A recent score of goodies from a 'car boot sale' has resulted in some lovely steampunky goodness.
So far I have refinished a late Victorian metal travel trunk that was badly "restored" (car body filler, rattle can spray paint and plastic sticky-backed red pin-striping on the lid) and was actually being used by a professional car boot seller to move his wares in and out of the van. It was horribly dented and beaten up, but I got it for
£12 (though he was reluctant to sell it as it was full of
crap precious items for sale). Was able to uncover the original gold paint decorative details thanks to the crappy job at respraying - sticky tape was able to rip most of the paint off the gold areas as they never cleaned it before spraying, so paint did not adhere well. Used a razor blade to remove the remainder of the paint and trim up the remainder of the spray job. Trunk was originally brown and gold, but they had sprayed it all black. Now it is black and gold, and looks
awesome now that the dents and excess body filler have been removed.
Have just finished making two pendant ceiling lamps (that work equally well as table lamps...) from a collection of Vic-Wardian style modern
lamps and associated parts that were recently removed from a local pub during a renovation. Sadly they came without the original glass shades as they were broken during the trip to the car boot sale. However that did not prove a problem, and a quick trip to the nearest purveyor of low cost household items (B&M store) resulted in the purchase of two glass jars intended as solar lights. They fit perfectly as replacement shades (minus the solar lamp part), and look much more steampunk as a result. Cost of lamps plus new shades: £10 (bargain!)
Busy working on some other bits, should have some interesting things soon... I'm so having fun with this!
Pics will follow in Tactile as soon as I get a new memory card for the camera.
