Steampunk

Just received a goodie bag from Rings & Things today...they have a drawing each month to give away goodies to their blog partners and this month I was one of the lucky winners!

Here are the goodie bag contents:























Now, to the untrained eye, this may look like a shopping trip to Home Depot. However, to those in the know, these are components used in steampunk design. Whenever I see steampunk items, I think of an old TV show from the 60's that I was crazy about, "The Wild Wild West." Secret service agents West and Gordon guarded President Grant and they alway had the coolest futuristic gadgets!

What exactly IS steampunk, you may ask? It's tough for me to describe, so I'll just quote the definition on dictionary.com:

"a genre of science fiction set in Victorian times when steam was the main source of machine power"

O-o-o-kay. Still a little vague. To give you a better idea of the style, here are a couple of Etsy items by artisans who do steampunk design:

























This beautiful piece by Cerriousdesigns is actually a USB drive. Steampunk frequently has gears and an aged patina look. For more info on this item, click this link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/54001079

Here's another great steampunk piece:

















This beauiful cuff bracelet is by edmdesigns. Notice the use of gears, metal and the industrial feel of the sawtooth blade. For more information on this piece, click on the following link:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/52679246/

Now, I will be the first to admit that I've never made a steampunk item in my life, and I'm not sure I could. However, I've had several requests to make some masculine phone charms, and I think that the industrial look of the steampunk components would make a fine "man charm" :o) So excuse me, but I've got some designing to do!