Friday fashion parade

American Gothic goes steampunk. This T-shirt is a bit of fun from the Threadless collection. Click on the picture to go to the website, or check out some of their other steampunk style offerings.

In the round

I'm knitting the second of the pair of frilly wrist warmers and checking the pattern I've written for them as I go. They are knitted all in one piece (yes, even the frill) so I'm using a set of four double-pointed needles. Remember, if you need to learn how to knit (or how to knit in the round like this), my book Knitting Basics is available to help.

Object of desire

Got a spare five grand? If you have, why not spend it on this marvellous nineteenth century hatbox (from Yale R. Burge Antiques)? It would be perfect for storing your top hat or bowler, or just as useful to rest a delicate porcelain tea cup on. I'm so inspired by the brass details and studwork: I wonder how difficult it would be to recreate this piece in modern materials? I think a trip to the craft and hardware stores is in order...

Frills

My wrist warmers are coming along nicely, as you can see in the picture. I've almost completed the lacy frill! It won't be long now until I've finished writing and checking the pattern, so please keep coming back to this blog to see the progress I'm making, or sign up for the newsletter using the form at right and I'll let you know when the pattern is available.

Knitting basics

If you like the frilly wrist warmers I'm currently knitting, but you don't know how to knit, I have a solution. *Shameless self-promotion* My book, Knitting Basics, is designed for beginners and even pre-beginners and has all the information you need to start knitting, including step-by-step photographs showing how it's done. It's published by Murdoch Books in 2012, and is available in many bookstores or from your favourite online bookseller.

Friday fashion parade

Today I'm thinking about corsets, and scribbling in my visual journal. I've stuck in a couple of fabric swatches as suggestions for the corset and lining.

Which do you prefer: over- or underbust? Does bust size matter?

Leather or silk brocade? There are so many choices....

Victorian secrets

My partner recently confessed that he loves the kind of antique furniture with secret compartments, and so do I. Apart from the obvious use of the hidden cavities (secreting illicit love letters, or precious jewels), there is the opportunity to imagine all sorts of mischief that could arise from having access to one of these drawers. Of course, the ultimate secret compartment is the Bat Cave, or Thunderbird Island, but it's much more realistic to dream of owning a Georgian escritoire or cabinet.

Visualising

The weather has turned colder here in Sydney, so I've been thinking about making a pair of fingerless gloves to keep my hands warm while I type on my computer. I like the look of the wrist warmers in the two pictures I stuck into my visual journal (far left), but I want gloves that will cover my hands as well so I will add a thumbhole and a bit of extra length under the frill.

I've decided to knit the wrist warmers in 2 ply wool so they'll be light and lacy, and I knitted up a test swatch (above right) to see how many stitches I'll need to make each glove. Now I'm off to cast on, and take some photos as I go to share with my you. If you'd like to make a pair for yourself, I'll give you a link to buy the pattern from my Etsy store when I've finished writing it.

Our array of angry virtues

I recently read H. G. Wells' The Sleeper Awakes. Have you read it? I have enjoyed several of Wells's other novels but this one struck me as being even more prescient than usual. His description of the box with moving pictures (when the Sleeper first wakes) is especially interesting, considering that the science of moving pictures was still in its infancy and television itself was a good 30 or 40 years from being invented. He was also concerned about how the improvement in technology and lifestyle would affect the human psyche. Here's a quote:

"There is a lot left for me to understand," said Graham after a pause. "Yet I see the logic of it all. Our array of angry virtues and sour restraints was the consequence of danger and insecurity. The Stoic, the Puritan, even in my time, were vanishing types. In the old days man was armed against Pain, now he is eager for Pleasure. There lies the difference. Civilisation has driven pain and danger so far off—for well-to-do people. And only well-to-do people matter now. I have been asleep two hundred years."

If you've never read The Sleeper Awakes, I highly recommend it. I picked up my gorgeous cloth-bound copy at a secondhand bookstore, but you can also download it for free from Project Gutenberg.

Friday fashion parade

Loking for some steampunk-style inspiration led me to the wonderful illustrations of Brian Kesinger. His Tea Girls are so sassy and sexy! Take a look at his gallery to get some ideas of your own.

Op shopping

A recent trip to my local opportunity shop netted a few good finds for future steampunk-style craft projects. A wooden cane, begging to be steampunked; a couple of leather belts that will make useful straps (or belts); and a wooden clock that, once deflowered, will be a perfect addition to steampunk decor. My favourite find was the vintage atlas: a hardcover book with pages large enough to get my imagination working in all sorts of ways. Keep an eye on this blog for craft project ideas featuring these and other op shop finds in the near future!

Ecotech

Sustainable bamboo is used to make this stylish wireless keyboard and mouse. The woodlike texture of the bamboo keyboard gives it an air of originality: it's not quite steampunk style, but it's a step closer than plastic. At least until you get around to buying or making a steampunk computer. 

Pure Bamboo has a range of techy accessories as well as fashion items, all environmentally friendly.

Urban explorer's kit bag

 

The Urban Explorer's Kit Bag is complete. Made of faux suede fabric with a cotton ticking lining, the bag is approximately 40 cm (16 in) tall with a base diameter of 21 cm (8¼ in). There is one internal pocket that's just the right size for a smartphone, while a draw-cord closure and a cotton shoulder strap to make it easy to carry. 

You can make this bag for yourself: the pattern and instructions are available from my Etsy store for $5.00 (no shipping costs: online delivery). For readers of this blog only, you can get a free copy of the pattern by signing up to the Steampunk Style newsletter in the panel at right. The newsletter will let you know when other steampunk-style patterns are available, and will not be used for any other marketing.

If you like the Urban Explorer's Kit Bag, please visit again soon to see what interesting steampunk style projects I'll be making next.

Something remarkable

Every so often, the planet Venus does something remarkable. Its orbit brings it to a point directly between the Sun and the Earth, where it appears to us as a black dot moving across the bright disc of the Sun. This transit of Venus is rare, occurring in pairs eight years apart and then not for more than a hundred years; it has fascinated astronomers for centuries.

Nick Lomb, Transit of Venus: 1631 to the present (NewSouth Publishing, 2011)

Seeing last week's transit of Venus was an exciting and humbling experience. More than just an interesting celestial phenomenon, it was an almost tangible link to astronomers of the past. Astronomers such as Jeremiah Horrocks, who was the first person to see a transit of Venus, in 1639; or poor Guillaume le Gentil, whose attempts to observe in 1761 and 1769 kept him away from home for more than nine years and only met with failure; Captain James Cook, who used the 1769 expedition to observe the transit in Tahiti as a base for exploration and discovery; or the Australian astronomers who used a Janssen apparatus to make a photoheliograph of the 1874 transit. 

I read about all of these people and the history of the transits of Venus and their effect on the world in a great book written by astronomer Nick Lomb. (Click on the book cover at left for more info.) The book is full of gorgeous colour: illustrations and diagrams from astronomers of past times; photographs of historic instruments; and modern astronomical images.

Astronomers such as Kepler, Halley and Isaac Newton—who all helped to predict and identify the dates of Venus transits—never saw the phenomenon themselves. Unfortunately, if you missed the one on June 6th this year, you probably won't get to see the next one, which is due in December 2117.

Friday fashion parade

Checking out the internet for information about the transit of Venus this week, I stumbled on this video clip about a steampunk festival in a historic town on New Zealand's South Island. It's now on my bucket list: just let me fire up the dirigible.

Finishing touches: kit bag

The Urban Explorer's Kit Bag is almost finished. Today I've created the casing and buttonholes for the top closure of the bag and added a shoulder strap. I've used a spring toggle to hold the cord, but if you can't find a spring toggle at your local haberdashery store you can simply tie the cord in a bow to close the bag when you draw the top together. Lastly, I added small brass bells to the ends of the cord as a nod to the bell that the boy finds attached to The Lost Thing in the book and animated movie.

If you would like the pattern and complete instructions for making this bag, please come back to this blog on Tuesday, June 12, 2012, to see photos of the finished project and get the instructions for how to download the free PDF.

Inventiveness

Yesterday the planet Venus passed across the face of the Sun for the second time in a decade, although we won't see a similar sight for another century. I went to the University of Sydney where astronomy students and staff had put together a variety of telescopes and other equipment to observe this rare celestial event, despite viewing being limited to sporadic breaks in the clouds. I was particularly impressed with one piece of steampunk inventiveness: a large plastic funnel that had been converted into a viewing screen so that many people could see at once. Despite the clouds, we had an excellent view of the small black dot in its progress (you can see it at about the 7 o'clock mark in the image below). A big thank you to the University, staff and students who made it possible for ordinary observers like me to witness a twice-in-a-lifetime event!

Here's what Jules Verne said (in his book, Celebrated Travels and Travellers) about the 1769 transit, observed by Captain James Cook in Tahiti:

And now the moment for the execution of the primary object of the voyage approached. Cook accordingly took steps for putting the instructions he had received into effect....

On passing the sun, the rim of Venus was elongated as though attracted. A black point or dark ligament, a little less dark than the body of the star, was formed; the same phenomenon occurred upon the second interior contact.

"The observation," says Cook, "was made with equal success at the fort, and by those I had sent to the east of the island. From the rising to the setting of the sun, not a single cloud obscured the sky, and Mr. Green, Dr. Solander, and myself, observed the entire transit of Venus with the greatest ease.... We noted a luminous atmosphere or fog surrounding the planet, which rendered the actual moment of contact and especially of interior contacts somewhat indistinct. To this fact it is owing that our observations varied somewhat one from the other."

Jules Verne himself was alive for the transits of 1874 and 1882, although he may not have actually observed either event. I do hope you had an opportunity to see this one, and that some of us might still be alive in 105 years when the next transit occurs!

Dieselpunk

In case you've never heard of it, Dieselpunk is the younger sister of Steampunk, featuring early twentieth century style along with motor cars, planes and war machines. If your tastes run to Dieselpunk, you won't want to miss this amazing archive of photographs of American aircraft workers in the early '40s. Incredibly, the Kodachrome slides are as fresh and colourful as if they were taken yesterday. After you take a look, please come back and express your astonishment in the comments here!

Making the urban explorer's bag

Today I am sewing the Urban Explorer's Kit Bag together. Step one is to sew the rectangles of fabric into tubes, then step two is to pin and stitch the circular bases into one end. Finish the edges with a zigzag stitch, then turn the lining bag right side out and slip it inside the outer bag, so that the right sides are together.

Stitch the two pieces together around the top edge, leaving a small opening near the seam so that you can turn the whole thing right side out before sewing up the opening by hand. Next, I'll be adding the finishing touches to the bag, including carrying straps and a cord to close the top opening and keep your things safe. Remember, I'll give you a link to download all of the instructions and templates, including the measurements for the bag, at the end of the project, so please keep checking in to find out how you can download the PDF.

Practical printmaking

Today I attended an art class at Culture at Work, where we were learning to make prints using foam sheets. The technique is to draw quite heavily on the foam with an ordinary pencil, making deep gouges in the surface, then roll on ink and print onto paper in the same way as a lino print. I haven't done this type of printmaking since high school, and I was quite pleased with my effort. So pleased, in fact, that I'm selling the three copies I made in my Etsy shop.

The image is a freehand drawing based on a photograph in today's newspaper. I've called it Steelwork.

Culture at Work runs art classes featuring all sorts of art techniques on Wednesday mornings at 10.30. It's located in Pyrmont, Sydney. Click on the link to the website for more details and join us if you live nearby.