3 Reasons Steampunk Trumps Swimwear This Summer

If you’re work­ing at home instead of at our Steam­punk Drop-in, an appro­pri­ate com­pan­ion would be Jared Axelrod’s excel­lent pod­cast, Fables of the Fly­ing City. Photo by Kyle Cassidy.

Let’s face it, it’s way eas­ier for most of us to look fan­tas­tic in a corset than in a bikini. But the real rea­son to stop by Plush for our upcom­ing Steam­punk Craft Drop-In?  Okay, well, aside from the fact that it’s free.  Yes, the acces­sories!  Who knew that the quin­tes­sen­tial steam­punk accou­trements fit so per­fectly with the sea­son?  Here are some help­ful tuto­ri­als, in case you’re look­ing for inspiration:

1) GOGGLES No, not for swim­ming, although you’re wel­come to try.  Steam­punk gog­gles are use­ful year round, but noth­ing beats them in the sum­mer for keep­ing the sun, sand, and bugs out of your eyes while you’re out boat­ing, cycling, or tool­ing around in your air­ship.  Here’s a fan­tas­tic visual tuto­r­ial to help you get started.

2) PARASOLS We’ve been notic­ing more and more umbrel­las doing dou­ble duty as para­sols in recent years.  While we absolutely appre­ci­ate the prac­ti­cal­ity of this, we can’t help wish­ing for some­thing a lit­tle more whim­si­cal.  Here’s how Tracy tricked out a thrift shop umbrella.

3) FANS Really?  Some­thing that can help you stay cool, and add to your mys­tique?  Sounds like the ulti­mate sum­mer acces­sory to us!  You can pick up cheap fold­ing fans in Chi­na­town or at Dressew and turn them into some­thing both prac­ti­cal and spec­tac­u­lar with just a few addi­tions.  At least, we’re pretty sure you can.  We couldn’t find a sin­gle tuto­r­ial or image on line to help you out, which we’re tak­ing as a per­sonal chal­lenge.  If the Plushettes have time to work on a project of their own at the Drop-In, this will be it.

We were blown away by the cre­ativ­ity and skill exhib­ited at the Steam­punk Drop-in that V-Steam hosted here last year, and we’re super-excited to see what hap­pens this year under Tracy Ernst’s direc­tion!  The fun starts at 11 a.m and goes until 4 p.m. on Sat­ur­day, July 16th.  Admit­tance is free, and there is no need to pre-register.

Please note that Plush is a fully func­tional pro­fes­sional work­room full of sharp things and pointy bits, and so we ask that small chil­dren and pets (small or large) be left at home, and that you eat all your food and drink all your drinks before you come.