Steampunk Belt - Stage 1; Belt and pouch

Step One) Lay out the hide

Last time we posted about the idea's and the goals of the steampunk scribe/apothecary belt. This post is construction and creation.

We started out with a LARGE thin hide. Measured the waist and added a few inches to make it overlap nicely.


Cut it out and dyed it, making a specialty dye of red and brown that resulted in a remarkably pretty treelike pattern.

Patterns are a good idea

And started designing the pouches for the scribe kit.

Step Two) Dye it

And the tea cup holders.
And the alchemist pouch too.

Then, we spent some time (and money) on amazon picking up different vials that will be for tea, sugar, ink and powders. We picked up a blowtorch to heat water for tea. We already had an awesome metal tea set (though there are concerns that it's double walls with limit ability to heat the tea in the cup and will force me to either use something else or remove the walls).

So is testing things

Step Three) World Domination?

Sadly, we ended up in a rush due to first weekend of Faire. I needed a belt and pouch so we had to produce something as soon as possible.  Due to the lack of time and more importantly, lack of rivets, we just did one pouch, the alchemist pouch.

Designed to fit nicely on my right hip, it is decorated with an alchemists beaker and closes with a crystal and wrap setting.

It fit in very well with my new orange/red/brown costume - and worked very well.

I am looking forward to the next steps where we polish up the closure, create the vial pockets, finish the scribe pouch, and work out any finicky bits.

Tea Time Hatband

You may have noted there is a certain amount of impulsiveness that happens in my house? And that it is a spreading thing? Well, since the beloved hubby has been on a steampunk kick, I had to join in at least a bit.  Now, he is working on an absolutely AWESOME belt for me. It will have a tea cup, and a saucer, and a blowtorch, and a scribes kit for me.  I am so excited for it!

But...I needed something more to go with it. And I have this awesome new hat. I love my hat. See my awesome hat?

It is awesome isn't it?

I had even just gotten myself set up with an orange and brown and rust colored garb set for fair. And this beautiful set up would not be hard to convert into a steampunky dress and outfit without too much work. Especially since I am aiming for punk/madmax/renfair style instead of Victorian.

But the hat needed more! MORE!!!! and needed to not clash terribly with the red/orange/brown I was doing.

A friend of mine had a whole passel of unwanted fake brown leather hat bands. I had a need. I figured I could make something kludged together that would work...and I was right!

It started by putting one band flat and realizing that O'hell no way that was going to work. It was too thin, too wimpy all by itself. It needed friends. So...I sewed a second one to it. It was still a little 'eh', so a sewed a third on - and it was juuuuuuust right.


Add in a 4th band, some vials filled with tea, tea, tea and sugar - a handful of pop rivets (these things suck, why didn't I believe the people who told me so before) and I ended up with this! It's gorgeous! I set it up so the blue can also come off and be replaced with a gorgeous golden orange colored scarf...

Who thinks we are awesome? I do!

Shoes Part 2

I know - I am pretty lazy. So I didn't follow through with my plan to get flip flops and do the shoes that way they looked in the picture.

Instead, I trimmed down the shoe to actual foot size and sewed three straps on - created an ankle strap. Checked all the sizes as I sewed to make sure it would be tight enough (it actually needs trimmed a tiny bit on the right side still) and ended up with this!

They are comfy, lightweight and should help me on the days I don't wanna wear shoes at all! What do you think? Good/bad/keep working? 

Making Shoes

How to Make Sandals Guide

Many of you may know about my struggles with shoes... I have small feet that are very wide. This means commercial shoes give me two options; 1) Buy a size that is MUCH too long that I will slide around in, but that are wide enough or 2) buy the right length and hurt my feet on both sides. So, I tend to hate shoes. And really hate shoe shopping, because it always ends up being an expense that isn't worth it since no matter which way I go, it still won't be quite right (even wide shoes don't work).

So...I have been hunting pinterest for ideas. I like sandals, and they look like the easiest shoe to make, so I decided to give it a try.
I found this great instruction for some that looked pretty nice. But I don't own any flip flops and all the ones I have seen are the wrong size anyways.

So I traced my foot and made a loose draft, then cut it out of the last of the super hard leather. I had an old cotton shirt that had some holes, so I cut it up to make the straps and I starting trying.

Can you tell this was not a successful experiment? I need to cut them down a LOT, they are way too big. I need to sew the fabric into longer strips that connect instead of knotting everywhere. I need to add some kind of sole too.

I plan to pick up a dollar store or cheapie mens flop (that way it will be wide enough) and then cut it down to the right size. Then I will just glue my leather and fabric to it (once I do the resizing and the fabric fixing) and Voila! There shall be tolerable summer shoes!

Wish me luck?

Another Shield Project

Do you know what happened last summer when I was busy traveling?

PROJECTS!

So he had scrap wood. A silver sharpie. And an Idea :)

Here is the first stage - with the initial measurements still on the board.



Stage two shows what the wood he pieced together for the handle looks like

And we had two different wood stains. Here is just the dark (separated with blue painting tape).




 And then he added a cherry type stain over it all.

And put it all together. The whole in the back is what gives you room to actually grip the handle, and that is also where there is a front center piece, and the rear handle lift as well.

Then - the Finished Piece! 

That's me fully hiding behind it :)

Steampunk Sword

In the summer my long standing goth boy discovered brown (see the brown surcoat that he now wears everywhere), and steampunk became irresistible.

For our anniversary he wanted a sword. In September he picked up an anniversary sword at the local shop, Prince of Blades. He didn't find anything he LOVED, but got something anyways. You understand that there must be a new sword, right?

For spring he took apart a broken bike in our yard. He had gears. He had spraypaint. He had a sword he didn't love.

There was plottings.

And then there was cursing...

You see, he wanted to make a new handguard out of the gears, but 6 drill bits and more than a week of cursing and he still wasn't getting anywhere.



And then a Miracle! Rescued by the in-law with knowledge of drills and metal - and there was happiness.


Or at least, mostly a level of satisfaction. He remains unhappy that he couldn't do what he originally had in mind with everything - and is nitpicking at the results.

I think it's purty! How about you?

Steampunk Belt

Hip Belt on Etsy

We are getting ready for Ren Fair and continued Con attendance this year and I would like to have a nice steam punk (ish) costume as well as the rest of the family. I have some bits, but I am actually pretty seriously inclined to slack on this (I don't know why). But, the beloved is pushing me to make decisions and is working on making me the coolest belt ever!

I want to have an alchemist set up to make tea, and a good calligraphy carry case. We are using Pinterest (the most addictive of all sites) and looking up ideas.

Tea Cup Holster on Etsy

I want something that I can put vials of tea leaves, sugar, pen nibs and calligraphy ink in.

I need a carry case for the tea cup, saucer, spoon and strainer if I am using loose leaf tea.

Larp Scribe Kit on Etsy

I need a Scribe's case that will carry pens, quills, nibs, ink, paper and possibly accessories such as embossing power or wax and seals. I might add in some kind of magnifying glass (Secret of Kells style) for detail work.

I also need it to fit comfortably, have nothing hang too low, hold the tea cup so it doesn't break, and have extra pouches/bags for cell phone, money, cards and ID to be easily accessible. It needs to be a color that will look okay with all my other costumes - which since I cover the whole rainbow may be harder than it sounds.

A few years back I actually went black friday shopping - to Tandy's leather. Our local store is always so friendly and helpful and this was no change. I obtained a giant piece of super buttery soft thin leather. I was thinking I could make hats, or something else...but never touched in the last two years.

So, He pulled it out. He cut it up. He is making it happen! Soon!!!!!