Archive for March, 2007

Wimshurst Machines – Electrostatic Generators

Friday, March 23rd, 2007

While we’re on the topic of electricity, Mr Rice wrote to point out the beautiful Wimshurst Machine recently displayed at Bristol Dorkbot by Mr Low.  Wimshurst Machines are a type of electrostatic generator, developed sometime in the 1880’s by the inventor of the same name.
Why so interesting?  Well, they combine a few of my loves [...]

Nikola Tesla – Documentary and Articles

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

Tesla’s been getting a lot more publicity recently, and that makes me smile.  A wonderful, unappreciated inventor of so many things, and inadvertantly probably the greatest force in ending the steam-centric age and ushering in electricity!  A world treasure, and just an all round facinating character – Fortean Times did an article on him only [...]

Crystal Rain – Novel by Tobias Buckell

Thursday, March 22nd, 2007

When I was at Futurismic blog today, imagine my surprise when I saw a little picture of an airship blinking at me from the sidebar. I couldn’t help but click. It was the cover of a novel by Mr Tobias Buckell, called Crystal Rain (Amazon.co.uk hardback, paperback apparently out soon too).  Set in [...]

Wachenröder – Steampunk Saturn RPG

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

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Mr Huang (Crabfu) very kindly pointed out this video on YouTube for the game Wachenröder, a Japanese language RPG/strategy game for the Sega Saturn. This is a video of the introduction to the game (a little meandering) showing some beautiful Steampunk backdrops – murky steamtrain stations, peculiar airship-variants, and silly-sized artillery. The game [...]

Bobster Trike – Copper Plated Shiny Machine

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

A very shiny, peculiar, motorised tricycle with absurd amounts of copper plating – so terribly shiny!  Mr Suba pointed it out, unsure of it’s Steampunk qualities, and to be honest, it’s borderline.  I do however like the very steamengine inspired colour scheme, as well as the general low-level absurdity.  The fact that it’s actually rather [...]

Kropserkel Stop Motion Puppets – Brass Robots

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

Isn’t he delightful! Kropserkel have been at it again, not content to just make marvelously ornate metal ‘lightsword’ handles as if owned by Nemo himself, or satisfied by making some of the most Steampunk rayguns I have ever laid eyes on – they have created two of the most characterful stop motion Steampunk robots [...]

Mr Anderson’s Cogs and Cables – Illustrator Brushes

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

Mr Anderson was apparently inspired, and created a big lovely pile of cog and cable brushes for use with the Adobe Illustrator package.  Better still, he’s released the bunch of them as a freebie!  For those of you with a more illustrative Steampunk bent, these will most likely be a bundle of :*:coggy joy:*:!
Thank you [...]

Golden Sphere Astronomical Lotus Clock – L’Esprit des Cabinotiers

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Oh my. The above clock, is the 250th anniversary masterpiece from the Vacheron Constantin Swiss Watchmakers company. It’s called L’Esprit des Cabinotiers, and it’s craftmanship is beyond telling. It starts out as a beautifully engraved rose-golden sphere, and only at the urging of the owner (s/he who knows the secret) it delicately [...]

The Steampunk Treehouse – Burning Man

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Were my jaw able to drop any further, then I’d be watching my lower mandible make it’s very own Journey to the Centre of the Earth – goodness gracious me, if the Steampunk Treehouse isn’t a simply marvelous sounding project!

“The Steampunk Tree House is representative of a mutually [...]

Gakken – Japanese Grownup Science Kits

Sunday, March 18th, 2007

I love science kits, I really do – I can’t help it.  It saddens me a little when the cog kits I get are in dayglo orange, however and emblazoned with assurances that it’s not suitable for under 6 months.  However, there seems to be a range of science kits in Japan that suit me [...]