Perambulator 2.0

We had a very successful meeting last night. Many of the camp projects were moved forward, especially the items for barter and trade. AP's apothecary idea was a great one and should go over well.
The Great Leslie volunteered to get our finances in order and is sitting next to me plugging away at it as I type.
TBone gave us his updated idea for the cyclorama project. Which has now become a whole-camp decoration.
The most up to date version of the Perambulator was presented as well. It's still a work in progress and has a long way to go 'til it's playa ready.

I'm hosting a Peram work party on 5/20 at the usual place. Here's a small list of on-going construction stuff that we need that I'd like to avoid buying; bike chains, bike chain rings, rear deraileurs, rear wheels, soda cans, velvet, leather, lace, shade fabric, foam for cushions, and anything brass or copper. I've been finding a lot of cool detail stuff from old light fixtures and towel bars. Keep your eyes open.- Professor Fate

Nice period costumes

This site has some very nice period correct formal costumes for men and women. I don't think that I'd buy from this site (I'd rather thrift-store-it), but it's a great reference. Their pocketwatches are neat as well. I'm thinking I'd like to have two different costumes to wear when Perambulating. One would be the crazy Steampunk Captain similar to my previous post. And one would be a gentleman's outfit similar to this one at left.
A funny coincidence-this guys name is Alexander Parrish (AP), Medical Doctor. Take that Bugger.

The Apothecary is open for business

Here's a few examples of those bottles that I've been messing around with. Thrown in for effect are some old coins and a bag I picked up at 826 Valencia. A pirate store. Steampunk skypirate coins, of course.

And if you're in the market for a new digital camera, here's one that is both damn cool, and will fit our theme pretty well:

Amazing animation

Here's a beautiful little movie I found at Brass Goggles. The best site on the net for all your Steampunk curiousities.

More inspiration

Good ole' Boing Boing - a Steampunk mouse.

Spy photos from the workshop

We had another productive day at the workshop yesterday. AP came by and worked on the design for the rear of the carriage. He got crazy with the polyurethane glue. The dowels were salvaged from the dump. The end result is quite an interesting detail. We all agreed it looks like a pipe organ.I worked on the design for the new front end. Since the new rear used up both halves of the coffee table I had to look elsewhere for inspiration. And I found it in the form of a broken pedestal fan I had in the garage. (hoarding 1, minimalism 0) Using smaller steel that I scavenged from some salvaged fencing I set to work. I created the curves with a conduit bender and a lot of trial and error. I was making things up as I went along. I plan to take all of my ideas and put them into a model tonight to try and figure out the whole front design. I imagine a curving, almost bullet shaped front. We'll see.
Here's a shot of the work from the front. It shows the fan blades that I'd like to use. The idea is to put the blade back in it's normal place, line the grill with fabric and then light the slow-moving blade from behind. Should be a neat effect at night.

Steampunk Captain costumes

I found a neat sight that had a drawing contest to create a Steampunk captain. There's lots of great ideas for costumes here if this is your interest. It certainly is mine. Here's my favorite.

UPDATE! We -no longer- need a Caster!

The Perambulator design requires a caster to carry the extended rear weight. Here's one I found online. It will be up to the job.

A pretty good price. But the shipping is $12 more. So I thought I'd cast the net to see if anyone knew where we might get one for free or cheaper. Maybe a local shop or a junk place we might scavenge one from? Anybody have any ideas?
UPDATE- I bought this caster online. Should be here by Wed.

WOW! What a great day!

We had quite a productive day over at the Perambulator workshop yesterday. It was pretty impromptu but we eventually rounded up 5 of the group to get things started. In the morning AP and I took all of the unnecessary parts off of the cart. Then we removed the rear shocks/springs and replaced them with steel tubing. This will prevent the cart sag with all the extra weight. When The Baroness, The Amazing Leslie and Baron of All showed up we took the cart out for a stress test. We even piled on two teenagers. We were all impressed that the cart didn't seem to mind all the weight.
Next we got to work on the steel frame. Using the model for reference B of All and B of Less set to work cutting the steel to length. AP worked on cutting the table top in half for the end details. The Great Leslie worked on the overall shape of the exterior and did a lot of grinding. I worked on welding. Everyone contributed ideas for structural and detail elements. Things took shape quickly. We had a large portion of the frame done when The Baron and Ness left for the day. (Thanks for lunch!) The rest of us soldiered on. Leslie worked on the boiler for the vehicle. (An old air compressor tank.) While AP worked on hardwood flooring for the cab and passenger area. We finally punched out around six. We were exhausted.
But the end result is pretty impressive. We've got a lot more work to go but if this first day is any indication I'm sure we'll reach our objective before the big week. I'll send out a more formal email next time we have another work party. Go team!

Here's a picture of Aristotle in the side yard he helped clear. He is standing where the cart once sat. Many thanks for all his hard work.

Cart is up and running

For those of you on the edge of you seat with anticipation I am proud to report that the cart was liberated and, after tinkering, is up and running. See for yourself. Next step, Perambulator conversion.

Good news from the Perambulator workshop! I've finally convinced my sibling, Mr Hoarder of All to allow us to borrow this sweet ride for our project. It needs a little work to get it running again but it will be plenty powerful enough and should save us a lot of money and time. The downside is that he'll want the cart back when we're done with it. Presumably looking the same way as when he lent it to us.

The bad news is where it's currently located. For those of you that don't know, my brother is a hoarder to the highest degree. Mostly cars and parts but he also has a lot of furniture and rusty old tools. The problem is that a lot of this crap is between the cart and the free world. In the pic to the left(click to zoom), of the side of his house, you can see the cart in the background. The exit gate is behind the camera. 1. Is a non-running '70 Mustang. 2. Is a running '71 Torino. 3. Is a questionable 70's pick-up and 4. is a trailer made from an old pickup bed. All running cars share the same battery. Between 2 and 3 are 8 derelict automatic transmissions. I've been meeting with professionals all week and plan to make a cart rescue attempt on Sat.. I will report any successes. Failure is not an option. Following this recovery I will be ramping up the work schedule for the Perambulator for those that would like to assist with it's creation. Wish me luck.

-Professor Fate, Search and Rescue

Navigational Equipment Secured

So I was tooling around this flea market in Johannesburg, South Africa, and I came across this fellow's stall who was selling "antique" navigational equipment (made in India). He had real sextants and the like - but given that our devices may not make it back from BM alive, I opted for the equally showy, but less functional, cheaper version. Above is the sextant (including nifty wooden storage box), a compass, and a sundial (it uses a compass and some other fancy stuff that I didn't really understand to tell time! Honest!). The sundial comes with a leather case, and all are shiny brass. Steam punk GPS.

Strange missive from Africa...

photos may follow, if the technology gods favor me...

The Green Fairy

Greetings from the un-Africa: I have a free day in this opulent hotel in an upscale neighborhood of Johannesburg, South Africa, which feels more like Pacific Heights than the Africa I know. Rather than venturing out to explore the wilderness that is the Rosebank Shopping Mall, I figure I would try the painfully slow internet and attempt my first blog entry.

Since we didn’t get around to trying Absinthe at our last get together, let’s go over the drink, and its ritual. Wikipedia has taught me much, and I shall break it down for y’all.

A brief history of the booze:
Absinthe is an anise-flavored liquor (think black licorice) that is made using flowers and leaves from Artemisia absinthium or wormwood. The first clear references to Absinthe as a drink with fennel and wormwood are dated from the 18th century, but there are records of wormwood and wormwood extracts as medicinal products as early as 1550 BC and was used by the ancient Egyptians and the Greeks. Apparently Absinthe was given to French foreign legion troops in the 1840s as a fever preventative, and when they came home, its popularity took off. By the turn of the century, it had become a very French beverage. However the move was already underway to ban the beverage (banned as early as 1898 in the Belgian Congo)!

Absinthe had been blamed on numerous murders throughout Europe, and this was attributed to the chemical thujone found in wormwood (interestingly, there is also a lot of thujone in sage and sage oil). Though hypothesized to act on the same receptors in the brain that THC uses, this was later found to be false, and the concentrations of thujone in absinthe are far too low to have this affect (pity!) – even in recipes of absinthe from the 19th century. Slowly folks came around, and since the 1990s, there has been quite a renaissance of the drink.

How’s it drunk?
Absinthe, or ‘the green fairy’ as it’s known by some, has a little ritual attached to drinking the stuff. By itself, it’s very strong (both in terms of alcohol and the various oils in it that give it its characteristic pale green color). Pour yourself a modest shot in a glass, leaving plenty of room (1). Place an absinthe (slotted) spoon over the glass, and put a sugar cube on top (2). Pour water over the sugar cube, allowing it to dissolve and melt into the glass (3). Add enough water to dilute the absinthe from 3 to 5:1. The drink should be cloudy (4), and is now ready to drink.

If you think adding this optional step may help to get you laid, try this: put the slotted spoon and sugar cube over an empty glass and pour the absinthe over it. Light the now-soaked sugar cube on fire. As the sugar cube begins to caramelize and brown, begin to pour water over it, as in step (3). Make sure her drink is a lot stronger than yours.

Bottoms up and à ta santé