Geek Crafts

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term Upcycyling, it’s when you take an item that is no longer of use like an old holey sweater or a broken wooden pallet and you craft it into something shiny and new. You can turn an old sweater into leg warmers or a cat bed. That broken pallet can be morphed into a raised planter box or even bookshelves.

Here is a Most Excellent upcycle that was found on Craftster. Mieljolie was looking for inspiration for a piece to donate to a silent auction at an upcoming Steampunk event. Look at her creation!

It’s hard to believe it but this hat is made up of strips cut from a remnant of polar fleece and the metal tabs that you find on cans of soda. The technique is called tabistry and you use the strips to weave the tabs together. She changed the color of the polar fleece to make the stripes. The beer goggles are made from 2 (now empty obviously!) beer cans, some leather bits and studs for decorative effects.

Ingenious I say!

• Beer Goggles and Top Hat – Steampunk’d with Beer Cans Tabs!
  

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Love this cuff—it reminds me of The Golden Compass (Northern Lights in England, apparently), which, as far as I’m concerned, is one of the greatest books ever. Love the whole damn His Dark Materials series, in fact. I didn’t read them till college, but I was besotted. I read the next two volumes post-graduation, while commuting, and kept missing my bloody stop on the subway. And occasionally crying on the train while reading The Amber Spyglass. So brilliant. Have them on my shelf now; must reread.

Oh, right. So, yeah. I like this cuff because of that whole convoluted backstory.

• Steamheat’s Etsy Shop
• Golden Compass-esque Cuff

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Slowly but surely, I can feel myself being drawn into all things steampunk, the literature, costuming and now adorable mechowls!

This little guy reminds me of Bubo from the original Clash of the Titans. Monsterkookies has managed to create an amazing owl that looks for all the World like it’s make completely of metal bits but he’s actually polymer clay! This just blows my mind.

• MechOwlie Fully Customizable Freestanding by monsterkookies.

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I have a confession: I really don’t do steampunk. I don’t know why—I think it’s visually appealing, reminds me of Jules Verne and Firefly (both good things), and I get the rationale…I guess it’s just not for me. Maybe it doesn’t quite fit in with my overall personal style, which otherwise seems to encompass a helluva lot. Even with that disclaimer, I wouldn’t mind adding one of these babies to my jewelry collection. In fact, I like quite a few of the wearable geegaws and doodads in Jynx’s Box—they clearly convey the steampunk aesthetic (steampunkery? steampunkness?) without being so over-the-top that you couldn’t wear them without looking costumey.

• Jynx’s Box Etsy Shop

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Have you ever wanted to learn how to make a ray gun? No, me neither. However, now that I’ve read this tutorial and have seen the finished result, I kind of feel like I might need to make myself one. Oh, and if you want a nice way of displaying said creation? Yeah, Epbot has a tutorial for that, too.

• Ray Gun Tutorial
• Ray Gun Display Stand Tutorial

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It is the year of the dragon, and as a recently birthday’ed fire dragon myself, I wanted to delve into all things dragon for this week’s round-up. First up from Olga Farberovao, I bring you this touching father-son moment. Check out this firey poppa welcoming his new addition:

This made-to-order toy was crocheted out of mohair yarn. His eyes, nostrils are needle felted. The egg is made by wet felting wool.
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