ADHD, part the second

The disadvantage of ADHD is, as mentioned previously, that frequently things I should be doing are supplanted by the interesting things that distract me, and fifteen minutes after I start clearing the table I realize that I spent five minutes actually working and ten minutes gathering supplies for my next craft project.

The advantage of this is that I have an easily impressed husband who fully supports my ideas and endeavors, and when he comes home and see that none of the items on my to-do list are crossed off, all he says is, “so, what’d you do today?” And then I show him my shiny new creation and he is impressed. (I have the most awesome husband!).

So yesterday I made a hair fascinator/pin thing; I’ll probably tweak the process if I do another one, but for now I’m content with what I’ve got.

First, I crocheted a little flower:

 

and then glued it to a washer:

 

Next I took a 6mm glass pearl bead and threaded it through the middle on a headpin, then glued the washer to a hair clip purchased from Joanns. I glued the end of the headpin to the back of the washer, and the finished product looks like this!

Yay!

Thoughts? Suggestions for improvement? Like or dislike? Let me know!

Boneshaker

So whilst waiting for my new hair fascinator to dry (next post), I decided to poke around on the interwebs, and now I am freaking out–Boneshaker, the amazingly awesome first novel in the amazingly awesome steampunk series by Cherie Priest, is going to be a movie.

!!!!!

I fell in love with this incredible author when I read the second novel in this series, Dreadnought, (oops, yes, I skipped–it’s about a nurse! I couldn’t help it) and absolutely adored her steampunk nurse Mercy and the fabulousness of having action scenes told from the viewpoint of the tough chick patching up the wounded (as a nurse, this was the best way to read action sequences EVER).

Admission: I am currently only halfway through Boneshaker, but I’m completely in love with everything about it, and the idea of getting to see all this brought to the big screen is making me literally quiver with excitement. A movie!!! Exclamation points!!! I’m so excited!!!!!

Read more about it here: http://www.cheriepriest.com/

ADHD

So today, I decided to clear off my dining room table, for several reasons: one, my husband and I can no longer eat on it without shuffling things around to make room for our plates, and two, I needed a space to take pictures for the new header (isn’t it great? I love the steampunk photo editor app I bought recently for my iPad-it makes taking and posting pics so much fun!) Of course, once half the table was clean, I had enough room for picture taking, and then looking at the collage of  cool stuff got me thinking about new projects and ideas, and I thought up this really cute concept for a hair decoration. I love pinning flowers in my hair to secure or dress up a simple style, and I would love to incorporate my love of steampunk into this, so I thought up a design for a little fascinator using dark brown crochet thread, a pearl, a washer, and perhaps a few other bits…we’ll see. The end result of this burst of inspiration is that my dining table is now sporting a half covered in piles of stuff I have yet to sort, and the other half  is now already full again, of beads, thread, and various other craft supplies, awaiting that magical hour while I rewatch firefly and let my fingers do the thinking.

But it’ll be a really cute project! I promise, table, you shall eventually be clean!

FAQs

So I thought to start things off I’d post the answers to the questions I am most commonly asked by newbies when they first hear the term “steampunk”

1) What is steampunk?

In the eloquent words of Richard Castle (season 3 episode 4–it’s really great if you want to watch it here;
 steampunk is “a subculture that embraces the simplicity and romance of the past, and at the same time couples it with the hope and promise and sheer super-coolness of futuristic design.” The writer’s on that show are brilliant, and I love Nathan Fillion…anywho, steampunk is usually about the Victorian age re-imagined. Sometimes this takes the form of an alternate history or future, or sometimes a completely separate fantasy world. In any case, much of the appeal of steampunk is that it’s so loosely defined–there are really no rules, only general guidelines. It’s a fantastic realm of expression for any creative medium–art, costume design, literature, interior design, crafting…there are limitless possibilities. At this point, I mostly quote Castle and then tell people, “it’s pretty much the coolest thing you’ll ever come across.”

2) Why are you so weird?

Umm…my family is still trying to figure that one out, but I pretty much have always been obsessed with history and every sort of creative outlet (sewing, writing, crocheting and knitting, building models, etc.). So for me, steampunk is just a great excuse to express this natural craziness.

3) How can I get involved in this super-awesome steampunk thing?

Great question–that’s the whole point of this blog! You can read about it (I have book recommendations) watch movies (I can recommend some of those, too) and go to events! (see the calendar, coming soon!) Check out the steamstylegirl deviant art (http://steamstylegirl.deviantart.com/) to look around at some of the cool things I favorite, and keep researching–and enjoy!

Welcome!

Welcome to SteamStyle, a new blog on all things steampunk! I’ll be posting a variety of things related to this awesome genre/subculture, including updates on the outfits I make and piece together, events I attend (probably mostly in my city of Phoenix), people I meet and books I read…etc. Please feel free to send me links to the interesting things you may find or create, so that I can know about them too!