Week 30, "teacup"

We had a teacup contest at the Sacramento Steampunk Society's picnic, which I wanted to enter.  I found an old plastic mug in my room which was made for paper inserts which were kind of like mini coloring book pages.  So I cut a piece of paper to the right size and started designing an appropriate scene.  Since the theme of the picnic was Lovecraftian I included some tentacles, but on a cute octopus and some kind of squid having an underwater tea party.  I gave them both steamy accessories, and their tea is actually time, which is of course poured from a bottle.  They also have a plate of the undersea equivalent of teacakes or finger sandwiches, urchins and starfish.  The squid is gesturing emphatically with a spoon which is unfortunately invisible behind the rim of the mug, while the octopus giggles.  I think they might be courting.  Most of the color was done with Sharpies, although I did use gel pens here and there.  It did take me more like two weeks, though, so this is a FAILURE.

I drew his moustache and monocle before I looked at actual reference photos of squid and realized that their eyes are much further down than that.  But I liked the way it looked, so I kept it anyway.

Week 29

This is just here for the sake of the tags.  I'm pretty sure this week was a TOTAL FAILURE.

Week 28, vacuum-formed keys and gears

I don't remember if painting them was supposed to be part of the Thing too, but it seems like it should have been.  Therefore, for your viewing pleasure:

However, these were not photographed until the next Thursday, which makes this a FAILURE. . . I think?

Week 27, dressed to the elevens

Factors working against me:  It had to be done (and dry!) in time to wear to the Sac Steam Ball on Thursday.  I had to purchase new nail polish with which to paint the gears because I couldn't find my big bag of them (still can't).
Factors working for me: I probably ended up with a better color-match this way.
At this point I would like to take the opportunity to tell you what exactly I am talking about.  As I was trying to decide what to wear to the Sac Steam Ball, it occurred to me that I had a pair of opera-length gloves that I really never wear because they're too flashy for everyday wear, even for me.  So I planned my outfit around them.  As it happens, my brother had recently given me a hat he didn't want anymore which had a purple band that went with other things I was wearing.  I had intended to sew in a lining to make it a ladies' hat anyway, and I had some of the same fabric I used for the gloves left.  Then I painted one of the vacuum-formed gears I was working with to match and added some feathers (I bought a mixed bag at the craft store, which turned out to have more colors than I had expected).
Results:

 

Bonus: I also made a matching pin to wear at my throat.

Week 26, hair cuff

That whole keeping track and blogging more often thing worked out great.

Week 39 (July 18-24): No idea
Week 40 (July 25-31): Knit gauntlets
Week 41 (Aug. 1-7): More knit gauntlets
Week 42 (Aug. 8-14): Tiniest Apple-Picking Top Hat
Week 43 (Aug. 15-21): No idea
Week 44 (Aug. 22-28): No idea
Week 45 (Aug. 29-Sep. 4): Earrings for Lee

Hopefully, when I am cleaning I will come across the projects I've forgotten and be able to fill in the blanks.  I do at least have an excuse for the ones in August, which is that I didn't have my camera, so there are no photos to remind me.

Week 47, I'm sick of this format

I was going to make a miniature version of last week's hat with what was left of the Timtex, but as often happens late in the week I realized that I needed something else.  In this case, we were hosting a swap meet for the Sacramento Steampunk Society and needed a sign to put on the fence so people could find the place.  I was just going to print up a larger version of our regular meeting sign (which was my Steampunk Thing of the Week way back on week 7), but the printer refused to cooperate.  So I traced it from the computer screen.

Five sheets of paper held together with double-stick tape (because that's all I could find).
I knew those little tiny lines wouldn't be visible from a distance, so I wasn't done yet.  I wanted to color it with markers, but what I found were old, dead markers, gel pens (which would have taken forever), crayons, and a set of oil pastels.  So I decided to try the pastels.

Even using techniques to speed it up (mainly the one called "scribbling"), I still finished at about 6:20 on Thursday, which was ten minutes before the event was supposed to start and after people had started arriving.  Unfortunately, the sun went down not too long after that, and the street lamp in front of our house works only intermittently, so I'm not sure it was any help to anyone.  However, now that it's made it can be used for other events, and I think I'll clip a light to the fence to make it more visible.

Week 46

Factors working against me: Time.  I also was working with a type of material I'd never used before (Timtex), so I didn't know how well it would work.

Factors working for me: I knew what I wanted to make: a hat to wear on the weekend.  But first I went internet shopping for Edwardian blouses and brown leather waist cinchers.  I couldn't find anything that looked how I wanted, so I decided to make a simple instant steampunk waist cincher.
Results:  It's a rectangle with belt loops.

Just add belts.

After wearing it on the Sacramento Steampunk Society/ Great Basin Costume Society steam train excursion, I realized the belts all tend to slide together, bunching up the fabric, so I'm going to add some boning.
Bonus:  I ended up finishing the hat I originally wanted to make for this week's Thing in the truck on the way to Carson City Saturday night.  I still want to add flowers, but I wore it as-is so I'd say it counts.