TechnOccult inteviews wunderkammer artist AlexCF:

I guess it all started with this little box, called “The Vampire Legacy Case” about a 14th century aristocratic vampire, the last rites and possessions of this vampiric lord. I had the idea of creating an alternative past, creating characters and species with which to fabricate my own world in which all these things existed. So I started making, and the rest is history!

The Clockwork Hand by deviantart user Astalo is lovely in it's craftsmanship. It is, however, a strange cross between cyborg upgrade and flirtatious torture device- wear it for super strength or make someone else wear it, turn the crank, forcibly making the 'come hither' motion , over and over and over. 'Who, me?'- I would say, blushing- 'I do declare, I thought you would never ask..but oh, Mr. Wingspatersonton, however will you dance, tied to that chair?'

I want it.

Typography can be (and usually is) tremendous amount of stress. I, for one, tear my hair out every time I see the currently ubiquitous Bleeding Cowboys; another friend has a dysfunctional relationship with Papyrus- over and over he vows it's over- only to be found trysting at midnight, kerning.

That being said, I find Vtks Revolt , by Douglas Vitkauskas,a rather handsome little font; if oddly named.

Kay writes:

I have often been inspired and impressed by your work. Here you can see one  of my lastest projects.  It's a original german steampunk keyboard. More pics you find at: www.flickr.com/photos/steamtux

There is nothing I like to hear more then that! and man-oh-man did he do a fine, fine job!  There are a couple more pics after the cut and more on Kay's Flickr including in process shots here!

This morning I was telling my daughter about the creatures called "Cattails" that Larry Niven invented for World out of Time. 

I remember enjoying that book a lot but more than anything the description of the genetically modified cat/snake hybrid stuck with me.  It had the head of a cat and a fur covered snake body with cat paw leather on its underside.  There's a picture of one on the cover of the book.

She then told me about a piece she saw at the Decordova Museum in Concord, MA by Ria Brodell that featured Wormbunnies.

Wormbunnies!

Well, I just had to track those Wormbunnies down for you and you will find them here!

Cal Lane is quite a lady. Oxy-acetalyne torch in hand, she intracately carves out lace-like patterns out of shovels, wheelbarows, cars, and most impresively- full sized I-beams. Just looking at her work, I wish i was able to experience it first hand- These formidable, unwieldy, solid hunks of steel transformed into objects that look as light as a feather. It's both industry and craft. She has quite a bit of work on her unfortunately flash-crippled site.

I have been tootling around Austin for a couple days now, guided mainly by locals scribbling favored destination on scraps of paper. I've visited (and took a dip in) Austin's famed Barton Springs park ("dude" an old hippie told me "it's, like, Austin's spiritual center"), drank Shiner Bock at the Driskill Lounge while the jazz band played the Super Mario theme, astride a couch made of a cow; and I've been attacked by a flock of Grackles.

One thing that has been bothering me, however, has been the total prevalence of the "keep Austin weird!" bumper stickers I've seen gracing every bike, minivan, lunchbox- If you're from that area, it very much akin to the "keep Tahoe blue" stickers adhered to a million car bumpers. I've been having a great time, to be sure, but I was beginning to think that the slogan was more of a city aspiration than actual reality.

Then I met the Junk King, and his home made Cathedral.

Much more after the jump..

While aimlessly wandering around the internet during my lunch hour today I was absolutely delighted to run across this tiny tiny steampunk keyboard made by Lizabeta!

Have a look here for more information.

Hi Everyone! Since Meredith wrote about the fire at NIMBY last week things have been moving at breakneck speed!  The principals are busting their asses to relocate into new and better space and there is no better time to contribute!  Meredith and I just sent $100 their way and I'd hope that anyone dropping by here with the means to would join us in supporting the folks that gave the world so many cool things like the Neverwas Haul and the Steampunk Stagecoach Puppet Theatre!

From http://www.nimbyspace.org/ :

We are rolling out a campaign to make this move happen for NIMBY. The minimum amount of money we need for moving is $50,000. NIMBY must pay another $30,000 in rent to get up to the end of the lease. Then there are the NIMBY monthly expenses, the actual cost of moving itself, and development costs to get the new space set-up. All things considered $50,000 is a low ball number to get us started - but if we can raise that we know we can pull this off.

If 1,000 people donate $50 - we will reach our goal. Who remembers a Thanksgiving or a Christmas at NIMBY when you had nowhere else to go? An art piece created at NIMBY that gave you “one of those moments” on the playa? A time when Snook helped you with trucking, let you use his tools, gave you the part you were missing, fed you, or helped you out when you needed it? We only need 1,000 of you to step-up and donate. Snook and NIMBY have taken care of far more people than that over the past 5 years.

Download this flyer, post it on your blog, email to your friends, print it and give it to someone who will donate. And lets give props to Rachael for learning photoshop to bring you this flyer and Norville for making the NIMBY logo look so cool on fire.

PAYPAL: NIMBYLLC@yahoo.com

(Photo from Stephanie Booth's Flickr stream)

This is either brand new or somehow snuck completely under my RADAR. It's a little essay by Bruce Sterling written, I think, for GOGBOT that describes what Steampunk is and he F&@%ing nails it! NAILS it! I say.

He gets the community part right:

If you like to play dress-up, good for you. You're probably young, and, being young, you have some identity issues. So while pretending to be a fireman, or a doctor, or a lawyer, or whatever your parents want you to be, you should be sure to try on a few identities that are totally impossible.Steampunk will help you,  because you cannot, ever, be an authentic denizen of the 19th century. You will meet interesting people your own age who share your vague discontent with today's status quo. Clutch them to your velvet-frilled bosom, because you will learn more from them than you ever will from your teachers.

He gets the crafts part right:

Steampunks are modern crafts people who are very into spreading the means and methods of working in archaic technologies. If you meet a steampunk craftsman and he or she doesn't want to tell you how he or she creates her stuff, that's a poseur who should be avoided. Find the creative ones who want to help you, and who don't leave you feeling hollow, drained and betrayed. They exist. You might be one.

And he wraps it up exactly right:

We are a technological society. When we trifle, in our sly, Gothic, grave-robbing fashion, with archaic and eclipsed technologies, we are secretly preparing ourselves for the death of our own tech. Steampunk is popular now because people are unconsciously realizing that the way that we live has already died. We are sleepwalking. We are ruled by rapacious, dogmatic, heavily-armed fossil-moguls who rob us and force us to live like corpses. Steampunk is a pretty way of coping with this truth.

And then he puts a cherry on top!  Go read the whole thing now!  As they say on the LiveJournal: "I am full of Squee!"