Steampunk Stuff - Conversions
I really hope those keys click in a most satisfying way. Image by Jake von Slatt.
I've been writing a lot of Steampunk-related stuff this month recently to tie in with the release of Cogs In Time 3, a Steampunk anthology which I'm part of (and which you can now buy in physical book format!). As a result I've been doing a fair amount of research into Steampunk things, and I've come across a lot of conversion work. I wanted to showcase some of the better stuff I've seen.
I absolutely have to start with this steampunk Nerf gun by Dr Kayleigh Wardell mainly because, unlike all the others, I've actually seen this one in the flesh. It's a pretty awesome piece of work, because it's still a functional Nerf gun while keeping that steampunk aesthetic. If you're at all interested in how to make Steampunk-esque things, there are plenty of guides out there on the internet. But a good place to start is these process photos that Kayleigh took while she was making it.
This would make the rest of my computer look bad by comparison! Image by Alexander Schlesier
There's a goodly selection over at Steampunker.de, including a few things that 'cross the streams' of cult entertainment, like the Borg headpiece and the Optimus Prime head. A lot of the conversions keep the 'practical' elements intact, such as the memory stick above, or any of the several clocks on display there.
Picture by Janmare. I actually had a couple of flip phones like this, and they're still cool.
There's even a design agency for this sort of thing, ModVic; they have some awesome stuff there, like a steampunk wheelchair, and an entire house conversion. Go check out their site, it's pretty immense.
I think, as a style, it would be quite impractical to try and live a 'Steampunk life' in this day and age. There's a reason that steam engines have been outmoded as a power source on a personal level. But I can't get around how cool some things look when they're modified to be 'steampunk-esque'.