Seemed appropriate…someone threw a major wrench in the works of my life right now.
Wrench in the Works
Tag Archives: Alice
Steampunk Triumph
I want to redo this and some of my others when I have a way of making good rivets that allow functioning gears and precise placement. However, I like this one using a Triumph pin my husband gave me when I had my Bonneville some years ago. The magnifying glass is free enough to be used on things if needed and focuses on the Coin. It swings a bit more than I would like, I would fix that if I redid this one with the riveting. All connections are copper, as is the back gear. The others are brass and bronze. The pin is silver. Not sure what the stone is. I also like triumph cars, so the gear on the left serves duel purposes for me. Setting the gears so they fit together and spin was a challenge lacking the rivets, they are held motionless for the picture.
Spices and Brass
Many of my furniture designs are done taking a piece of material or a piece of furniture I have or see and modifying it to fit my idea or a theme. This one is just a small wood spice shelf, seen in the center of the piece. It could be done with that piece or be redone in metal in the same color or tone. I have been redesigning pieces we have to fit the Steampunk Alice theme. I have not really been able to work on making them yet, but will have all the designs when I do. Not sure why the sides look so Klingon but they kinda do. The lines and the idea of the lines came from a gate or castle in Alice I think, not that it was like this at all, just where I went with it. Somewhat of the mirror mirror tone looking at it now isn’t there? Lots of influences and things blended. Maybe not strictly Steampunk but the materials and lines fit so it goes.
Alice Who in Hong Kong
Today’s pieces are all developing ideas. They are complete pieces in themselves but based on drawings by others. Probably the storage shelves are the least recognizable from original. However, I chose these because they each inspired drawing or images in my mind I want to develop more before working on. The shelves use the Chinese influence that was growing in Victorian times because of the newly acquired Hong Kong. I also want to do some using the other influences that were entering the design and furniture heavily at the time and nearby. I quite enjoyed studying those influences in design classes. These influences appeal for several reasons: one, the styles tend to be dramatic and interesting, and they go well with steampunk. Two, the travel and incorporation of things from other cultures and places really fits my approach to life and Steampunk. Three, the influence of a newly emerging global society and the impact on life, science, design, economy, and more fascinates me and is a very helpful study when trying to understand people, culture, economy, and more. Four, they are interesting cultures and designs in and of themselves, and the aspects from their history that have similarities to Steampunk are work finding. without further ado…
Art for Art’s Sake
Sometimes it’s nice to make art just for art’s sake. In this case, I used the images of several of the jewelry pieces I have made recently and turned them into art through Photoshop and GIMP. I also know that when I have my shop set up I can recreate any material or treatment I like in my editing.
14 Square for Luck
Copper wire wrap and decorated gear connect the sprocket gear, the red diamond, and the Chinese coin. A leather cord runs through an additional gear to hang the piece. I started with a green piece left from one I made the other day but the red is better for my mood today. The possibility of something different, of something better, of creating working wonders from available material and style appeals to the sentiment of the day. Steampunk is cathartic. It is the feel, the concepts, the art, the style, the work itself, the act and image of creation that give you strength and focus. Creating and building something electrical or computerized may be neat but it doesn’t feel like creation, it isn’t beautiful in itself. I love working on motorcycles, engines, and mechanical things; Steampunk offers a similar but more aesthetic catharsis. The style and aesthetic reaches a different part of you than the modern engines and electronics. IT is related to why we work on old motorcycles, vintage gearing, mechanicals, and aesthetic have an elegant practicality with unnecessary beauty in a modern view. Is it really unnecessary though? What part of us and the world is not being reached? Would the world be as disposable if we still strove to touch those parts of a person with the simple and the elaborate, bringing out the beauty in each function?
Steampunk Alice Prototype (13)
Today’s piece feels like one of the 24 hour Rogue-like competitions in a way. I am happy with the piece but it is rather a prototype awaiting the equipment I don’t have yet. I envision the gears mounted through posts in a rivet-like format to spin and mess properly in multiple layers with a brass or wood back-plate. Again, this is a mixed metal pendant I designed beginning with the key and the large ornate gear-like piece in the back. The hanging loop is a copper wrapped steel ring, the gears are bronze, brass, pewter, and copper I think. the pearl is not attached, it hangs above. The card markings are silver. I didn’t have just the gear I wanted for the space left of the lock and it looked better without what I tried.
As I work on these pieces with short time, I am pleased as much by the ideas and plans I develop as the pieces I create in the moment. I am developing a real plan for a direction in some areas of the art. I am also starting to see more ways to incorporate my ideas into the motorcycles as we build them.
Alice, Alice Quite Contrary
Jewelry, gears, hearts, cards, metal, and wood – the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.
As I work I begin to see that I really want to make gears and models and such. I want to try and make the from both wood and metal. The idea of wooden gears and functioning mechanicals using them fascinates me.
The jewelry trend continued another day today. Meant to be a pendant, it could actually be an earring as well, it began with an earring. At this point is probably obvious that my husband and I tend to own and wear earrings in singles and unmatched sets. Creating jewelry from random bits and broken jewelry began with my mother and I sitting on the bed talking. When she would get to sick to be up, we all gathered at her bed to play or talk. Mom and I would make stuff and do projects. We also did stories, made games, sang, and drew. As I got older, she loved I would make her furniture or jewelry out of bits left over from special places, jobs, and people involved in our lives. This has heavily influenced my art and work and blends beautifully with steampunk genre creation.
Enjoy one more Steampunk Alice piece, this one fairly simple.
Day 11 Steampunk Jewelry
Steampunk Jewelry time again! I love actually making things. I got home very late today but had new bits to work with. I made two pieces because I fell behind a bit in having to turn yesterday’s into a two part delayed project. I did get some metallic paint on the way home though.
I almost have a story in mind these inspired, maybe later in the week it will be a full idea.
To the left is a Steampunk Alice Pin. Again, I used bits of broken, old jewelry; removed and added things. The bow was my mothers so I didn’t want to hide it. I used a Chinese coin, same one as in the earring to the  right. The gear also sort of reminds me of a steering wheel or wheel, so it has several things in common with the earring.
To the right is a Steampunk Travel Earring. I had a piece left from what I made the other day, some new bits, and an idea. I was thinking of the Victorian love of bringing things home from around the world and the influences you see in the design. I love travel and have been a lot of places, so this appeals to me. I used the Chinese coin and the passport to represent travel and the chime to represent the places you enjoy, and the gears and bits to represent the airships and travel machinery in my mind.
Kitty Corner Steampunk Thoughts
Working all day and then coming home to do stuff here before I can start my project makes working on painting a tad difficult to finish in one day. Given that I must be up at 4 am, I am going to stop this project for a part two, to be continued tomorrow. I am posting the work as it stands now. I finished the drawing, if I had considered, I would have done more detail in pencil and made it 2 separate projects. Live and learn today, I shall remember next time. Another point is that I really need to find the rest of my brushes before I can continue the details and repair what the wrong brushes blurred.
This is done in Acrylic only because I forgot to prep the canvas before drawing. I am also considering how to make oil one day projects, because I do not like the wet on wet technique. When completed, this will be a 2 aspect piece. It is a Steampunk cat corner and a Steampunk art display with Alice influence. I find Alice and Dr. Who both go remarkably well in Steampunk design, a fortuitous discovery for a Whovian. I am fascinated to see what other subjects and themes go well in the Steampunk genre.
Today I also realized that although I am fine with them on the computer and in physical art, I actually hate drawing many basic gears. I love them in art though. I am testing to see the ones I actually like to draw, and began to see differences.
The colors obviously will be different as layers go on, but you can see I went with a fairly basic color scheme, there will be some obvious touches like purple on the hat and red in the cards. Wood floor and details also. I do not have metallic paint so am working on the gears. Victorian aesthetic is great, the lines are excellent, but I like Edwardian better because there is a better color sense to the actual period design. Too many colors at a time in Victorian, although most Steampunk design does seem to lessen that. Also, too many patterns for my taste. It is part of the overdone feel but for me detracts from the design. I prefer use of luxurious materials, and excess detail or functions to excess colors and patterns. Somewhere in there is a line in Steampunk, but as I have previously discussed, that depends on the sub-genre of Steampunk. I find myself working in several of the sub-genre as I go. I like different tones for different things and days.
Steampunk Desk to share with Feline Companion
This desk was a remarkable pain, GIMP crashed 5 times and my file was lost each time. Working on this version, I saved steps and am going to upload them as I talk also. I began with a sketch as I usually do of a steampunk desk with places for cats to play and sleep. The enclosed area is designed to open for them or storage as needed. The following is the original sketch I worked from.
I have Photoshop installed but no plugins and having never used it, I was to tired to use it instead of GIMP…GIMP was not friendly.I began the color stages with simple materials.
The brass desk was too bare so I began to work. This is where things went bad. I did 5 versions beyond this, each entirely different, and I was each time unable to recreate what I had done. I had separated floor and wall, redrawn the entire sketch in GIMP with the trackball and was finishing up when I lost my first one. The following was my next step that survived. As you can see, I am patterning the desk and attempting to add shadows and depth. This was my third one that survived but my 4th design. After the next crash, I quickly did another and decided the program was shutting down, I was too tired to focus and the day is over.
I like the idea and the base concept. I really liked my first and third pieces today, and am honestly too tired to judge the final one that I began the post with. I did leave a little Alice influence in with the clock and red carpeting but might add more if I did another version…not sure.
I may go in sometime tomorrow and add captions to the images, but I need sleep.
Cat Play Area Drawing
Today at work I was working with the dogs (I’m an assistant trainer at a pet resort, and I take care of the guests as requested) and considering the difference between varies breeds, categories, and pet types. I have cats personally and don’t really want dogs, but I enjoy working with them. It is interesting the things you can consistently expect from various types of dogs. Some examples I thought of: All retrievers have shared traits, and labs have some that most other retrievers may not have. One thing retrievers do constantly, many breeds don’t, is eat dirt and rocks. All bulldogs have some similarities and I really blame people for the miss-categorization of their personalities. I find them great to work with, they are fun to train. Their personality tendencies, mix of intelligence and plain denseness, loyalty pushing overprotective zeal, and their strength make a nice do but one you have to watch their triggers and know what they react to. That is a key with all breads though – what do they react to without thought. You can see in their eye the moment the brain kicks back in after a reaction. It is unfair to punish them for a reaction to something they should not have been exposed to, it seems to me.
Anyway, this is all very unrelated to my piece…actually it’s not really. I drew, in pencil, a cat climbing thing. I am planning on taking a wall or two and the tops of a few others in our house and making them a cat place. This stemmed from that idea, but is only a beginning. I had a whole other section for the piece but really don’t have time today. Maybe when I do a computer version, I’ll add a couple sections. I should also mention that I am slowly making the house over in a steampunk Alice general concept inspired by the video game Alice. As you can see in this piece, it is often subtle, though the entire kitchen/ dining area is dark red. I build furniture when I have a place to work and like to design pieces whether I make them or not – they inspire me when I do start to build. My actual pieces tend to develop rather organically as I build and the plan I so painstakingly drew is left behind as a lovely fiction. Mother always said I saw the world from a different perspective than everyone else, thus why my drawings are always at odd perspectives not used by others, often impossible ones to actually view the object or scene from in life.
Art's Folly 