The Steampunk Quest

A few months ago, my wife asked me to design and build a Steampunk pen. While I have made several pens over the years, in both wood and acrylics, I had not yet taken on such a complicated challenge. So much like the knitting needles that started this whole woodworking adventure I said, “Sure, I can do that.” 

The quest began with research. I had a vague understanding of Steampunk so I needed to start there. Wikipedia defines Steampunk as, “ a literary genre which involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy.  “

Well that didn’t help much. So I began searching the net for all things Steampunk. First I went to Etsy, where I found lots of examples of Steampunk jewelry such as those made by Antige

Next I took a looked at the EPBOT blog. While I did not find any examples of pens, Jen has lots of examples of Steampunk themed homes and décor such as this. Soon I was seeing all kinds of steampunk themed projects such as:

A Computer Keyboard created by Jake Von Slatt. For more info click here

A Steampunk wheelchair built by Daniel Valdez

All these items provided great inspiration for a variety of Steampunk projects other than pens. So I asked the folks over at Penturner’s Paradise for some ideas. At that time there was not anything out there.

Like many projects, this one has rules:

1.       1. No Acrylics

2.       2.  Must combine wood and brass

3.       3. Material must have been available during the Victorian age

4.       4. Must have gears and filigree.

5.       5. The pen must work and feel good in the hand.

This was posing a greater challenge than I thought. Days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months as I still had not come up with a design, let alone a prototype for the elusive Steampunk Pen. Then one day Marla, and Brandon at Penturner’s Paradise posted their masterpiece:

Finally, Inspiration is upon me! The masters have shown me the way. Their products are outstanding and functional works of art. However, there was one issue. They chose to work in acrylics which for my quest would not work.

Their process and their end products are superb and have provided me a foundation on which to build upon. The creative juices began to flow as I devised a plan for Holly’s Steampunk pen. I have the plan. I gathered the parts. Then, shoulder surgery reared its head. So the quest is unfinished. As I type this, my left arm is in a sling. The pen will have to wait a few more weeks. But the process has already begun.

So, in a couple of weeks my arm will no longer be tied to my body and the quest can be finished at last. Stay tuned for the results. In the meantime, check out Marla’s blog at here

Have you made a steampunk project? Are you planning one? Leave a comment and tell us about it.

Kevin

For those who still do not understand Steampunk, take a look at Ben Lovett’s music video which epitomizes Steampunk.