More bits acquired

One of the benefits of having a local Steampunk con to go to is the availability of vendors. Since my lady and I are both, shall we say, generously proportioned (though working on it), purchasing certain items of clothing/costuming over the Internet can be an exercise in gambling. Fortunately, there was a perfectly lovely vendor of corsets at AnomalyCon, and my lady is now the proud owner of a stunning example of Butterfly Frillies' work. This has, in turn, spurred more interest in completing a costume (we're scheduled for a steam train ride outside of Reno this July, as part of the Mensa on Steam tour, just prior to this year's Annual Gathering.), so we're back on that particular horse.

Turns out my mother-in-law has a sewing machine that can do light to midweight leather, so I don't actually have to use rivets to hold the gaiters together, so once I've fitted my pattern and verified that it works with cloth, I can get the leather cut.

And I've purchased a set of longer-than-elbow-length welding gloves, which will work nicely as part of a tinkerer/airship stoker look. Just need the leather Glengarry (I'm leaning away from the pith helmet look) and I should be just about ready.

Backlog

So - it has been a while.

Sadly, my absence has also been occasioned by my not getting a lot done in the realm of Steampunk costuming. Time and funding have been in short supply, and I've been distracted by other projects, none of which I've actually completed.

On the other hand, I did make it to AnomalyCon this year and had a great time - and just as my purchase of a Utilikilt a couple of years ago sparked my burgeoning interest in a full-on steampunk outfit, so too has the purchase of a properly fitting corset sparked my wife's interest. She's shopping for patterns now, and I need to obtain some buckles and continue working on the blasted gaiters...

More anon...

Leather Acquired!

Tip #1 - Shop the sale racks. Tandy had some black leather on sale, a little heavier than garment weight and a little lighter weight than standard tooling leather or chap-weight. I got a full side for about half the price of anything else I saw in-store.

Tip #2 - check for tools to make things, rather than buying pre-made. I was considering buying pre-cut 1" strips of leather, but those turned out to be both significantly heavier duty than the black leather I'm making the main bits out of, and fairly expensive. For less than half the cost of one 72" strap, I bought a strap cutter. Once I  cut a straight edge on the leather I bought, I can cut strips of whatever width I choose. I also found a nice rotary cutter that I can use with my wife's straightedge and cutting board...

Tip #3 - get the membership. I did the math, and I saved enough just on this purchase to cover the Gold level membership fee at Tandy.

Minor Gaiter Progress

So after rolling over and going back to sleep on Monday when I remembered that I didn't have to go to work, I wound up thinking about the gaiter project, which has been on the back burner for a while. When I eventually got up for real, I dug up the duct-tape tubes that I'd made, and found that they do indeed fold flat - so I cut one of them into parts as a template for a pattern, and then traced out a pattern on some leftover canvas. The plan is to rivet the leather together, so as to avoid stitching - and then buckles on the outside. 1" wide straps should work, with 1/2" spacing, Next, I'll have to cut out the pattern and then probably cut out a second copy, and staple/stitch the canvas to see if I've left proper allowances...

Then I can go buy some leather, buckles, and plating at Tandy next weekend.

MileHiCon 43

So - As one can probably guess from lack of posts/pics, I did not get a full-on steampunk outfit put together for MileHiCon 43 this past weekend. I went ahead and work "civvies" on Friday, then donned Utilikilts and my Steamhammer for Saturday and Sunday. Evidently, this was sufficient to identify me as an Interested Person to the panelist handing out fliers for AnomalyCon after the "Bling Your Brass" panel - she headed straight for me with a handful after the panel was over, and I was able to grin and point out that I already had one...

MileHiCon is a long-running SF/Fantasy con here in Denver - 43rd annual edition this year - and its focus is primarily literary. Lots of books in the dealer room, lots of authors and editors on panels, and not as much cosplay as my wife was expecting - but what there was, was largely steampunk or SP-inspired... Plenty of steampunk programming as well:

• A Bartitsu demo (which, unfortunately, was scheduled at the same time as a different panel I really wanted to see...)
• A presentation on Victorian (and slightly later) steam-powered carousels, organs, and other attractions
• "Bling Your Brass", a multimedia exploration of the steampunk aesthetic as expressed through fiber arts, drawing/painting, jewelry making, polymer clay, and miscellaneous making
• "Sounds Like Steampunk", on Steampunk music (didn't see - was opposite another writing workshop)
• "What's New In Steampunk", panel discussion on current trends (literary and otherwise).

I did find myself chuckling after a somewhat self-congratulatory comment on "diversity" within Steampunk was followed up by one of the panel pointing out the same thing I'd been noticing - aside from one older Asian gentleman and a vaguely Sephardic-looking fellow, every other person in the room was, as the panelist put it, "in pretty much the same category, albedo-wise...". This, in turn, triggered a promising discussion of the notion of multiculturalism in steampunk, with the panel (and audience) all in agreement that it's "a good thing" - and engaging the problematic ideas of Imperialism within the steampunk sandbox was likewise seen as "a good thing". Not a full-on panel discussion dedicated to the idea - but it's a start, and the groundwork's been laid. Should be interesting to see what AnomalyCon comes up with in March.

Also found out that Cherie Priest's new novel, Ganymede, is out - and Ms. Priest will be in town for a book signing next month. W00t!

A Quick One

Really, this one's more like a Facebook status update than a blog post - I've acquired a pith helmet as one piece of headgear (I really, really want a leather Glengarry, but the helmet is cheaper), and I've got a pair of modern, plastic welding goggles that I intend to modify - the bead chain nose piece has got to go, and I've got multiple colors of metallic spraypaint to play with. I'd also like to put some sort of targeting/range finding reticule on the clear lens, just to see if it will show...

So - once I pick out a shirt, I've got all of the 'Buy My Way In' bits of costume done, and I can focus on the DIY projects. More on that later.

Work In Progress - Gaiters

Little by little, my first Steampunk outfit is coming together. This weekend, I worked on making a set of gaiters, which are akin to spats (or spatterdashes, from which the shorter term derives), but which provide coverage not only for the shoes , but also for the lower leg - or limb, if you're being properly stuffy and Victorian...

I own a couple of sets of gaiters - one is a button-up set that unfortunately doesn't fit my calves well at all, and the other is a modern nylon set that I use for snowshoeing (and which subbed for the button-up set in a Halloween costume the year I went as Othar Tryggvasen from Girl Genius), so I've got some idea about how they should go together - but I wanted to try my hand at pattern making, as I'd like a set that are custom fit to my legs.

I found a tutorial on sewing fabric spats that was helpful, but my plan is to make mine out of leather. I could probably buy a set of knee-high boots (and really, I probably will at some point) but for now, I've got a perfeclty serviceable set of black ankle high boots that will lend themselves nicely to some gaiters. I'll be wearing them under a kilt for the most part, but I'd like to be able to wear them over trousers as well, should the need arise. So with all that in mind, I employed a technique I read about back in the days when I was considering making my own leather jerkin (for a very different sort of fandom/cosplay outfit) - I cut up a couple of pairs of oldish socks and pulled them on over my boots and trouser legs so that they were covering the area that the gaiters should cover, and then wrapped 2-3 layers of duct tape around that area.

I cut the duct tape and sock mold up the inside of my leg, since that's an area I want to be solid.

I then removed the sock fabric and covered the slightly less sticky than normal side of the duct tape mold with another layer of duct tape, then taped the molds back together temporarily.

Next up - I'll review the spats tutorial and compare both my nylon gaiters and my cloth ones to see how to cut the leather so that it fits correctly (ideally, 3 pieces sewn together), and then make a cloth sample pair before I buy and cut any leather.