Steampunk Chronicle Reader's Choice Awards

I am very surprised and excited to announce that this blog was the winner of the Steampunk Chronicle Reader's Choice Award for Best Blog!

I truly didn't expect it, so thanks to any and everyone who voted for me.  And remember to check out the other winners here. 

Friday Finds: Some of my favorite Steampunk Hats

While I'm recovering from surgery, I'm stitching away at some top hats.  So I thought I'd post some of my favorite hats.

 I adore this mini top hat from House of Nines Design.  The use of colors, the trim, the fantastic veil....I find it very inspiring.  It's also my favorite size for a mini hat.

This Steampunk Touring hat from Steampunk Threads captures the Edwardian craze for wide hats with lots of STUFF on them.  I keep thinking I want to make this style of hat but never have the right outfit for it.

 Here's a lovely traditional man's top hat in some non-traditional colors, from Machete and Sons.   I love when steampunks do unexpected things with color.

For something truly unique, check out the work of Organic Armor, as evidenced in this top hat.

With the mad hatter shape, leather accents, corset lacing, and lovely wrap, this may be the ultimate steampunk top hat by Gypsy Lady Hats.

Of course if top hats aren't your thing, you can try a bowler, like this one by Richard Symons Art.










And I haven't even touched on tricorns, or shakos, or pith helmets, or western styled hats or any number of other possibilities for steampunk headwear.  Well, some other time, I suppose.  Happy Hatting!

What's your preferred style of steampunk hat?  What do you wear most often?  Is there any style you WISH you could wear or own?

A brief rest...

You'll have to bear with me this week, blog readers.  I have several cool things in the works, but as I had some minor back surgery today I'm not going to get anything together immediately.

 But as a teaser for posts to come, topics include: a NEW EASY way to paint a steampunk gun, recovering a parasol, and my first blog contest!

In the meantime, have you seen the new McCall steampunk pattern?

I'm pretty damn impressed with it.  It's got a bunch of useable pieces to mix and match with your existing outfits: jacket, tie-on bustle, fishtail skirt, and bloomers. 

Friday Finds: Steampunk Gun Tutorials

One of the most popular steampunk crafts is to decorate, mod, or build your own gun.  I did a tutorial on painting a steampunk gun myself.

But there are other great guides out there.






This Instructable is a fantastic guide to painting aged metal and wood grain looks onto plastic guns.  Seriously, you need to read this before painting a gun.

Epbot has an excellent tutorial on making a raygun from brass candle holder parts, glass bottles, and wood.








And finally, this is an excellent, although lengthy, video on how to steampunk a plastic gun, including making rivets, painting, and adding bits.

Corset Myth #3: Corsets Are Bad For Your Health

Previous posts in this series are here and here.

Corset Myth #3: Corsets Are Bad For Your Health

This is a really difficult myth to escape.  Corset wearers are used to receiving comments online whenever they post pictures of themselves in corsets about how bad the corset is for their body.  These comments are generally based on nothing in particular, except for the fact that everyone knows corsets are bad for you.

But where did this idea that corsets are bad for your health come from?  Well, for one thing it's repeated ad infinitum in modern media and fiction.  But the first rumblings about negative health effects of corseting started in the Victorian period, and generally came from two sources: doctors and quack medicine purveyors, and the corset industry itself.

So first let's consider how much we should trust anything a Victorian era doctor says about anything.  No, really, think about that.  Now consider that corsets were blamed for a lot of conditions when they affected women and the doctors didn't understand what was happening.  Never mind that these same conditions also affected men.  The problems which doctors of the time would attribute to corsets we now understand to be symptoms with other causes. (See this excellent article for specifics. )

So why would corset manufacturers talk about negative health effects of corsets? Why, to tell you that THEIR brand of corset didn't cause those problems, of course.  So called "health corsets" were big business at the time, though looking at the patent drawings, there is rarely any significant difference from other corsets.  They are still corsets meant to tightly cinch the waist, which is what people would assume causes the health problems.

But what health problems are corsets supposed to cause?  You know, I'm not entirely sure, because anonymous internet commenting is so rarely specific.  People will mention skeletal deformation and moving organs around.  So let's talk about those.

You've probably seen images something like this, which are sometimes used to show the extreme effect corseting has on the body.  First of all, comparing the effects of corseting in the Victorian period on women's bodies to modern corseting isn't really fair, because in the period girls started wearing corsets at a young age, and their rib cages grew into a conical shape as they aged.  This is an effect that is nearly impossible to achieve by someone who starts wearing corsets as an adult, once the bones have fully ossified.  The only part of the ribs that can actually be reshaped with dedicated, daily waist training are the floating ribs.

While I'm on the subject of ribs, can we please put to rest for once and for all the idea that women have EVER, especially in the Victorian period, had ribs surgically removed?  I had someone bring this up to me just a couple of weeks ago.  There was no such thing as elective cosmetic surgery in the Victorian period.  Mostly due to the extreme chance of death that ALL surgery carried in the time before the discovery of antibiotics.  Moreover, Victorian women had no need to have ribs removed, because lifelong waist training meant their ribs were already trained to a stylish shape.

But for the most part, modern corsets do not compress the ribs, and instead focus on the fleshy waist area between ribs and hips.  You will see, even with serious tightlacers, that their ribs tend to be much larger than their waist.   As I mentioned, it takes daily wearing, sometimes up to 23 hours a day to reshape the floating ribs.  So the typical way in which we wear corsets today (for special occasions, for costuming, on the weekend) has really no chance of making any permanent changes to the skeleton.

What about the organs?  Does corseting sometimes shift and restrict the organs of the body?  The answer is yes, but it doesn't follow that it is harmful.  The biggest effect corseting has on the body is that it restricts the space that the hollow organs such as the stomach and intestines have to expand.  Which means that you can't eat as much while wearing a corset, and should avoid all carbonated beverages, since there isn't room for expansion.  Trust me on this one, you will become very uncomfortable if you are tightly laced and you drink a bunch of carbonation.

But the extent to which corseting shifts your organs is extremely minor compared to how much they shift during pregnancy.  This is one reason why women can achieve much greater reduction with corsets (at least initially) than men, because our organs are meant to easily shift around.

The final negative health effect of corseting that will sometimes be mentioned is that corseting weakens the muscles of the back and abdomen.  You will often hear that Victorian women couldn't even stand up without their corsets because their muscles were so weak.  That claim brings out my skeptical face, because certainly women spent time out of their corsets and were able to move around.  I will allow that possibly some women had difficulty standing for lengthy periods of time without a corset.  But you have to remember, again, that these are women who wore corsets their entire lives and therefore never developed the musculature all of us have as a matter of course.

Can habitually or constantly wearing corsets weaken the muscles of the back and abdomen?  Yes.  By taking the strain off those muscles, they get less use.  Corset wearing does not result in six-pack abs.  Is it possible that weakening these muscles by daily corset wear over a long period of time could result in back problems when not corseted?  Yes.

Personally, I have very severe back problems, that started at the age of 17 and involve deterioration of my spine.  I started wearing corsets as an aid to my back problems, because I couldn't stand for longer than 10 minutes and couldn't sit upright longer than 30 minutes.  With a corset, I can stand for up to 30 minutes and sit for up to 4 hours.  So it's a significant aid for me to have the support of the corset and the light traction it provides my spine.  So I certainly believe that corsets can be extremely beneficial for back problems.  But I will also always recommend that anyone who wears corsets daily also commit to doing some back strengthening exercises.  Yoga is fantastic for this, but you can also find simple routines and exercises online to make sure your back and ab muscles don't deteriorate.

So as I hope you see, there simply isn't evidence of serious health problems arising from corset wearing.  Even with the most severe reductions of tightlacing waist trainers, corsets can be worn safely.  Naturally if you have any discomfort or problems that arise, you should loosen or remove your corset.  Trying to tighten a corset too severely or too quickly can lead to temporary problems.  Also some things such as overeating, consuming carbonated beverages, not hydrating, etc, can lead to problems while wearing a corset and you should educate yourself about corseting "best practices."  But wearing a corset is certainly not dangerous and does not damage the body.

Do you have any stories about corseting and health?  Are there other myths you want to see me tackle?  Share in the comments.


Corset Myth Series:
Myth #1: Corsets Are Painful
Myth #2: You Can't Breathe In A Corset
Myth #3: Corsets Are Bad For Your Health

Friday Finds: Steampunk Coloring Books and Paper Dolls

I'm introducing a new feature for this blog: Friday Finds!

Every Friday I'll be posting cool things I've found from around the web.

Did you know there are steampunk coloring books?  Amazon has several for sale.

A Steampunk Journey: A Coloring Book

This looks like a classic styled book that I like the look of very much.

Steampunk Stained Glass Coloring Book

16 different steampunk stained glass panels make this book quite attractive

The Steampunk Coloring and Activity Book: Containing Illustrations, Recipes, Formulas & Other Activities to Entertain & Entice Creativity for the ... Among the Youth of Today & Their Progenitors

This book promises not just coloring, but a whole range of activities to keep children entertained.

Creative Haven Steampunk Designs Coloring Book

This gorgeous book seems to focus on steampunk fashion and accessories, and is VERY reasonably priced at the moment.

Steampunk Paper Dolls

And a little something different, Steampunk Paper Dolls.




Which leads me to the next item:

Corset Couture Paper Dolls

Soo tempting!















 There shouldn't be a problem finding something to keep the steamy kid in your life busy.  Or yourself.  I know I've enjoyed coloring books as an adult, and some of these are quite tempting.  I wish I had the time...

Has anyone tried any of these books?  What did you think?
Do you have something you think should be shared with my readers in a Friday Finds?
Email me at steamingenious@gmail.com.


Salutations!
Baroness Violet

Steampunk Bargain Shopping: Yard Sales and Thrift Stores

I know this blog has been all about the corsets recently, but that's what I've been working on, so that's what I have to share.  But I did manage to get out of the house to do some serious thrift store and yard sale shopping this past weekend.  I thought I would share my strategy for looking for items with steampunk potential.  All photos are of things I got in one day of shopping.

You can't guarantee that any given trip to a thrift store or yard sale will yield anything good, so the way to find the good stuff is to make thrifting/yard saleing a regular habit.  My husband checks the local ads every week for yard sales and tries to visit whatever ones he can during his Friday lunch break (since locally sales run Friday-Saturday.  This varies by region.)  Whichever day is the first day of the sale, that is when you are likely to find the best stuff.  But that doesn't mean you shouldn't go looking later in the day or on the second day.  I only get to go on Saturdays on rare occasions, but you can still find good stuff, if you know what to look for.

So what SHOULD you be looking for?  Well, let's break that down.

Clothing
The first thing you will see at yard sales and especially thrift stores is clothing.  Most yard sales don't

really yield great steamy clothing finds as most of their clothing tends to be childrens or very cheap items.  Still, you never know what you'll find and it's possible to run across nice coats and jackets, shirts, pants, etc.

You can find good hats sometimes, especially at estate sales where we sometimes find "old lady hats" or "church hats" that can be fixed up.  Around here you can always find cowboy hats; I imagine you might find other styles of hats elsewhere.

At thrift stores, I start with the formal clothing and look for any cheap, nice formals that can either be modified into steampunk clothing or used as a fabric source.  Unfortunately I've noticed the cost of nice dresses has risen at thrift stores recently, so it's not always the best deal.  Next I look for Victorian styled women's blouses, men's and women's vests, striped or checked pants, and finally I hit the linen section.  The linen section has been the source of my best thrift store finds, as I've found gorgeous window panels, sheets, and tablecloths to use as fabric.  The window panels especially can be a great buy.  I've gotten silk blend panels for $2.

Belts are a good item to look for.  Everyone needs a belt and you may find one really cheap while thrifting.  You can also use belts for straps for other steampunk projects, such as goggles, harnesses, or as straps for large guns.  You should also check out the shoes to see if you find anything in really great shape that would work for you.

Finally thrift stores are great sources of leather, whether that comes from purses or jackets or other leather garments.  Today I bought at pair of leather pants for $2 and I will be cutting them up to use for various projects.

Knicknacks
This is where you can really find some great stuff.  Most yard sales are just tables and tables of random junk.  Often I wonder why people go to the trouble of having the sales just to sell such crap.  Except for crap made from brass.

Ok, maybe not just brass, but mostly you are looking for metal items.  Buy any brass candlesticks you find, so long as they are cheap.  Typically I will just continually pick up items and turn them around to see if I think they would make good gun parts or additions to other steampunk gadgets.  You don't want to buy anything really cheap that will easily break (unless you want to break it) or which the finish will rub off.

Tutorial: Cutting and Tipping Steel Boning With Heat Shrink Tubing

I recently learned a new way to tip corset bones and I HAVE to share.

It's possible to buy corset bones pre-cut and pre-tipped, but they are significantly more expensive if you buy them that way.  Which is why I recommend that if you're going to make corsets, you learn to cut and tip bones yourself.  This method will work with either spiral steel or flat steel bones.



Materials:
Continuous roll of spiral steel boning
Boning Cutter
Heat Shrink Tubing
Candle
Pliers
Craft scissors






The boning cutter is one I bought from corsetmaking.com.  It works great.  I believe it is just a cable cutter, but one made for cutting heavy steel cable.  This is what happens if you try to cut steel bones with a cable cutter that's NOT made for cutting steel:

 

Tutorial: Repairing a Worn Corset

I wear corsets HARD.  I have a daily wear overbust that I wear every day, often putting it on and taking it off several times per day.  I also like my corsets to come down low for extra back support, which puts stress on the bottom of the rearmost bone, which invariably works it's way through the fabric, no matter how strong the fabric is.



My current daily wear corset recently developed this problem.  In addition, there is wear from the laces across the back edge of the corset, as you can see.  Otherwise the corset is in good shape, so I need to get more wear out of it.  

It's actually fairly easy to fix this problem even if you've never made a corset.  So long as you have basic sewing skills, you can repair your corset fairly easily.  












1. The first step is cutting a strip of material to patch the corset.  Mine is imported coutil, which is the original material of the corset and the strongest I can use.  I cut my strip 2" wide and the same length or a little longer than the length of the corset.














2. Fold both sides on the strip in to meet in the middle and press.

3. Unpick the stitching on the binding of the corset for about an inch.

4. Cover the back edge of the corset with your folded strip.  Position your needle at the edge of the folded strip, making sure to catch the back at the same time.  Make sure your strip doesn't hit any of the grommets.  Mine hits right on the edge of them.

5. Replace the binding, wrapping it from front to back, tucking all the ends in, and stitch the binding down.

The back edge of your corset is now super-reinforced with two extra layers of fabric.  It should add months or more of wear to your corset.

And now I will be doing what I should have done from the beginning and add flossing to the ends of these bones to help prevent this from happening again.  It's too bad that I'm horrible at embroidery.