Steampunk Inspired Desklamp

It's been a little while since I have posted anything. After the - dare I say it - raging, neigh, global success of my Steampunk Sub-Machine Gun (seriously, I ended up finding information on it on US, Japanese and Russian websites), I think I got bitten a little by the Steampunk bug. Not quite to the point of wanting to grow a spiffing moustache, sport a monocle and cover my house in brass, leather and pressure gauges - but I've really fallen for the aesthetic aspects of loads of the artwork and design. There's a whole world of innovative and creative people out there that I never knew about, equally as geeky as Star Wars boffins (of which I might be one also) who are building some amazing items, some practical, and some entirely useless, but many of them still look beautiful and have been made by really talented people.

I've started another much more involved steampunk item, which, I may aswell tell you, is going to be a rather elaborate jet pack, complete with obligatory pressure gauges and some form of marvellous glowing liquid power source. That has been taking a little more time than I had intended due to other pressing engagements I have (such as making some form of money) which brings me back to the point of this post... my light. Whilst pottering in my garage, I had one of those moments that I saw everything infront of me and almost instantly knew that A would fit onto B then to C etc etc... All of the parts seemed to fall into place and after a couple of days I had the finished item. 

There's parts of an old single bed, some brass piping, a part of a drill press, rubber tube, the fretwork/metal backplate from my old Aldis slide projector (which I made something else out of) part of a PC desktop fan, a cast iron weight and various nuts and bolts. It's obviously not entirely steampunk, but there is certainly something vaguely reminiscent with that old worldly, brassy, rusty look that I love. The light is pretty powerful that comes out of it. I found it hard to take a photo with the light on that I was happy with so haven't posted one here, you can see all the other photo's of this light via the link below. It would be nice to find an old orange glowing Edison type bulb, but for the moment I'm making do with a low wattage Phillips number - nice and environmentally friendly!

View more images of my Desklamp here!!

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Steampunk Sub-Machine Gun

So here it is, my first ever Steampunk build and I'm really quite happy with it. You may have read my other post on how I came across the Steampunk movement and if you haven't - and to avoid double up - you can find it here. Long story short, I'd never even heard the term up until a couple of weeks ago and then a chance encounter on a tram with a magazine made me realise that I loved the style and needed to make something. So this may well be the first of a few items of this ilk over the coming weeks and months. The other post has a link to all of the build photos and a little more background. This gun is loosely based on a Sterling Sub-Machine Gun and has a little bit of Star Wars thrown in for good measure.

The main components that I used are as follows; a telescope, candlestick holders, brass light fittings, valves, threaded rod, a vintage blowtorch, a door knocker, leather, brass tubing and a selection of nuts, bolts and computer parts from my hoarded items.

I looked at a million photos online of various people's Steampunk builds. There are some seriously amazing items that I could only wish to have built. I decided not to opt for the seemingly obligatory pressure gauge. There seems to be a few core items that come hand in hand with the movement - gauges, gold things, antique brownish wooden or leather stuff plus cogs, mechanisms and lots of really beautiful other trinkets. I felt that I already had enough going on with this item and decided to save the gauges for my next build which is already underway. 

Think Rocketman...

There's a link at the end of this post to almost 50 images of my gun. The detail on the eyesight and the rear thinner section has been based on lightsaber handles, I just couldn't help myself. There's not really that much more to say, I really enjoyed making this and could happily spend many more hours tinkering away in my garage on things like this. Finally, I knocked up a stand for it out of some wood, bits of a drillpress, a bracket, two circular saw blades and some leather - may aswell have it proudly on display!

Viva la Steampunk!

See loads more detailed images of my Steampunk Sub-Machine Gun here!!

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Aldis Slide Projector Light

This light was a pretty straight forward build. I picked up a beautiful old Aldis Slide Projector at a market a couple of weeks ago. This market was one of the most insane I've been to recently - it was a real old school flea market with rugs thrown out over the mud and absolutely everything for sale. Possibly the strangest thing that I saw were the 'magician trained' doves. Now, either those doves were primed to be stashed in a sleeve or a concealed pocket or there was absolutely nothing magical about them whatsoever and whoever bought them was buying a proverbial turkey.

After pondering the poultry, the commodes and the Russian travellers who looked as though they could have pulled out your larynx with their bare hands, I came across a great stall with loads of old video equipment, bits of cast iron and various military trinkets - in other words, heaven. I grabbed the broken projector and a few other odd n sods and parted with next to no cash at all - just the way that markets should be, none of this 'everyone is onto it now and hikes up the prices of shit because they know that people like me love it'. 

I stupidly never too a photo of the item as it was before I took it apart but found another image online. I removed the base and decided to use the top section that the old light was initially housed in. I removed all of the old wiring, switches and metal plates and with a little remodelling inside, fitted a new mini bulb socket. The power for the light now comes through an existing hole that was there to adjust the level of the projector - and fitted perfectly. It's nice when things seem to be made for the new version.

See more images of the Aldis Vintage Slide Projector Light here!

Serial Killer Black Buffer Light

The Situation. So, you're a serial killer and you've just polished off your latest perpetrator. The only problem you have now, (apart from methodically dissecting the carcass and making it vanish) is the clean up. This one really wasn't wanting to be your guest and wriggled and fought to it's last blood curdling breath - and therein lies the issue. All that namby pamby thrashing around went and made a real mess everywhere and if the forensic squad turn up with the luminol, you're looking at some serious porridge. You need to plan this more carefully in future, adhere to a new code - if only you had a trustworthy assistant...

Lu.mi.nol definition - Pronunciation: /'l{uuml}-me- nol, -nol/. Function: n : an almost white to yellow crystalline compound c8h7n3o2 that gives a brilliant bluish luminescence when it is treated in alkaline solution with an oxidising agent (as hydrogen peroxide) and that is used in chemical analysis

The Solution. This - retro/modern/slightly mismatched/should be in an art gallery or something - Serial Killer Black Buffer Light has got you covered. A two-in-one tool for the aspiring night stalker. All you need is a spray bottle full of luminol (just like Dexter) and a keen eye. Once your job's done, spray the room down, turn out the lights, pop on your black light, locate the spatter then get buffing with this beautiful Art Deco Electrolux floor buffer. Everyone knows from TV that if you spray some of that jazz in a room that's covered in blood and point a black light at it, you'll see every last drop. You'll now be able to buff away your evidence in seconds and all you'll be left with is an object d'art in the corner that'll be a talking point for your brunch guests.

The Object. I made this light from - as mentioned - a vintage Electrolux floor buffer and an 18 inch black light. If you aren't across what a black light is, you may know it as a UV or ultraviolet light, the same thing that makes your teeth look nuts in a cheap club. They don't give off loads of light, you certainly wouldn't be using this for a bedside reading light, but if you're after something with a bit of quirk, this might be right up your Khyber. The 'shade' for the light is made from the parts of 4 different PC boxes cut to size, bolted together and sprayed with a Dulux gloss finish bright red. I've had a bit of a thing for red recently and have been spraying anything I can get my hands on - you should see Victoria's face. So if buffing away a crime scene is you thing, you may have found just the website post you were looking for.

See more images of the Serial Killer Black Light here!

N.B - the buffer has been decommissioned, but if you're a real smart arse, I'm sure you could get it cranking again.

'Rolling!' - Super 8 Light

I love old cameras, video editing equipment and photography apparatus, particularly gear that's older than me - or at least my age. I've loads of old equipment lying around the house that make great ornaments as they are - battered and well used. I'm fascinated with all the fiddly moving parts and love loads of the design, particularly a couple of the 50's items I have. 

This is a bit more of a 70's item, but nonetheless, it's still old, and it's still cool. I started to tinker with an old Sanyko Super 8 camera recently. I've been on a little bit of a steampunk frenzy which I'll get to later (there's a couple of steampunk items in the pipeline as I type...) and decided to open it up to see what parts I could salvage. I ended up removing some of the useable guts for use at a later date and was left with enough space to fit a small light fitting. 

I managed to clear a space down the viewfinder which neatly fits the power cable and the light fitting attaches to the inside of the screw-on lens cover. The most time consuming part was taking out all of the smallest screws I have ever seen in my life around the lens/focus rings - they are seriously the most insignificant screws you've ever seen - I can only imagine what it was like being the person whose job it was to assemble them.

This isn't the correct bulb that I want to use, I'd rather a stubbier/fatter bulb that wouldn't give off so much glare as there's no shade - even a coloured bulb, but definitely something that's been a bit more diffused, but I was itching to turn it on and that was all that the supermarket had to offer at 10pm on a Thursday night. The cartridge still fits inside, the buttons still press in and out and the handle still folds down for use. Everything is sitting on top of a vintage Luxor mini camera stand which was a tremendous recent eBay find. This allows a little positioning and keeps everything looking old school - man.

How retro of me. 

See more images of the 'Rolling!' - Super 8 Light here!