Steampunk

[Keevan Draco]

yep, sadly it's going mainstream albeit very slowly....

trip just cranked out a cog beltbuckle, and you can acquire basic black goggles now at hot toppic.

even though i am loathe to buy anything at that store, I do visit it from time to time to see what the corporate world has assimilated into it's mass market maw.

It's the power of the internet at it's finest. as more and more people become interested in the genre, the available cornucopia of information on steampunk is being generated all the time by those who live the aesthetic and build the items.
I've seen the steampowered wheelchair, a modified computer that looks like an computational engine, various steam powered rifles and tesla guns, Dr. Steel, and other assorted gadgets and gizmos that people have come up with to incorporate into their victorian wardrobe.
Heck, I even got carried away for a bit and designed a top hat with drop down eyeloops in various magnifications that retract back up above the front brim of the hat through small slits. brass and leather, brass and leather, brass and leather.....

I enjoy the genre, I find it a different sort of beast than goth, and am really geeking out on the tech that these people come up with, but I'm just wishing that some of the items that are created were truly functional recreations and not just reskins of modern tech.
I remember a book from my childhood that showed patents of inventions that were created back in the 1800's at the turn of the century. they were fantastical, though not very practical, and showed the spark of real genius at work. Yeah, some were very creepy and morbid, but many of them were prime examples of "where there's a will, there's a way".





(and looking back on all that was written before, this is the longest post I've cranked out in 6 months.....i wonder what that says about a guild?)  

[Teriyaki Tsubaki]

I loved Steampunk before I knew what it was. I agree that it is sad to see some aspects of it becoming mainstream, teenagers have no idea the background of the one item that they are buying to wear with their Aeropostal or Hollister outfit.

Do you have any good websites for purchasing reasonably priced pieces?  

[Ayame_Rikimayu]

i had a friend whom just recently got me interested in steampunk. i went to a steampunk panel at last year's Otakon, and took many pictures, (though i lost my camera before i could develop them).

the group running the panel had this gig going for several years that involved full costumes for their characters, tours, etc. one of the girls in the group was an amputee, so they made her a gattling gun to fit over her armpiece. it had little blue lcd lights in the side too. all of their stuff was impressive. its hard to describe without the pictures.

(yargh...now i gotta find that camera...)