Steampunk!

What happened when Goths discovered the color brown?

Steampunk.

It’s a design and art style that asks the question:
If Jules Verne or H. G. Wells crash landed in your backyard, how would they redesign our modern technology to recreate it in their time?

Steampunk (also called Neo-Victorian) is a fun way of looking at the world, a world run by pistons and gears and moved by airships, jetpacks and clockwork devices. And a world that values individual craftsmanship and ingenuity over sleek plastic mass production.
For someone like me, it is a beautiful way to be creative and work with real materials on a very small budget.

My Halloween costume (and potentially a convention costume) is almost entirely from my own closet and the accessories have cost about $15 thus far to produce. Now to be fair, this cost does not include items already in my possession or left over from other projects. So for someone who doesn’t keep scrap leather for projects or have an enormous stash of old shoes hiding in the garage, making your own might cost a little more. I am planning on a couple of tutorials based on what I have put together so far. Here’s a picture of the main elements:

Want to make your own? I have tutorials for each of these pieces, and I'll start with the cuff bracelets . . . .

Cuff Tutorial

The cuff bracelets were made of an old belt (the metal work was part of its closure) a couple of mirror rosettes (from Depot)and some big economy buckles from a leather supplier (thrift store belts work well if you don’t care if things match).

First I removed all the hardware from the old belt (it had a tie closure so no holes or buckles). Then I cut the belt down to size for my wrists (plus a few inches overlap). Next I attached the buckles, and decided on the placement of the decorative pieces.

Then I riveted the metal work and rosettes onto the pieces of belt, and punched holes for the tongues of the buckles.

I achieved the multi-metal look by painting accents on the metal (and rivets) using metallic enamel paint (used for models and miniatures, sold in most craft stores) and playing with the shading until I liked the effect. Behold, my finished cuffs:

Next time . . . make your own Steampunk Goggle Tutorial!