Once again my work life and personal life collided this weekend when I attended the International Steampunk Symposium in Cincinnati, OH.
If you are not familiar with steampunk it started off as a literary genre in the 1980's and has since grown into a large and vibrant community of makers, artists and revisionist historians that touches every aspect of culture. The most common way to describe steampunk is as an alternate history that started during the age of steam, but moved along to present time along a divergent timeline where steam power is the primary source of power. It is a magical world of top hats, corsets, tailcoats, brass gadgets, rayguns and creations that are known as much for their style as their function.
When I checked in at the Symposium registration I noticed that all of the terminals were connected to Raspberry Pis from MCM, which were taking the place of standard computers. I will have an overview of the whole registration system in a future blog!One of the highlights of the Symposium is the Curiosities exhibit where attendees will display some of their most amazing creations for the public to view and vote on for the chance of an award. In addition to the curiosities room there are hundreds of attendees who wear their creations throughout the weekend including the Internationally known steampunk maker Thomas Willeford of Brute Force Studios.
I have collected some of my favorites from this weekend to share with everybody. I also plan to dive in deeper to a few of them and show you how some of the most interesting ones were created.
Wearables
Wearables on display included Thomas Willeford's mechanical arm and a jet pack. (Click to enlarge photos)
Weapons
Weapons included ray guns, a Medusa gun, laser rifle and a sonic screwdriver!
Objects of Mysterious Origin
Mysterious items included Gossamer the Dragon (controlled by an Arduino), lit absinthe machines and a Prince guitar music system.
Outfits Around the Con
Also around the con there were plenty of amazing costumes with glowing / moving parts including these fine folks:
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