Halloween office contest

Friday was fun! I dressed steampunk for the office Halloween festivities and won the top prize for the most creative costume! It was also the first outing for my steam saber, I will complete the video soon for this latest artifact.

The Dryad

Dressing up runs in my family. Here are some terrific pictures of my first-born daughter in her guise of a Dryad. The costume and makeup are entirely her creations. Pretty amazing, huh?

Create!

enganear

Dragoncon 2009, the year of the steampunk explosion!

Dragoncon 2009 has come an gone and it was the best yet. I have been attending since 2001. This was the year steampunk exploded and I predict next year it will be a steampunk convention! The Alternate History track was standing room only for every panel and I certainly hope they plan on a bigger room for 2010. My costuming efforts were well received which made me very happy. I even got compliments on my work from Anthony Daniels (C3PO) and Michael Hogan (Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica). Here is a slideshow of the steampunk costumes. It is by no means complete, but I hope you enjoy it. the music is "She Blinded Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby.



I uploaded all of these steampunk pictures and many more of other costumes to my Flickr account.

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enganear

More steampunk artifacts....

I finished the Dimensional Rift Divinator that I had been working on for my youngest daughter to wear at Dragoncon. Here is a short video:



I finally got around to documenting PIPP, my first steampunk artifact. PIPP is short for Pulse Initiated Plasma Pistol and here is the video:




Create!
enganear

Busy steampunking!

I have been toiling away in my shop, but I have a lot to show for it. In addition to getting my robots ready for Dragoncon Robot Battles, I have been building more steampunk artifacts. Here is my Steampunk Spinning Photon Array Pistol. I am pleased with the pewter look I was able to get with silver Rub 'n Buff.

I also finished my Radium Gripper and show it off in this video below. It required lots of detail work and reminded me I need some stronger glasses...

I made my first pair of goggles as you can see below. I used leather from an old jacket, some plumbing fittings (1 1/2" slip joint nuts), and some amber acrylic that I ordered from McMaster Carr. I made them as decorations for my hat, but they work well as goggles.

The family is really looking forward to Dragoncon!

Create!

enganear

Somebody Stop Me!

So I got this cool product after watching a steampunk forum on youtube. Its called Rub 'n Buff. Check out these sunglasses that used to be tortoise shell. They look like old brass, huh! Just kill the gloss with some sandpaper (220 or finer) and dab the stuff on with a finger tip. It dries in 2 minutes. Then just polish it with a cloth. Its a metal laden wax. It comes in a lot of colors, I want to get some of the copper next. For use on lexan, I recommend light sanding, Krylon fusion black, light sanding, then the Rub 'n Buff for amazing results.

It does not work well on aluminum, even the anodized stuff.

Maybe I'll do my computer mouse....

Create!

-enganear

PUGG is complete in time for Dragoncon!

After about 100 hours, PUGG, my Petite Underslung Gatling Gun is finally finished. I hope you enjoy the video!

If for some reason this video will not play, I also have it posted at Youtube here.

Create!

enganear