Oh good grief. BoingBoing netted a most eyepleasing link today to a Japanese site displaying the watches of Haruo Suekichi that just cry out Steampunk (or should that be ????????) with every rivet, brass wire, spring, and grain of patina. They are utterly stunning – the movements themselves may not be the feature here, but the surrounds – wrist clamping springs, finger mounted claws and even peculiar pocket watches. The original site linked is here, and if you are in any way like me in your preferences, you will both despair and feel guiltily glad that these items are not currently for sale (actually, according to the interview, they’re not that expensive, hmm). The Google translated page is linked here, you may find some of the descriptions even in their mangled state help understand what is going on – for example, the above watch has a secret pocket for ‘French letters‘ so that you may not be caught unprepared.

There are simply more than my feeble and overwhelmed mind can handle on this page too (which includes the ones above) and there are the occasional other odd things like lamps, little robot figures and seats. What a shop that must be to look over the collections in person. Thanks to Mr Kreidler, Mr Clary, Crabfu, Pidgeon4, Richard and Mr Saunders!

A travelling man of faith and learning, faced with an inexplicable death with all the hallmarks of ancient tales taught to scare children, throws himself into solving the mystery of literally bloodless deaths.

His traveling case, above, shows the fruits of his ever more sobering research: artifacts pertaining to Homo Wampyrus, and their shadowy parallel existence. From his daily tools of his study – his journal, adjustable magnifying glass and a goodly supply of the ever essential candles, to the barely believable and morbid – partial vampire skull in glass display case, comparison bloodwork slides of both vampire and human, and both teeth and blood from a revered ancient aristocrat who was secretly a vampire.

Yes, this is another stunning fictional research case from Alex (previously Cthulhu_Spawn) who also did the Lycanthropy Case and the Cthulhu Spawn in a Jar. However, much like his previous namesake, Alex has found himself in a bit of a pickle as for reasons yet unclear the above item has been removed from Ebay. It could be because the accompanying backstory (which is in a somewhat de-clawed version above) was considered too controvercial, or perhaps someone misunderstood the fictional nature of the item (including the artificiality of the blood etc) but for whatever reason, he cannot sell this through Ebay at this time. Should you wish to make this your own, then he is quite eager to receive reasonable offers via email ( skinned_bunnies [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk )  Now resubmitted to Ebay.co.uk here. More pictures, and the full (potentially contentious) backstory and more complete contents list available on the Steampunk Forum thread.

Tammy of Tears of Envy wrote to say that they’ve given their site a much more Steampunk look, and quite write they were too.  The page itself has an odd but not unpleasant blend of amber Victorian/Edwardian style and glowing blue futuristic interface, but the real wonders are in the portfolio.  There, you can find images of Cthulhu-mythos inspired props and mockups, as well as strange tales in Deco-decorated slideshows and a lovely Flash-based interactive cabinet of wonders menu that was apparently created for a magazine website. Oh, the page can be a little noisy (with clanks and such in the background) but there’s a volume down in the bottom right hand corner.  Thank you very much, Tammy.

TwystNeko wrote to say they were greatly inspired by Mr Von Slatt’s brass engraving tutorials, and has been dabbling with it ever since.  Indeed, they’ve created two cog-featured .psd templates (such as the one above, though without the text) that others may download and use for their own etching!  In particular, it has been designed to use as name plates or book labels – I imagine they’d look particularly fetching on the side of a wooden case filled with all manner of items.

TwystNeko has also done some other good etching stuff, with an etch of the Steampunk version of Optimus Prime (from the Hearts of Steel comic) and a rather insanely detailed cover plate from the film version of Star Gate.  If etching is not your thing, then the .psd’s are fully layered and available to play with – those cogs are lovely and even fit together properly.  Thank you, TwystNeko!

Over at the right rollicking Adventures in Reading blog, they’ve just done a review for the second book in a series called ‘Flaming London’.  This novel, set in the times of Verne and Twain, features the War of the Worlds tripods, octopodes, King Kong and a giant steam powered robot.  Sign me up!

The previous book (also reviewed by Adventures in Reading) called ‘Zeppelins West’ mixes the titular lighter than air vessels, the Island of Doctor Moreau, Dracula, Captain Nemo and the characters associated with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West.

Described as a mix of sharp humour, crude language and occasional violence, this is the wild west with airships, pickled talking heads and time travelers.  According to Wikipedia, there is a third novel in the series called ‘The Sky Done Ripped’ somewhere in the future too.  Wonderful reviews by Mr Sherry that really make me want to try these out.

Mission: Red Planet by Asmodee Editions is an apparently family friendly board game of strategy and luck that very much sets itself in a Steampunk universe. Set at the time of the Paris World Fair, governments are racing for Mars to stake their claims on the mineral rich land there using recruiters, explorers, femme fatales and scientists to ensure they emerge victorious! There’s a rather good (and family play orientated) review over at GamerDad, which tells a lot more about the game than can be found on the official site. Sounds like it could be fun to play – as long as you don’t bring real rayguns to the game table!

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Mr Huang’s friend, Mr Wegmuller, is also a big fan of steam engines it seems, and the above video shows a most amusing creation using a Regner Willi locomotive on a custom made, neverending track!  It wobbles in a most disconcerting fashion, and I’m very glad indeed that it has those stabilising prongs.  There are more photographs of the creation to be found on his site, as well as quite a few other steam related images (including a design sketch for a most unnerving looking personal conveyance that features a boiler between your knees – those in skirts advised to wear attractive bloomers, perhaps?)

A lovely ‘all terrain’ Steampunk contraption (even if it’s not actually very ‘all terrain’) that would not be out of place full sized and glorious in its absurdity in a world of commonplace airships and mars rockets.

Simply stunning what the cunning application of custom stickers can do for a previously plain laptop! Above is the Kowal Portable Typewriter and Adding Machine, a laptop modification very much inspired by very early 20th Century typewriters from Royal, Remington and Smith-Corona.

Using custom stickers from Schtickers, Ms Kowal (a very creative lady) initially applied stickers to the exterior of the laptop to get a feel for the quality, and then carefully photographing the keyboard of the laptop, arranged for another sticker printing for cutting out for the panels and keys. The keys have been cut out, stuck onto the existing keys and then both key and sticker edged with black permanent marker. You’d never know it to look at it *chuckles*

Very well done, and shows that if you have ingenuity and a way with image design, there’s no need for a spanner to make something wonderful! Thank you Mr Kreidler, Mr Burger, Mr Owensby, David H. and Daemon for letting me know, and Ms Kowal herself for permission.

Ah, there seems to be rather a lot of talk about a certain new thingamabob amongst those who covet gadgets – but this is the far more Steampunk one that shockingly seems to be getting less press. Designed by Pirates for Pirates, the rPhone is apparently created using cutting edge Steampunk technology with super-miniaturised steam engines (not as unlikely as it sounds) and not only uses all nearby matter to magnify its signal, but can play up to 12 different cylinders (seen above) of music! Indeed, quite stunning.

There’s lots more information over at the official site, though it may be ahead of its time, as there’s no option to buy. Alas. Thank you Paddy, Chris, Mr Black, Hazel and ‘Just Me’.

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A most peculiar music video from the group, Grizzly Bear for their track Knife.  Now, I’m unsure of the popularity of the piece of music (I don’t find it very catchy, personally, but as I’ve said before – music is very subjective) but the first part of the music video has some sort of old-fashioned explorer-miner team with a strange geared contraption apparently doing something odd with pink liquids.  The bearded, be-suited, strangeheaded man with his odd invention just struck me as pleasantly Steampunkish.  It gets decidedly less Steampunk after 1:25 however, and significantly more surreal.

Thanks, Stephen of the Cassettes!