Book Review - Steampunk Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos

Steampunk Gear, Gadgets, and Gizmos ; A Maker's Guide to Creating Modern Artifacts by Thomas Willeford has a stated intention of teaching you to make you own retro futuristic accessories.

This is the book you're looking for if you're ready to take that next step into steampunk. If jewelry collage assemblages made with watch parts and sewing miniature top hats isn't doing it for you and you want to go bigger.

The author starts by explaining a bit about steampunk, it's origins and what it is stylistically speaking, and also what it is not.

He explains the tools and skills you'll need and how to find some of the tools less expensively . He tells you what tools will be necessary and which tools are wonderful to have if you can find room and afford them.

Then he goes into wonderful amounts of detail about how to find the pieces you need for your projects through thrift stores and other second hand dealers and what you can buy new. How to look in hardware stores for inspiration and using things in new unexpected ways. To me, this isn't just about steampunk, but it's the heart of crafting and the D.I.Y. ethic, to see creatively how things can be re-purposed and recycled.

A very practical chapter on taking apart an old clock for parts comes next.

The projects! Starting with the one thing everyone needs, goggles and ending with a cyber arm that looks like it might have come off a cylon if the cylon was built in Victoria's England. They have imagination inspiring names like "Aetheric Ray Deflector Solid Brass Goggles" which can be just a little scary. Don't worry. While this book has "only" 8 projects, those projects are explained and photographed in exhausting detail. This is a primer to various methods of making things and using things. The information will be used in other projects you think of yourself.

Some power tools are helpful, as well as knowing how to use them. If you're not comfortable with serious tools, almost everything in the book can be done with hand held manual tools and small easy to use power tools like rotary tools and power drills.

What I like most about this book is how much it inspires my 20 year old son. He's been reading steampunk for a few years and getting more interested in making himself costumes and other things that follow that aesthetic.

I definitely recommend this book. It's well written and accessible with great projects.

My reviews are always my personal and honest opinion. You can read more about my review policy here.

Gear and cogs mandala

Sorry for the hiccup people, but I'm back!
I hope you enjoy this mandala that I drew yesterday. I'll put it on a printable box later and was thinking about putting it on a Zazzle or CafePress shirt. It's one of the first ones I've drawn that works for my son. Since he's working on designing a steampunk themed game, I thought he might like a steampunk inspired clock gears and cogs mandala. He did.

Click on the image for a bigger version!

A shout out to Liberty, for her constant support and enthusiasm. Thank you! Comments like yours make my day.

Edited to add- Just posted the design on Zazzle as a teeshirt and as stickers.
Edited again- Ditsy Print Contest voting at Spoonflower! My entry is a tiny ditsy print of gears, cogs, watch hands and numbers.

Book Review- Steampunk Softies

Steampunk Softies is by the same authors as Zombie Felties, Sarah Skeate and Nicola Tedman.
Softies are a bit bigger than felties, but use a lot of the same techniques for construction, and can be hand sewn.
The book starts with an introduction to the materials that are used to construct the dolls, as well as some fantastic tutorials for aging and distressing the fabrics.
The dolls are just wonderful. Most stand about 6 inches high, and the props and construction methods are very clever. The materials are for the most part, very easy to find, and some of the supplies are things you might normally throw away. The diminutive scale of the dolls makes them perfect for small scraps of fabric and leather. Mini brads, scraps of leather, plastic from deli containers, beads, buttons and toy compasses are all used in the detail of these lovely little dolls.
The dolls themselves are fantastic. Fantastic in the literal sense that they are creative fantasies. A little undersea manikin  looks like he mutated or was genetically created to live in the water, Floyd Fastknight explores the world with a compass for an eye and a case of maps. Chasity Storm is dressed in a cloud of lace and has wings that are reminiscent of the very first airplanes.
All the patterns are in the back of the book and full size, you trace them from the book on to a sheet of paper to cut out the parts for the dolls. Some of the dolls are very simple, the biggest challenge is the scale. Some are a lot more complex. These are not playthings, they are lovely little works of art. The techniques and the accessories used in making them can inspire your own characters and creations very easily.
My son is a big steampunk fan, and he was absolutely charmed by this book. My daughter, who is the serious doll maker in the family loved the techniques and pattern ideas.
You can get this book directly from the publisher, Andrews McMeel Publishing You can get more information about my review policy here.