Steampunk Wedding Bouquet Holder.

What can you make when you have a plastic conical yarn spool, a nickel plated bud vase, a brass finial from a mug tree, the bottom section of a copper jug, some copper tube and some brass pieces from an old barometer?

Why a steampunk wedding bouquet holder of course.

It was a commission from a friend, I think it turned out very well, I'm certainly pleased with it. It's one of those creations that you really don't want to part with.

The bottom section of the copper jug I mentioned became a base or holder so that the bouquet holder could be left standing on it's own during or after the wedding ceremony.

Steampunk Crossbow Nerf Rebelle Fair Fortune

I'm a big fan of the Nerf Rebelle range of weapons, but in particular the Rebelle Charmed Dauntless Blaster and the Rebelle Fair Fortune crossbow. For me personally the present a pretty easy way to get some good Steampunk weapons. Basically remove logos, sand and paint. I've painted many Dauntless Blasters but this is the first Crossbow I've painted, It has lots of details just waiting for some dry brushing.

I'm really pleased with the result.

Metallic Paint Effect For Steampunk

Here's a photo of a plaster bust I painted.

I used a simple paint technique which could be useful for all sorts of projects,especially steampunk ones.

Step one.
Paint the object all over with matt black paint, acrylic or emulsion/latex paint should be fine.

Step two.
Use a dark green paint to paint mainly the low areas of the object, using the same type of paints as in step one.

Step Three.
Using a good quality metallic paint colour of your choice, very lightly paint the high spots on the object

That’s it, couldn't be easier.

punk Nerf Rebelle Charmed Dauntles Blasters Steampunked.

Here's three Rebelles I finished painting recently.

On Saturday we joined a group of friends mostly memebers of the West Midlands Steampunk Assembly for a visit to the Thinktank Museum in Birmingham, the main reason for the visit was to see the exhibition "Mechanical Things". An exhibition of artwork, automata, sculpture all kinetic in nature and featuring the work of Rowland Emmet, world famous and known for his work on the film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".
We had a good turnout and it was a great visit, lots of steam engines in the museum and a railway engine, a couple of aircraft, a Hurricane and a Spitfire but the highlight was being allowed to sit in the car, the actual Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and take photos. Awesome.

New Steampunk Guns

I managed to get a couple of new guns painted last week, both plastic toy guns.
I followed the usual procedure, dismantle if necessary, masking tape used if necessary, everything sanded, embellishments added where wanted. Then a spray coat of acrylic primer followed by a spray coat of matt black acrylic paint.
Then they were both hand painted with acrylic colours and finished with a coat of clear lacquer for protection.

I almost forgot, both of these guns were modified by cutting off the clunky plastic handle which is used for cocking them and replacing them with metal rings which I think look much better.

Steampunk Cyberman Helmet Brass Finish

I like upcycling/modifying these toys. Usually a fairly simple makeover, a few cosmetic additions like rivets and valves followed by a paint job.
This is the starting point

After sanding the whole thing I added rivets a fake zooming eye piece and valve handles on the side tubes.
Next I sprayed it with acrylic primer followed when dry by a spray coat of matt black acrylic paint. I finished it with a light coat of gold paint and a couple of coats of clear lacquer for protection.

This is the finished result.

Available from my Etsy shop here

Steampunk Cyberman Helmet

 I'm a big fan of the Cybermen from Doctor Who, I saw their first incarnation, a long, long time ago. I still like the look of the original design but I do really like the recent updates.
I like to give them a makeover of my own now and again. Preferably with a steampunk influence, so plenty of rivets and either a brass finish or as in this case a copper finish complete with the addition of verdigris.

Available in my Etsy shop. I will soon be Christmas by the way.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/483902853/steampunk-cyberman-helmet-sci-fi-cosplay

Steampunk Kaleidoscopes

I was tidying up the photo albums on the PC yesterday, and realised just how long it's been since I made a steampunk kaleidoscope. These were some of the first things I made with a steampunk influence when I discovered that I was in fact a steampunk.

I was already making kaleidoscopes in stained glass so it was an obvious progression, I try to make them with a Victorian scientific look. I suppose I should make more if I can find the time.

Here's a few examples.

Mal's Gun Steampunk

Having made a couple of replicas of Malcolm Reynolds gun from Firefox recently I thought I'd make another one, only this time with a steampunk feel to it. So I used the basic shape of the Firefly pistol but added two small gas cylinders on each side complete with pipework. As much as I love the octagonal barrel of Mal's gun it's quite time consuming to make and I wanted this one to have a different look so I used 15mm plastic tube with a copper plumbing fitting on the end of the barrel. I also used a plumbers brass nut for the joint between the barrel and the gun body.

The gun was constructed from MDF as usual with hardwood grips. It was finished with acrylic paints all hand painted. I'm very pleased with it

Steampunk Cyberman Helmet

I occasionally up cycle toy Dr Who Cyberman helmets, this is one I finished yesterday. After rubbing the whole thing down with fine grade steel wool and removing some of the inner workings so that they wouldn't get spray painted, I added rivets and nuts.
Next it was sprayed with acrylic primer which was followed by a coat of acrylic matt black paint. The spray painting was finished with a coat of metallic copper paint. Then it was finished by hand by brush painting verdigris on selected areas.

Tarantula Moult for Steampunk

One of my neighbours called round today to get some advice about something they're making, they also bought me a moult from their tarantula, which if you don't know is the skin which has been shed by a tarantula as it grows, like crabs and other creatures do. she gave it to me because she knows the sort of things I make and thought I might be able to make use of it. I'm sure I will.

Steampunk Leather Belt Sam Browne

Having recently decided that I needed a more "steampunk" outfit rather than my usual Victorian clothes and goggles I started putting something together using whatever I had to hand plus a leather jacket I bought on Ebay. I actually Googled "battered leather jacket" surprisingly there were many for sale including some very expensive ones. Needless to say mine was from the lowest end of the price range. I also used the new leather flying helmet my children got for me as part of a recent birthday present. It was a very nice surprise, they knew what I had in mind. They're very thoughtful like that.

This it so far.

I used a wide leather belt I already had but the problem was that the jacket only had two belt loops and my plan to attach various items to the belt (bottles, lamps, pouches etc) meant that when I unfastened the belt everything fell to the sides. While searching Ebay for leather straps to make something myself I came across ex military Sam Browne belts. So I bought one.

We'll have to see how it works out.

Steampunk Revolver Western Cosplay

Just finished this latest steampunk revolver. As much as I like ray guns and ornate fantasy weapons I like a good revolver. Maybe it's my age, when I grew up a lot of the TV shows were westerns. Whatever the reason I like to use them now and again. I like this one because of the length, around 15 inches. It's an upcycled toy made from plastic so it's very lightweight which is helpful if you want to be carrying it around all day.
It's a simple makeover, some small pieces of scroll work added and a couple of small gas cylinders and bright coloured "pipe work".

Available here

Steampunk Cane Walking Stick with Bronze Femur Handle

I finally managed to get around to making some new canes, an assortment of copper light up canes and this one with a hardwood shaft and a cold cast bronze femur or hip bone handle. I've also made this on in two sections which screw together so the shipping cost to other countries will be lower.

Available from my Etsy shop.

Cold cast bronze femur handle steampunk cane

Loki Stuttgart Cane Build

A while ago I got a commission to build  a replica of Loki's cane from the Stuttgart opera scene in Avengers Assemble. Biggest drawback is the shortage of decent pictures on the Internet. Anyway I found a few, but it was always going to have to be more of a pastiche than an exact replica.

I started with an oak  walking stick or cane shaft, standard item, tapered. I stuck a couple of offcuts of polyurethane foam to the top end to give a bit of extra length and to start shaping it to look something like the film prop.

 I had intended to finish this part of the build and then make the top section with the crystal. I got carried away! I shaped the foam like the top of the cane and then covered it with glass fibre and resin for strength.
Not too shabby so far.

After liberal application of filler and a good bit of rubbing down, a quick spray of primer as a guide coat to see what needs work.

I needed to to make the piece which seems to wrap part way round the top end of the cane, I thought maybe I could cut a piece of polystyrene sheet to shape and then use heat to bend it to the shape of the cane. I was wrong! Well it wasn't a complete failure, if the cane top had been a straight cylinder I would have got away with it, but there are some compound curves in there which made it difficult to get it right. Could be done with a vacuum forming machine probably but you'd need the top of the cane to use in the vac former as a form to mould the sheet to.
I went back to basics. Cut the shape from cardboard, tape it to the top of the cane where it's supposed to be then cover the cardboard with glassfibre and resin.
Next I used filler to smooth it out and trimmed off the excess glassfibre.
When the glassfibre moulding of the cover plate had cured , I trimmed it to shape and applied a layer of glassfibre to the inside, set it aside to cure again. Now cured trimmed to size, filled and sanded for a smooth finish, embellishment in polystyrene sheet attached, drilled countersunk and painted.

 Meanwhile I'd been filling,  sanding, priming and painting the cane. Grey primer, coat of flat black and then gold top coat. I'd also been working on the "crystal" I thought I would use a piece of clear acrylic sheet mould to shape to make the fron of the crystal which when fixed in place in the cane would create the space for the LED and battery.
I made a former by shaping a piece of wood and cut a corresponding shape from a piece of MDF. I screwed the acrylic sheet to the MDF, propped it on a couple of blocks, heated it with a hot air gun then pressed the wooden former in to the softened sheet.

And after some fiddling around , a trial run with the LED fitted.
I got hold of a small 12 volt battery and holder which made a nice tidy job of the installation and it's all finished