I’ll just let this amusing little picture for speak for itself:
Light on Dark Corners: An Interesting and Amusing Glimpse into Victorian Society and Ideas
A couple days ago, I was exploring a girlfriend’s house, and found several old books published in the mid to late 1800′s. One of them especially caught my eye: Light on Dark Corners: A Complete Sexual Science, an 1895 guidebook for young people about health, courting, marriage, sex, and more. I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate on how uptight the mentality on anything sexual was in the Victorian era, and the book touches on a lot of “sciences”, such as phrenology, that were widely accepted at the time.
I’m still in the process of reading it, and because of my habit of juggling several books at once, it may be a while before I’ve seen all the content. But the next few updates, I’m going to be making a departure from the topic of steampunk, to scan and share interesting pages, as I discover them. Hopefully you’ll find the book as entertaining and interesting as I do.
Steampunk Decals Designed by Colin Thompson
Gelaskins has a set of steampunk style decals for various electronics site. Designed by author/artist Colin Thompson, the decals retail between $14.99 and $29.99, and are available for various phones, laptops (including netbooks)!, and iPods, and more.
Although the art style is very cool, I can’t help but wish for a little bit more variety between the different skins. With the exception of the iPod video in the above gallery, it seems as if the same images were used multiple times, even on the same model. The faux-disc visible on the PSP and laptop decals are a very nice touch, though.
Check out rest on Colin Thompson’s GelaSkins page.
Steampunk Tales Issue #3 Now Available
The third installment of Steampulp Publishing’s collection of short stories, “Steampunk Tales” has been released today. Written in the style of a 19th century “penny dreadful“,the collection contains 10 steampunk-themed short stories
The collection is available as an e-book, pdf, and iPhone/iPod Touch app, and sells for $1.99, You can purchase it on the Steampunk Tales website.
Steampunk Tarot Cards
Several days ago, I got an email from Claire Flanders, who’s currently designing a classy set of Neo-Victorian tarot cards. I’m not familiar with the games played using Tarot cards, and even less familiar with their use in fortune-telling, but the art is quite cool, and very steampunk.
As of right now, only the Major Arcana is completed. I’ll post an update when the entire deck is done.
To see more of Claire’s cards, check out her DeviantArt profile!
Folllow Steam Effort on Twitter!
I’ve just finished setting up the Steam Effort Twitter page! I’ll be using it to post headlines of new blog posts with a link to the entry, so followers can get alerts on new updates as they come on.
So what are you waiting for? Head over to Twitter.com/steameffort and follow me!
Steampunk Section Added to Gentleman’s Emporium Website
I’m not certain how recent the addition is (a quick Google search tells me this may be less than breaking news), but I’ve just discovered that the excellent Victorian/Edwardian era clothing store Gentleman’s Emporium has added a new section to their site, appropriately entitled “Steampunk Emporium”.
The steampunk selection appears to be mostly rehashed versions of other outfits, although the new Egyptologist and Autoist outfits are very cool. As always, each outfit comes in the form of a character, with a name and backstory. These backstories are written as human interest stories from the era, and are typically quite witty. Take for example the biography of Barnaby Clifton, Intrepid Motorist:
“Further demonstrating his eccentricity, Mr. Clifton has procured several remote plots of land which he contends will become valuable simply because the unsightly patches of black oil upon them can be converted to fuel for these locomobiles. One can only hope that there are enough other eccentrics who share his love for speed and black smoke to make his property investments worthwhile.”
Other new additions include a selection of goggles and aviator caps (for aspiring airship pilots), and an assortment of brass acessories, such as compasses, binoculars, and even an X-Ray Monocle.
Fullmetal Pederast
Trust me, the last thing I want is for my blog to turn into /steam/, but when I saw this unsettling visage of Pedobear’s scrapmetal doppelgänger, I couldn’t resist posting it, along with a comparison photo for reference.
Not pictured: Chris Hansen w/ chatlogs & filmcrew
My third post, and already 4chan’s corrupting influence has found its way onto my little corner of the internet. Joy.
Arthur Schmitt’s Steampunk Cellphone Pwns Your iPhone
London artist Arthur Schmitt’s cell phone doesn’t have lightning fast 3G. It doesn’t have a an ultraresponsive multitouch display. It doesn’t even have a key pad. What it does have is more awesome than you can shake a discombobulator stick at.
Rarely do steampunk props intended to fill in for modern technology attempt to completely reinvent the way the device it mimics is used, but Schmitt’s concept for a neo-Victorian communications device does exactly that. Operated entirely by paper punchcards, encoded with binary information, the phone is one of the most original steampunk items this blogger has seen in ages.
According to Schmitt’s website:
“The concept reflects the users’ frustration with bloated interfaces, and the desire to be more in touch with the hardware.”
Steampunk Monocle Bound for Museum Stolen at DragonCon
Steampunk designer Thomas Willeford of Brute Force Leather was attending DragonCon last week when a one-of-a-kind steampunk monocle accessory was stolen from him. This is especially unfortunate, as the item was to be featured in an upcoming exhibit on steampunk art at the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford University.
Willeford is offering a $200 dollar “No questions asked” reward for the return of the item, and a reward of $500 dollars plus a custom designed item for anyone with information leading to the arrest of the thief. Willeford can be contacted via his MySpace profile.
I feel that stealing something like this is especially low. This is not a laptop, or an iPod, rather it is a work of art, that somebody obviously put a great deal of effort into. I do hope the thief will have a change of heart upon hearing that the item was scheduled to be on display in a museum, but more likely will be somebody recognizing the item, and contact the proper authorities. Because the theft of personal property valued at over $400 is a felony, I’m sure that any reports regarding this item will be taken seriously by law enforcement.
I wish Thomas the best of luck in recovering his art, so that it can be placed on display where it belongs.
