Isn’t Dr. Jackson a handsome fellow indeed!  Mr Schwager wrote to tell me of his existance on his page Sugar Frosted Goodness, and it features the good Doctor Jackson as a founding member of the League of Robots and Monsters since 1835.  Lovely image, and a wonderful story to go with it – I look forward to seeing more illustrations of the members of the Leage of Robots and Monsters, if they’re anything like the good Dr Ironclad!  Thank you, Mr Schwager.

Forgive me if this is a little off-target than my usual, but something draws me to these quirky items of cross-breed cutlery and tools that makes me want to see them on an airship galley table, or in the toolbox/lunchbox of a steam engineeer.  Probably not very practical, but hey.  Stainless steel, and apparently come in their own ABS plastic heavy duty box.  (You can get minature ones too – perhaps for the younger engineer?)  Found via Neatorama today.

Oh Professor Fzz – I do like this.  This is the copper-tube constructed light with squirrel cage bulbs created by the good Professor Fzz – and posted recently in the Tactile section of the forum.  Not only was the Professor good enough to post a link to several very high quality images (the bulbs were dimmed for photographing purposes) but then posted a link to a page on how it was constructed!  Absolutely wonderful!

I was pleased to see that the good Professor took care to make sure the copper frame did not become live – as that would be somewhat uncomfortable for all concerned.  Excellent use of old shoelaces too (whoever the credit goes to for the idea)!

Mr Brennan points out that a Threadless competition currently has the 80′s as a theme (I believe it’s related to a film) and someone has decided to make that the 1880′s and created a t-shirt design showing a delightfully Steampunk gentleman getting down with his funky personage!  There seems to be some sort of voting system in effect (honestly, I’ve not really encountered Threadless on a personal level) where the most popular t-shirt not only wins, but is then made by the company and sold!  Delightful image, and has just the right combination of Victorian theme and modern irreverence to tickle my fancy!  Good luck, Orange-On-Orange!

Mr Owensby inadvertantly directed me down a route of investigation that lead me to arithmometers! Created by Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar of France in 1820, it was one of the first commercially successful arithmatic machines (not including the abacus etc – you know what I mean, with cogs and such). Apparently big enough to cover a desk, it would do addition, subtraction, multiplication, and if you didn’t mind getting involved in the process, division too. You can even find the patent online (with pictures of gearing, joy!). Sold for a good 30 years before being replaced.
Thanks Mr Owensby! I know it’s not what you sent (and I’ll no doubt get to that soon) but it’s related. *smiles*

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Wanting to catch up with the latest scientific news?  As in, latest for the mid 1800′s.  The Cornel University Library has you covered with scans of what seems to be all the issues from 1846 to 1869 – gaze in wonder at the new Viol Seraphine musical instrument, chuckle at the claims of new pavement material peddlers and shake your head in disbelief that people would attempt to create a boat propelled by electromagetic means!  And that’s just issue one.

It’s amazing to read back then, though as reader John points out – it does lapse into not-terribly impartial reporting on occasion, as in Dec 1st, 1860 when they talk about President Elect Lincoln’s Patent.  Ahem, subtle.  Really gives a good feel for the cutting edge technology of the time though – their hopes for it and what seemed impossible or all too possible at the time.  Great place to leap from for Steampunk – or you could just read the humerous sections.  *chuckles*

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Watches are round, generally – it’s what we’re taught as children and we accept it when we’re older.  Digital watches may have added “Oh, and sometimes just a number” but never have I seen a watch like a valve gauge!  It’s perfectly wonderful, from the 1900′s and with a beautifully engraved outer as well as a cogtastic interior.  Seen over at the Watchismo Times (for unusual watches) and apparently from Bogoff where it was for sale (thankfully – I don’t know for how much).  I’d very much like to see one that took the similarities with a pressure or volt meter/guage and really emphasised that – it’d be so amusing to take out of a pocket on a chain!  “Why yes I do have the time – it’s 20 past 5 p.s.i.”  Thank you very much, Robert of Neon Poisoning!

Now, a peculiar but I believe perfectly wonderful new blog/shop site has just opened to provide architectural miscellany that may be of use to the Steampunk crafter – little things that would otherwise just get thrown away, but that people who like making unique items could do with a bundle of.  The site is called Sequential Glass, and it’s a sideproject of a lady who has an architectural salvage company that deals specifically with pre-1950′s fittings.  Smaller items like brass fittings, porcelein shards and attachments, little hinges and hooks as well as guages and dials – all of great use to those people making Steampunk items.

Sold in lots, and based in the US, it’s definitely an unusual venture – and I do wish them the very best of luck as it’s such a lovely combination of need and supply!  Good luck, Ms Nicole!

I don’t generally read manga – I’ve dabbled in the past, but it’s never really grabbed me, and it is with mixed feelings that I went to take a look at a web manga recommended to me by reader Sakura.  It’s called Hollow Fields and for those not familiar with the peculiarities of manga, you read it from right to left, back of the book to the front – so to speak.  This one is set somewhere fairly modern, but features a huge clockwork mechanical mad scientists school, with partially clockwork cyborg teachers and classes in things such as chimera biology and gravedigging, with the required amount of traumatic student rivalry.  Rather good fun then!  So far, I’m finding it pleasantly bubbly, but it’s not something that I’d go crazy for (bunny ears just aren’t my thing chuckles).  Cogs though – lots of them, and yes – I admit as a child I wanted to be a mad scientist when I grew up, so this and Girl Genius play to far too many of my deeply ingrained childhood wants.

Some of you may know, I’ve been dabbling with the idea of making my own monoggle, but oh my – if the above monoggle (by B_Zedane over at Flickr) is what I’m ‘up against’ – I’m torn between feeling quite disheartened, and conversely deeply inspired!  It’s just beautiful – created with an old camera aperature and a papermache surround, with a handmade strap and ornamental wires.  There’s even a photograph of someone wearing the item in question and while it may not suit the rest of the clothing exactly, it’s still a perfectly Steampunk monoggle – and I am deeply impressed.  I only cross my fingers and hope I can make something even half as lovely.  Thank you so much, Mr MikeST for pointing that out!