Steampunk Jewelry: Insect mania... :D

So a few days ago I said I'd post some photos up. So far I've been slacking. Actually I've been painfully busy. There was the most fantastic party this weekend - great people and music - and OMG models. Models wearing my jewelry. it was an EVENT! :D

anyway, it seems of late I've got a lot of insects around my etsy shop. I love bugs, beetles, bees and spiders. Suddenly I realize I've got a LOT of steampunk insect themes. Maybe there is an entomologist hidden in my soul yearing to create? I would love to study insects but I think I'll have to beg off for a few years while I'm fixated on the steampunk jewelry. So, here's a few of my steampunk insect themed jewelry. Maybe I have the same facination with insects that the Victorian's had? To be honest they make me jump but I do like them.

So Above in this post: Beetle Wing Necklace: Made from real insect wings :) Scary but true - they are this incredible chrome green colour.

Image 2: this fantastic Steampunk Bee necklace. Not the best photo I know... there are more photos on my
http://www.clockworkzero.etsy.com/ - this is a really elegant creation. I searched for months to find matching small gears for this piece - they flank the wings and there are matching watch gears too. The only little element that is not an exact match is the fact that one side has a brass coloured gear while the other is silver. Oh well. :D I could have removed them but then it would lose such a nice element of this piece. More photos of it and a longer description are over on my little site.

Then we have another bee. this is much more "fun" then the queen bee here - an interesting combination of a new "vintage" designed pressing and a light bulb! :D

This piece was a nightmare to photograph. The bulb was so difficult to get right and the light has been terrible of late.

It came out fairly well but looks much better in person. Thebrass gear in the centre is really quite fantastic. I wrote a bit about it... Its called (i feel appropriately): The Mystery of Bees

Now lets see what else I've got up on etsy that will go into this post.
Basically this was the piece that started the "Clockwork Insect" post.... I finally finished it last week and got some time to take photos. I'm so pleased with it. It is just FANTASTIC really... I Love it. Sure someone else will love it too... but I just hope whomever buys it will like it as much as me. lol. Does anyone else have that problem?

I photographed it with natural light but had to remove a lot of colour from the wood in this shot via photoshop. The wings reflected all the colour... you can still see a bit of warmth to it.

There is a great description of this unique piece of steampunk jewelry... while its still for sale. I am suspecting someone will buy it. Wouldn't it be great against black? Stunning!

And you know..
just to through a Monkey into the mix...
I'll be putting up my Monkey soon to my etsy site. Sort of a monkey wrench into the works of this post ;)

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld - Contest details

Well. The Leviathan contest - is almost closed! Enter to win now... :) for the draw for the Steampunk'd book cover I made. The draw is Oct 30th. The contest is open to Canadians - and this is a great prize. Scott has signed the copy of the book that goes with the cover - so if you are a Big Fan this is a fantastic way to WIN! :D

I got to read an Advanced Readers copy of Leviathan... which is really a fabulous Steampunk novel. I suspect it is YA - but as an adult I found it fantastic. Good solid story, interesting concept (mechanical vs a "natural machine"), and well.. I'm going to buy another copy (so i have the new cover). It allowed me to get a feel for the design - and to get the measurements as well so the book cover could be easily removed if the winner wants.

It features a really nice leather and faux-suede cover. I chose to use the faux since it is actually a lot sturdier than real suede and has an awesome feel to it. The "artwork" on it is set on a leather background - a dark near-black chocolate leather.

The main part of the book covering has a pocket watch - Swiss - dated pre-1920. I chose that particular watch face because it is around the date of the book was set. There is a bit of an abstract selection of gears at the very center. Below that a few gears flow down into a large selection of gears taken from a few different pocket watches. The larger gears are winding wheels - the nicest of which has a machined patterning called Damaskeening in it that makes it shine. That particular gear is surrounded by a Date Wheel... that is taken though from a men's wrist watch. I created a "Frame" around the leather with these wonderful brass corners that have been carefully aged to give it the look of green patina as if it were copper. The green was matched to compliment the hue of the suede.

The nicest touch that I'm quite happy with is a Steampunk Bee near the bottom of the design. This silver-plated bee has had some added elements - little bits of gears that were added to the wings, and a few extra details. I plan on making a few steampunk necklaces based around this design that will go up on my ClockworkZero site. I've only though got a very, very few of the bees though so it looks like it will be another limited edition. sigh.

I found it quite interesting the role that bees played in the book - and actually they are one of my favorite elements as well. Bees and Gears and STeampunk jewelry oh my! The illustrations by Keith Thompson are really amazing. The one with the pocketwatch was part of my inspiration. I'm currently working on 2 different bee necklaces.

Its too bad I couldn't give you all a better Heads Up on the contest. Sorry about that! I'm going to advertise the contest now...
but even if you don't win do buy the book!
I know I'll be anxiously waiting for the next one.

Do head over to http://www.leviathanbook.ca/ and enter the contest!

stumbling back into the fray...

Been ages since I've had the desire to blog. I've kept an LJ for 8 years - so really I sometimes get worn out and have to disappear for a while. But once again I'm baaaaaack.
heh.

I've been working on some new steampunk jewelry - but more and more I've been tinkering with some bone/gear and metal sculptural pieces. Sorta cyberpunk/steampunk, since they are in a way sister genres. I often though wonder if I'm alone in that thought. Is there anyone else out there who is a steampunk/cyberpunk jewelry maker? hm. I'd be happy to get to know you if so.

But there is some Big News:

Last week I was approached by Simon & Schulster Canada to help promote a new YA Steampunk novel by Scott Westerfeld called LEVIATHAN. I just got the wonderful Advanced Reader's Copy. Now my job is to make a book "slip cover"... a fancy-dancy book cover to go over the cover - allowing the reader to take it off to protect another book. Its likely been far too long since I've done leather work to do an amazing job - and not everyone loves leather. I know many people who won't wear leather - so I'm leaning towards a sewable material. I doubt it will be faux-leather, because mostly that stuff doesn't have the right feel. I am thinking though that this will likely end up being more for display vs real use... so likely the front will be quite 3D.

I've got a few ideas for it as well. Perhaps an airplane. Perhaps a bee - since bees are frequently mentioned in the novel. One of the super fancy bees might be nice but perhaps a bit too delicate. Then of course there should be some clockwork looking things right? Maybe a lovely large shiny gear? Or a pretty porcelain pocketwatch face? Some combination?

I'm going to do some metal corners too... perhaps in aged brass, some kind of scroll work.

Now I might need someone to do the sewing unless i can find/borrow/beg a sewing machine. Or i can handsew it. But ideally, I would be able to make a few of these book slip covers. They'd be perfect gifts... but I suspect they will take quite some time to make. Will people be willing to buy them is always the question.

I'm quite thrilled to be given the opportunity to do something outside of my regular steampunk jewelry. Not that i don't love it - but I love getting a challenge. I've seen many a hideous book slipcover - and I've seen some very nice leather ones too - but I am looking forward to designing something original and hopefully stunning. hmhmhmmm.

time to go shopping and see what interesting materials I can find!
Maybe I should write to Scott and see if he has any ideas. what a fun challenge!