N3ym3KlJ_BE

Above, you may feast your eyes on Prof. Emilio Zuntaras’ Bi-Orbital Spectral Audiometer, an utterly wonderful CD player modification from newly-realised Steampunk fan, Professor Zuntaras, of the Steampunk Forum.  It is exceptionally hard to believe, but most impressive to know, that this started out life as a standard dull $14 CD player, but that now everything you see in the video above is functional!  From the handle that cranks to the bellows on the left that automagically pump, this is a beautiful creation all the way down to the etched glass CD cover.

“For the discriminating gentelman who is ready to step up from the grammaphone or wax cylinders, Professor Emilio Zuntaras humbly offers the Bi-Orbital Spectral Audiometer.  Superior sound quality and, at just over 50 pounds, it offers full portability…“

Read lots more and see many stunning photographs including the original plans and closeups of the horns, bellows, glass and knife switches!  (I do love knife switches.)  Congratulations, Professor Zuntaras, and I’m ever so glad you found like-minds in the Forum!

The practical and extraordinary, Jake Von Slatt of the Steampunk Workshop has just managed to escape neo-Victorian Daleks in a steambath, and more life-threateningly, has survived an interview with Bostodelphia Blog! Questioned by Messers Impaler and Cod Peace, Mr Von Slatt explains what his version of Steampunk is, why he likes building things – and why he thinks people get a little too caught up on the history instead of the dream!

“Ah, it’s a common mistake to think we care about what the past was. We’re much more interested in what it should have been and what the future can be….”

A very in depth, and interesting interview, definitely worth a read to see Mr Von Slatt’s version of Steampunk, and how it compares to your own!  Thank you both Mr Von Slatt and CP!  (Mr Von Slatt is seen above with his beautiful brass RSS morse tapper, and Steampunk guitar.)

Over at ConceptArt.org, those terribly skilled artists are deep in the depths of the Character of the Week challenge, or CHOW once again – and this week’s challenge is a Steampunk Penguin Professor (with assistant) in the Arctic.  They’re on to the final thread, the Final Burning, and there’s already some utterly stunning (and exceptionally charming) entries piling in.  The one above, by poster Einen, was my current favourite, but it’s so utterly close I may well change my mind in the next few minutes if I’m not careful.  (Remember, no comments on the thread until the poll is in, in case you are tempted.)

Congratulations to all the entries so far – and to whomever should win the challenge, a special congratulations!  I love the idea that the terribly serious looking creatures, waddling across the ice, are fussy professors educating and elucidating in the name of mad science!  Thank you, AndyW!

aC4g-phYx1I

I’m not dead!  I apologise for being absent so, but it’s back to pleasure as usual and I’d first like to mention that when I was in New York (for the Dances of Vice festival, more on that later) I was fortunate enough to get tickets to see the musical Wicked on broadway.  Oh, such a beautiful show!  Telling the tale of the Wicked Witch of the West, the Good Witch Glinda and many more non-Dorothy characters from Oz, and I honestly hadn’t gone there with the expectation of anything Steampunk.  However, I was very pleasantly surprised – from utterly delicious pseudo-Victorian Emerald City costumes (that you can see blurrily in the video above) to the ominous and threatening influx of dangerous science and more cogs than I could shake a magic wand at!

The sets featured sillouetted iron bridges, giant backlit gothic clockfaces, and a wooden clockwork dragon overseeing the whole beautiful affair.  The Wizard of Oz’ mechanical giant head is also has to be seen to be disbelieved!  I’d heartily recommend seeing it if you can (New York, Chicago, LA, London, Tokyo, Stuttgart, and Melbourne) and if you don’t come away with a hankering for green lensed glasses/goggles, I’ll be somewhat surprised.

zOlcKPHipy8

Imagine if there were a dashingly handsome gentleman, on call to solve disasters and problems all around Europe.  Imagine if that gentleman and his manservant globetrotted in a pedal powered hot-air-ship of delightful design.  And finally that solving problems that had stumped other great minds, was all about creating just the right chocolate for the occasion.  Bonkers, I agree, and advertising for a mammoth company (Cailler/Nestle) but some really lovely scenes and just for a moment I really wish there had been a Steampunk debonaire chocolatier extraordinaire, swooping out of the sky to save the day.

I have to say the airship itself (the best part of the advert by far, despite my breathless antics above) reminds me of the White Dwarf blimp, or Zeppy the Golden Airship.  In fact, it’s nice to catch up with those projects, though I see no updates from the White Dwarf team (and a very good excuse for just that – if you had a blimp, would you spend time on a webpage?) the Zeppy airship seems to still be going through iterations and updates, with a blog (in French) that gets occasional posts.  Thank you, Andreas the Watchmaker, for telling me about the above advertisement!

products listoem products list

Mr Berman saw the wonderful ‘mad scientist lights’ that people had been making – but was saddened that there weren’t brass and wood ones available – so he made one for himself!  And then his friends wanted some, and then other friends of friends and eventually he decided to make them available to others, online at Gothic Glow.  As he’s a one gentleman operation, numbers are limited but if your hand does not, or will not turn to making one of these yourself, perhaps you’d prefer to buy one from him.  They come in several sizes, and while the ones on his site come with skull knobs, there’s always the possibility that if you prefer your light skullless, then he may provide an alternative (I think replacing them with a small quartz knob would be rather nice, but you’d be best doing that yourself).

Lovely illuminators, and a nice option for those not quite ready to try making their own!  (Though, I always recommend having a go yourself at making Steampunk objects – if only for the experience!)

-M_NIIh94qI

Einar very kindly wrote to open my eyes to what seems to be a phenomenon that had completely passed me by – the Norwegian animated film, Flåklypa Grand Prix (also known as the Pinchcliffe Grand Prix).  This stop motion animated tale from the 1970′s featured an eccentric but kind inventor and his friends entering a sportscar race for the honour of his inventions!  The sportscar, named Il Tempo Gigante, is a beautiful creation that captured the hearts and minds of decades of children – and the car featured above is a realisation of that car as accurately as possible!  Complete with two engines (one of which is a helicopter turbine too loud and powerful to actually turn on, the other is a V8) and has available to it over 550hp.

Who would not want a car with it’s own built in blood bank?  A car with a radar for those pesky moments when your foe uses nasty tricks against you in the race?  A car that sounds so nice?  No doubt it is a beast, and terribly inefficient – but it is very beautiful, and the animation itself looks utterly charming.  I believe they even sell a radio controlled one.