I dug back and didn't see that anyone mentioned this particular jacket, and if someone has I apologize. But this was to good a find at Target on clearance to pass up!

( Warm Jacket/Coat )

I'm planning on adding some copper trim to it in order to make it more 'me.' And I fully intend on wearing it to see Sherlock Holmes this weekend. It's deliciously warm, and I'm always cold so that's something very impressive!

My friend elisem makes all manner of pretty shinies guaranteed to please your Inner Magpie.

Take a look here at what she's currently offering!

Greetings, Clockwork Community~!

I, being quite unaccustomed to writing on the topic of myself for much more than a few sentences, will attempt to share my excitement concerning the upcoming week-or-so. Three items I thus relate:

I have been invited to attend a Book Club meeting held by one of my friends and, since the work is none other than Jane Eyre, I've seen it fit to give myself a few belated Christmas presents to take advantage of the only chance I've had in a long while to dress up. I have the boots and an assortment of accessories that pique my excessively large vanity, but I still need to find a decent jacket. I just hope I have time to finish the knitting I want.

A different friend recently brought my attention to an upcoming book series, which I consider delightfully steampunk: http://www.theinfernaldevices.com/
I refer you to the character page, at which point you may want to turn on your speakers and clap your hands with joy. At least I did.

Last but hopefully not least, I've finished the latest draft of my own book, entitled The Storytellers. It's been a work long in the making, and it's given me new life knowing that it's so near completion. I couldn't quite call it a steampunk fantasy, but it's definitely influenced by my interest in Victorian fashions and the written word. I would call it more bookpunk--abilities and machines, mechanical or otherwise, are driven by the energy expended on creating works of fiction.

Have a nice day.

Hello wonderful steampunk friends!

I'm a long time follower and lover of this community and all the wonderful creative people here and I was hoping to mine you all as a resource.

I'm in the beginning stages of writing a YAF steampunk novel set (at least partially) in Chicago. I know we have a strong Chicago group on here, so I was hoping some of you might know of some books that have a good history of Chicago. Especially any books that might have pictures and descriptions of the downtown and/or lakeside area.

Any suggestions would be super appreciated!

Thanks so muc!

greetings, noble rangers, flaneurs, ne'er-do-wells, cads, bounders, rakes, demimondaines, apaches, and all and sundry!


we of the greater Front Range anachropunk community cordially invite all front rangers to our gala pre-celebrations, if it please you.

The officers have decided to host a Gala Event for this Holiday Season!
We are hosting the day before New Year’s Eve so that people may still make NYE events if they like, and to accomodate those who have holiday work schedules.

Gala Details on Ye Facebook!



The event will feature a Masquerade Ball (less dancing, more costume contest), a Film Showing, a marvelously steamy Soundtrack, some parlor games, a fiction reading or three, and a delicious potluck dinner.

THE EVENT WILL ALSO FEATURE A WHITE ELEPHANT GIFT EXCHANGE: Please limit your choices to the $3-$7 range and keep it relatively clean. If it is specifically a male-only or female-only gift please note that on the tag.

Please make a note with your RSVP! We are voting on what movie we shall be watching. The choices are:
Golden Compass
Steam Boy
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Wild Wild West
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Around the World in 80 Days (the newer one)
Howl’s Moving Castle
Write-In Vote

Please also note that we are organizing the potluck in order to guarantee proper distribution of food.
If your last name begins with:
A-C Please bring beverages (non-alcoholic)
D-L Bring a side, soup or salad
M-R Bring a main dish
S-Z Bring dessert

The location WILL BE at the ancestral manse of one Mr. Theodore Thompson, to wit: 100 North 5th Avenue, Brighton 80601.

yours ever.

CRG.

hey folks, first post here.

im going to be in the business of make-up in the coming year, and i'd like to get a headstart on some practice. if your interested in being so kind as to let me practice and refine my make-up technique, and are in the atlanta/peachtree city area, please send a post, note, email, carrier pigeon, etc my way!

i've been in the costume making hobby for about 3 years, though i have yet to jump into the steampunk world. im very excited to experiment in some looks that will lend themselves well to steampunk costumes, so if you have a photoshoot, or upcoming event, i would like to be a part of it. :)

at this time i dont have any decent photos of my costume make-up ive done in the past, and im sorry for that. but you can help change that! contact me if you'd like to set something up. thanks!

Hi everyone! Photographer Lex Machina here. I posted a few months back about visiting the SoCal area and was lucky enough to be aimed toward the League of S.T.E.A.M. by quite a few of you fabulous ladies and gents. I really can't thank you enough.
Not only are they an incredibly talented band of costumers and performers, but they are just incredibly lovely people. My only regret is that I did not have an opportunity to work with the entire team. Hopefully, we can remedy that soon.

Until then, without further ado, the photos:


(  This way for lots more >> )

hello, first post here though i lurk quite frequently. :P
as well as being completely obsessed with steampunk fashion, i adore all kinds, especially haute couture,
and i just came across something AMAZING that i don't think has been posted here that i think you all might appreciate:


high-heels from Alexander McQueen's Spring 2010 runway collection... i pretty much died when i saw them and had to fawn over them somewhere. they are incredible.

kinda disappointed that the rest of the collection doesn't have a very Victorian feel, but the sci-fi aspect is definitely there and the fashion is still amazing if anyone is interested in more:
http://nymag.com/fashion/fashionshows/2010/spring/main/europe/womendetails/alexandermcqueen/

hope to post more finds and such. :D

Just a reminder that anyone who doesn't have plans for New Years is invited to our Steampunk Tea Party in San Jose. We'll have tea, china, baked goods both sweet and savory, parlor games and no end to the fun.

All the info Here.

Everyone is welcome, Last minute additions included!

AND, an offer to other retailers....

Okay, first off, what did you scurvy bilge rats score in terms of plunder? Spill it!

Secondly, I realize I offered the League of Steam help with promotions as far as putting flyers in our Southern California parcels to promote their appearances, but I thought that I would offer that to the general steam public and do the same for any of you. Would be happy to put business cards, stickers, etc in our parcels and will try my absolute best if you want to limit it to an area or state.

I can't leave this offer open to too many because that would greatly increase packing times, but the offer is out there. Just email me through the site or my personal one, which is my first name followed by the site's url.

www.clockworkcouture.com

Okay, last thing, how are you all ringing in your New Year? I know many are going to the Edison but wonder what else is going on around the globe.

renaissance2010
Turning to photography as a creative outlet during a valiant fight with breast cancer at age 34, renaissance10 survived and set up a photo contest to help raise funds for the Lavender Trust, a nonprofit that provides information and support to younger women with breast cancer. In the first two years, the competition brought in over £65,000 (that's $107,260.73 U.S.!), with entries from 130 countries last year. Renaissance10 recently joined LiveJournal to meet other passionate photographers and find supportive friends.

curiouscupcakes
Holy buttercream frosting! If you have a sweet tooth for sugary goodness or a wandering eye for whimsical confection, this is pure ecstasy iced in deliciousness. Hailing the beloved cupcake as the artisinal canvas of choice, you'll enjoy recipes, photos, and bountiful tips to bake up a batch, whether your taste leans toward French classics or funky and flavorful.

mission101
With New Years in the offing, it's an ideal time to reflect on past accomplishments, make peace with disappointments, and refocus the lens on future goals. This community welcomes you to create a bucket list of 101 things you plan to accomplish in the next 1,001 days. Offering support, guidance, and inspiration, this is a great way to jumpstart those pesky resolutions.

Cut and past HTM here to spread all about
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaborwhalky/4221323153/" title="Worlds fair by jaborwhalky, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2611/4221323153_1bf5555d35.jpg" width="377" height="500" alt="Worlds fair" /></a>

Super large here:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaborwhalky/4221323153/" title="Worlds fair by jaborwhalky, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2611/4221323153_1bf5555d35_b.jpg" width="772" height="1024" alt="Worlds fair" /></a>

The growing list of talent can be seen here :
http://steampunkworldsfair.com/performers/
(The site is still being worked on so do check back time to time)

Something that has occurred to me that I wonder if others might also share in agreement, at least some insight. For those of you who may have read Frank Herbert's Dune chronicles, would you not agree that his novels were, in fact, Steampunk in nature? Considering that the first novel itself seems to create a picture of a retro-futuristic world in the year 10,191 that seems to be a combination of 1890-meets-1910, that made me start to wonder if indeed Dune could be, well, Steampunk literature.

What say ye?

We did it!
For those of you not in the know, previous posts pertaining to the unofficial community photobook are here
http://community.livejournal.com/steamfashion/2213500.html
and here
http://community.livejournal.com/steamfashion/2182567.html
and it looks absolutely gorgeous, no lie.

Thank you so, so much to my amazingly patient and understanding contributors. The maiden copy was lost in the mail but Blurb kindly replaced it free of charge with free express shipping. I have made purchases from them over a dozen times and can highly recommend them as a safe and efficient business.
For those who have been featured within and would like a copy, or those like myself who simply want a piece of gorgeous for the coffee table, it's just been released to the public:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/970199
You can also "preview" the first half of the book at that link, for those hungry for more detail.

$19.95 for soft cover, $29.95 for hard cover and dust jacket, both variations of which I introduce you to in this video
http://www.youtube.com/user/Kanira#p/a/u/0/vetJdRfaivY
for those who want to see it in the pseudo-flesh. For the intrigued, no, I am neither featured inside nor do I see any profit, Blurb alone takes up the fees for printing.

Again thank you so, so much guys, this was tons of fun.

This is the lovely copyright page just inside the cover, and...

a sample of the inside.
It's all work-safe, not pin-up or eye-candy oriented; all about great design and the great photography that's captured it.

(Sorry for the double post to the SFsteamVent group)

As some of you may know, January 8th 2010 will mark the 130s anniversary of the death of legendary Joshua A. Norton, Emperor of American and Protector of Mexico. Emperor Norton for short.

I was wondering if any Bay Area Steamers might be interested in a get together on January 9th (Saturday) to commemorate our fallen leader. We could meet, take the cable cars to the Cable Car Museum (festively steamy) and have "The Feast of Norton" across the street at the Gallery Cafe, then wonder down Grant and California to pay our respects.

This is just a possibility. I know the historical fraternity, the Clampers will be in Colma at 10 am for speechafying. Also a possibility.

If anyone is interested in a nice little get together or has ideas, I'd love to have something happen. It would be a shame for the 130th anniversary to go by and have no Steamer event.

It would also be a great excuse to get out and show off any new gear and fashion you might have gotten for the holidays!

 So my beloved wif (writingismyzen )and I have been watching on DVD the PBS House series including Frontier House, Colonial House and 1900s House. I actually found them each interesting and find that if fans of steampunk should take time to watch both Frontier House and 1900s House. The families interactions with not only each other but the whole society and how they dealt with things.

1900s House:

While this series started in 1999 with the Bowler family going and moving into the home it was a rather interesting setting to see how modern 20th and 21st Century people can handle living in a prior age and try to adapt to their surrounding without going off the deep end.  The family seemed to do rather nicely and while they had their problems (lack of music to entertain the children, no shampoo, and other problems of the day). It seemed that the Bowlers adapted fairly well over all to the project and that the researchers did their best to make sure everything was period-centric to help the family deal with day to day issues.

A few things I did note that there wasn't  any Fentimans Soda which was common place in roughly that time period (yes, I will be reviewing it for steamfashion  down the road for drinks). Most of the items seemed to be fairly common and are still around today if one looks including J.R. Watkins products which would have also been available. C.O. Bigelowwhich did have care products which have been around for 168 years. But it seemed the family would not adjust to certain things including they were vegans and while they did final did get around to eating meat as part of the program. It still was interesting to see how much culture clashing was going on including hiring and firing of a maid because of sufferage at the time period and then not firing the maid face to face. I found that rather cowardly on the part of the Mrs. Bowler seeing that the maid was learning to adjust as well and trying to fit into the period by going to the library and reading up on servants of the time. 

One of the other interesting things is that there was a night at a period music hall which still exists in London today Old Time Music Hall Lissenden Players for those steampunk fans in England I would suggest posting a review of the place. Better if one of the players fills us in to it so we can learn more here on this site about the place and how evening happened in the Victorian age. 

Overall I would suggest people watch it and learn about about how our society has changed both good and bad from this cultural experiment as well as seeing the other attempts done by other families in the series. Edwardian House, Coal House Regency House, and Frontier House as they are all available through Netflicks. Its a few hours of viewing of educational TV but well worth the effort if you choose to do it. 



R, Tron.......