, but sometimes I’m frugal and save a little for a dry spell. Well, the dry spell hasn’t hit – but I shall post it anyway! Big Red Hair keeps a marvelous record of all the robotic and mechanical men (that should have been) from the nineteenth century. The above image, purposed to be from the dime novels of the time, shows the first Victorian mechanical man – the Steam Man. Following the link, you’ll find more about the successors to Steam Man; Electric Man, Mechanical Man, and the universally adored, Boilerplate robot. More information about these devices, as well as photographic ‘proof’, than one could possibly require. (I should mention that it was a kind informant called Zero who drew my attention to Boilerplate and friends once again.)

Dear Mr Tesla,

I’m deeply sorry for missing your birthday on the 10th of July, and the unveiling of your second monument at the Niagara Falls. I must say, however, how dashing you look for someone of the grand old age of 150, standing atop your alternating current motor there, and scribbling in the mud with your cane. I have to thank the Make:Blog for pointing out the occasion of your celebration, and while Make quips that if Makers had a god, it would be you – I think that Steampunk fans have just as much affection for you and your many brilliant inventions as any.

Hope you had a lovely party, and maybe I can make it for your 200th,

Brass Goggles.

Well now – what manner of beast is this?! This curious transportation device almost defies description, but it’s close enough to the Steampunk style to set my eyes alight. When Mr S. Addison first sent me this link, I was taken aback – a top hat and tails wearing ‘biker’ on a black and brass adorned, wing decorated, prize winning, sleek and peculiar chopper motorcycle. But this image alone isn’t enough to show you it’s full strangeness – for that, I will have to direct you to the Blackheads MC page. The parent page (which not only uses java for navigation, but frames too) is also here.

MikeST found this lovely comic called Daisy Kutter, The Last Train, by Kazu Kibuishi. It looks like a delightfully stylised twist on the Western Steampunk genre – with a worn young lady gunslinger (with phenomenally quirky hair), her Sheriff friend, and most wonderfully – mechanical machines walking the Wild West streets. The art of Kibuishi does very well to portray the openness and occasional desolation of the frontier, while still able to conjour a lively saloon atmosphere.

I admit, I’ve only read the sample pages thus far, but I’m tempted to take the leap with Miss Kutter, and see what dastardly plots she must foil. Because there’s always some plot foiling to be done.

Rule of Rose for the PS2 was pointed out to me by the Steampunk fan of the Kotaku blog, Eliza Gauger. She has a wonderful description of it, so I’ll leave it to her:

“Imagine that Lord of the Flies was written by Lewis Carroll, adapted for stage by Jules Verne, scored by Paul Mercer and performed aboard the Hindenburg, and you’ll be getting real close to Rule of Rose”

High praise indeed. Now I will say that the setting is very slightly late for ‘classic’ Steampunk – 1930′s England – however I believe it makes up for it with the introduction of a blimp as a main environment in the game. A fish-blimp, no less. A warning for the faint of heart – Rule Of Rose follows in the tradition of the earlier Silent Hills, and Resident Evils of this world, and as such is not only going to be scary, but with the addition of the cast of cleekish, vicious girls, quite unnerving too. I believe it’s out in the US as we speak, but the UK will have to wait a little longer to guide the poor heroine to safety.

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Some time ago, it was all the rage in the crafty-making side of the internet to do stencil painting on T-shirts. Well, t-shirts aren’t particularly Steampunk and no-one seemed to be doing any painting on skirts – so I decided to correct that. Thus, above you can see the fruits of my labours. I bought a disarmingly cheap cotton/linen blend skirt from Tesco’s which is grey-blue in colour. I then went to my local craft shop and bought some gun metal acrylic paint and textile solution (which you mix with the paint to create your own fabric paint). After some time in 3ds Max, I created some nice cog shapes, and printed them out. Long story short – after 72hrs drying, some ironing and a wash – I had my second cog skirt!

The final effect is a little too subtle for my liking – and it does look a bit too much as if a highly creative slug has left a cog shaped trail on my clothing, but I’m pleased with it despite that. A learning experience certainly too.

[edit] A link for the stencil as a jpg.

Just a couple of new wallpapers – maybe one of them will take your fancy.

You will find them on the Wallpaper page on the right.

HIgsqYJmtJs I do apologise – I should have posted this earlier. While it’s not the most Steampunk of items, there’s a certain quirky charm in powering something as high tech as a gameboy using a model steam engine. Made me wonder what else that uses 2AA batteries could be powered…

Tin Soldier, a company specialising in wargame miniatures and papercraft models, has a whole section devoted to Victorian Science Fiction (another of Steampunk’s nom de plume). Some time ago, they offered up a few of their paper based models for free (such as the above model) as a taster session, but unfortunately we’ve missed that boat, as the paper models are now for sale.

Still – there’s the above Nautilus inspired Narwhal, several airships, a War of the World’s tripod, lots of mermen and other lovely things. Now, if only I still played wargames…

Beautiful, isnt’ it. This went around the web a while ago, but it’s such a lovely piece, and so very Steampunk that it had to get posted. Thanks to Doktor A for reminding me! Created by Vianney Halter and the DMC Group (not that DMC, no) this beautiful piece of artwork will cost you the quite breathtaking price of $220,000.

When you come to, again – I’ll continue. Back? Great. The official Vianney Halter page (beware – Flash-ridden) describes their “Futur Anterior” collection – or Future Past.

“These are watches than one might imagine on Captain Nemo’s wrist when at the controls of his Nautilus, or pehaps worn by H.G. Well’s when returning from time travel.”

I believe that would be quite the perfect description of a Steampunk watch.