Reader Jim was reminded of the Raygunz of Joe Blow Glassworks recently when the Raku Rayguns were shown. I do admit a little weakness for rayguns (especially the Weta ones) so while they may well be seriously pushing the bounds of ‘Steampunk’, I’ll post anyway.

Made from glass, both painted and naked, as well as metal accents and found objects, the rayguns are brightly coloured and beautifully smoothe. If they could see to doing some with brass accents instead of chrome, and in more muted colours, then I think I would be in a great deal of financial trauma – but they are quite lovely as they are! I can just imagine someone running around the surface of Mars and diving behind a crater lip before returning crystal-coloured fire from one of these handsome display pieces. Pesky Martians! (No offence intended to any Martians reading this.)

A while ago, ‘Giveaway of the Day’ had the Nautilus screensaver for free for one day only, today it’s the above mechanical clock screensaver!  As of writing this, there’s just over 15 hours left, and if it’s anything like the previous screensaver offer, you need to actually install it within those 15 hours, or it won’t work.

Still, from looking at the pictures it looks a perfectly marvelous clock mechanism – strangely glowing numerals and moving gears.  I’m sure there are several Steampunk computers and laptops out there that it would be most suited to.  Thank you very much Mr Bardinelli for pointing it out!

Some time ago, Matt wrote to tell me about a comic called Mr Hero. The character, a steam powered automaton sent to Earth as a sleeper agent for a typically evil bad guy intent on world domination, was designed by Neil Gaiman, but the comic itself was written by James Vance. It sounds pleasantly Steampunk though (at least initially) with the Mr Hero, and spare head, found by a farmer in the 1880s.

I can’t say I’ve read it, and it seems that it lived for only 18 issues before being abandoned, but if anyone knows more about it, I’d love to know. Some of the later covers look decidedly futuristic which turns me off a little, but I may well be doing it a disservice.

Sir Henry Bessemer, engineer and inventor, was a real character, and as such can’t really be called Steampunk, but reading his autobiography is surprisingly facinating! From chapters on The Great Exhibition of 1851, to a riveting tale of industrial espionage and secrecy spanning fourty years of Bronze powder making, to a perfectly curious (and ultimately doomed) design for a hydrolically righting saloon compartment on English Channel crossing steam-ships to counteract his terrible sea-sickness, Sir Bessemer writes with that strange but exciting mix of Victorian wonder at technology and a marvellous tone that can be both bashful and boastful in the same sentence. I found the paragraphs detailing the crowds wonderment at the Exhibition particularly moving – such crowds would probably only be seen at concerts or sporting events these days. The Bessemer Saloon story is a particularly sad one, where an inventor and his invention is critically let down by the company they colabborate with, and the public believes the invention to be without merit. A sorry tale, that probably clouds several inventors histories. Still, a good read and nice that the chapters can be read with some independance of each other – thank you so much, Ms Heather McDougal, for pointing it out to me!

From the Steampunk Forum (thank you, Guyver!) and Crabfu, I heard of the artist Stephane Halleux who creates amazing and oddly (but beautifully) proportioned robots, people, chairs, cars and machines – quite a few of which have a distinct Steampunk leaning!  I particularly liked the mechanical bat-winged gentleman, and the exceptionally short submarine-ship, but as it’s a flash site, you’d be best having a little rummage yourself.  I doubt you’ll be terribly dissapointed.  Somehow reminds me a little of a cross between the Nightmare Before Christmas, and the City of Lost Children – and what a very good combination that is.

There are certain things that really add the finishing touches to anything Steampunk for me, and a convoluted but marvellous name helps.  The Tempest Aberration Cynosure is one such name – the above creation by Ms Amanda Stark, jewellery instructor at BGSU.  This one, which I like to imagine serves to measure the ætheric storm currents lashing our tiny planet, is made from Sterling silver, copper, nu-gold(?) and glass.  There are three others too – the Calerdrical Continuance Register (obviously some sort of pan-dimentional timepiece, in my humble opinion), the Zephyr Emanation Observer (1 of 4) , which actually might serve as a wind-sensor, and the Resonance Compilation Monitor, which I have to admit, stumps even my attempts at guessing its Steampunk purpose.

Simply amazing, and really very inspiring.  I can imagine whole stories being woven around one of these artifacts of a never-time.  Whole worlds set up to have made one of these devices not only exist, but required for some people’s daily tasks.  Wonderful stuff – thank you very much to Blacklines (Mr/Ms?) for sending this in.  I wonder if Ms Stark has any more in this vein?