(above image: Jeremiah O'Brien steam engine boiler detail by Nick Winterhalter)

Greasy machines bare all in camera close ups! Hot gear-on-gear action! ....Knobs!

Adapted by Mark Brown from the classic novel by science fiction pioneer Jules Verne, Around the World in 80 Days follows the tale of proper London gentleman Phileas Fogg, who strikes a wager with fellow members of the Reform Club that he can travel around the world in a mere 80 days—a mighty feat in 1872. With him goes his trusty French servant, Passepartout, while tenacious Detective Fix – who has mistaken Fogg for a fugitive bank robber – shadows him every step of the way. On his journey, Fogg encounters romance, adventure and a host of colorful characters who both help and hinder his progress. Will Fogg make it back in time to win the wager?

January 6 - February 8, 2009

FOR INFORMATION & TO PURCHASE TICKETS:

CALL: 949.497.ARTS (2787) - GROUP SALES: 949.497.2787 ext. 229

VISIT:  www.LagunaPlayhouse.com

MOULTON THEATRE:   606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, California

I've been chillaxing for awhile now in Boston. It's very unusual that I stay in a place for more than 3 nights, and I've been here 3 weeks. The reason for my extended stay is Stonybrook Fine Arts, a bad-ass DIY space, classroom, metal shop. This is exactly the sort of place that I love- a place for anyone to come and learn skills, to get hands on, and get a little greasy. While I've spent my time sculpting and casting bronze memorials to my crashed car, they also offer classes in welding, mold making, jewelry, figure sculpting, and more. Basically, you can come here, learn how to use your hands and wield power tools, and, goshdarnit, make shit.

To top it off, they allow hourly rental of the shop for people who can't necessarily house a full metal and casting shop. Which is all of you.If you're in the Boston area, or know DIY-ers that are, I can't recommend the shop highly enough.

Blanket Magazine has a short piece of Steampunk on the web this month, but that is mainly just the excuse I used to post.  Blanket magazine is:

. . . is a free PDF online magazine that is aimed at uncovering art + design + photography from the talented people who create it.

The name blanket came from the simple idea that we wanted to ‘cover’ all the areas of art, design and photography and bring them together in one magazine.

I've only skimmed the rest of the content so far but the images and graphics are absolutely gorgeous!  Download the PDF by clicking on the image above.  (Found via Mechanis)

I started this project quite some time ago, in fact some of you may have seen it at Maker Faire back in May.  Originally, this was intended to be an example of 'how to steampunkify an object.'  The idea being that by removing the casing and exposing the interesting insides of the phone you can make it more exciting and attractive.

I guess it kind of worked, but to be honest I'm not that pleased with the results.  In any case, it will make a fine telephone for the workshop.

. . .

Oh hey! I just came across this video from TechieDiva where Nathaniel Johnstone from Abney Park shows off my phone at Maker Faire - what's so cool is that he gets it just right and this video was likely filmed with in hours of the time when Nathan and I first met in person!

Here's another Steampunk keyboard, and one of the closest copies of the original I've seen to date!  I was alerted to it by the creator of this wonderful example - Peter Sztojanov jr. from the beautiful city of Budapest - who commented on my MySpace page.

There are quite a few more shots in his Flickrstream here!

Since the caption on the leading photo reads "Steampunk Alchemy's 1st keyboard"  I am wondering if my good friend Rich Nagy a.k.a. Datamancer hasn't got some new competition from his ancestral homeland!

We have a new puppy in the house, and while this is a wonderful thing in general, it means I sometimes have to get up in the middle of the night to let him out. The problem is I don't have a bedside lamp so I end up stumbling across the bedroom to turn on the overhead lamp so I can find the leash as well as my robe and shoes. Needless to say this does not please The Lady. So, my next project had to be a new bedside lamp.

Like most of my lamp projects this one started with a visit to the junk bins.  At right you see part of an antique student lamp I rescued from the metal recycling bin before the ban on picking at our local dump went into effect.  It's quite nicely made, but this is all I was able to retrieve.  The other parts are from various more mundane fixtures and the bulb at left is a reproduction Aerolux glow lamp. 

. . .

Cliff writes:

Here's a nice little keyboard and monitor set from Daniel Pon.  I particularly like the small form factor, I have a Happy Hacker KB kicking around the shop that I might do something like thing too.