Announcing DIY Steampunk Goggle Kits Now for Sale

Hi everyone!  I'm very excited to officially announce a new product I have for sale.  I've been working on this for a while now and debuted it at Comicpalooza.  They are now for sale in my etsy shop: DIY Steampunk Goggle Kits!

Goggles are one of the most popular steampunk accessories.  Real leather and metal goggles can be exquisite works of art and they can also be outside an affordable price range for many people. They are also some of the most difficult to make yourself.  Especially if you want goggles made from real metal and leather, their construction can be intimidating for many people who aren't experienced with these materials.  You can find various tutorials online that will show you different methods of construction, but they require finding very specific materials and using heavy power tools.

So I had the idea to make it easier to construct your own goggles.  My kit comes with all the materials you need to make a pair of genuine leather and metal goggles.  The metal parts are constructed from chrome-plated brass plumbing couplers, which aren't the easiest thing to find, especially for a reasonable price.  More importantly, we've done the difficult work of cutting the couplers to shape to make angled eye cups, and pre-drilling all the necessary holes.   We've also cut and shaped the acrylic lenses to fit these pieces perfectly.

In addition to all the necessary materials, the kit includes detailed step-by-step instructions on their construction, with full-color photos of each step.  These are of similar quality to the instructions that come with my sewing patterns, which have received some very nice praise.

Every effort was made to make this kit as complete as possible, down to including a tube of E6000 glue with each one.  There are a few tools which are required or recommended to help with the construction and they are: scissors or utility knife or rotary cutter, pencil, ruler, and rotary punch or hole punch or awl.  A screwdriver may be useful in tightening the hardware fully.

As mentioned all the metal parts are chrome-plated.  Solid brass pieces are becoming more and more difficult to come by, and are at least three times more expensive than chrome ones, so I opted not to include them for cost reasons.  The brass colored goggles in the photos are very convincingly painted with Liquid Leaf paint in "Brass".

My hope with this kit is that it can function as an introduction to steampunk crafting for those a little wary of starting a project like this on their own.  I also hope people can personalize these goggles to their own taste by adding different paints, metal parts such as filigree or gears, accessories such as eye loops, and even stamped designs on the leather.   They can also be custom fitting to the wearers head size or hat.

I've been very excited to finally debut this idea that struck me one day a couple of months ago.  I'm looking forward to feedback and hopefully to seeing some finished goggles incorporated into your outfits!

The Steam Ingenious DIY Goggle Kit, available at my Etsy Shop.

Baroness Violet's Knitter's Companion

I have a lot of projects and posts in the works, but I've been working furiously to get ready to vend at San Japan in August, so you'll have to excuse the lack of posts.

The only project I've been working on just for me is my Knitter's Companion Arm Bracer.  And it's finally finished!

I freely admit that this project was inspired by someone else's creation: the incredible Tailor's Assistant bracer by Mardigan Enterprises.   When I first saw it I was blown away and tempted to buy it.  But then I started thinking.  I don't like sewing by hand.  I don't do embroidery or anything in public.  So I don't actually have a need for the tools on that bracer.  What I DO have a need for are my knitting tools.  And a plan started to form.

The first step was to figure out all the tools I typically need and try to find steampunk equivalents.  The scissors were easiest, as I already owned a pair of small gold colored snips that look a bit antique.  I also had a gold colored thimble, and although it's not used in knitting, I might need one for emergency costume repairs.  For the rest, I started hunting around ebay and etsy to find appropriate tools.  The most important one for me was to find something cool to act as a stitch counter.   I looked and looked for brass stitch counters or tally counters.  They apparently do not exist.  So I got this vintage silver toned tally counter.  I also bought a gorgeous vintage brass hexagonal needle case and a brass measuring tape from the 20s.  Unfortunately the tape was in worse condition than I thought and was nearly unreadable.  When I tried to clean the rust off it with vinegar, it disintegrated.  So although I loved that case, I had to give it up.


The antique cloth measuring tape I have here actually came from an estate sale in a large container of sewing stuff.  The funny thing is that it's actually a measuring tape made to estimate the weight of a calf.  One side is inches and one size is estimated pounds at live birth. Which was so weird I had to keep and use it.  My favorite stitch markers are plain brass ones from Knit Picks and I put them in a glass vial.  The final tools are a gold colored cable needle I owned and a small crochet hook with I actually added at the last minute, since it's occasionally a really good idea to have a crochet hook when knitting.

The finished bracer before adding anything.  

Then came the difficult part: figuring out how to get all this stuff on an arm bracer.  Well, actually, no. Next came figuring out how to make an arm bracer.  This was actually quite easy.   I've done a little bit of leather working before, but I'm no expert.  I have a few basic tools and had leather on hand.  But I would have probably been in trouble if I hadn't found this awesome tutorial on making leather bracers.  Seriously, if you're looking for a first leather project, I HIGHLY recommend this tutorial.  I wish I had started with something this easy and clearly written.  Also, you don't need any special tools.

I love my anvil!

For the bracer I used some really thick leather that I got a while back for cheap.  It's really too thick for my taste, and difficult to work with, but it was ideal for this.  (It was supposed to be 6-8 oz thick, but I'm convinced it's more like 10-12).  For the attachments to the bracer, I used a much thinner leather leftover from my earlier leather projects.  It's the perfect weight (which I'm not sure of) and embossed so it gives it an extra feminine/Victorian touch.  My favorite way to dye leather is to dye it brown and then go over that with black antiquing gel.  I also got to use my new small anvil, which my husband bought for me at a garage sale.  It really makes riveting easier, and made working on the shaped bracer possible.

To attach all my objects, I mostly played it by ear, while still trying to plan out where everything would go.  The stitch counter was the most difficult, since I had to wet-mold a leather cover for it, but then attach it so that I could still remove the counter in order to reset the count.  (The reset dial is on the back.)  It took me two attempts to get something that would work for that.  Most everything else was pretty straightforward, using pockets or simple loops.  I did find the scissors wouldn't stay in the pocket, which is why I had to add that strap to hold them in.  And the thimble was tricky.  I had to look closely at Mr. Madrigan's design to see he had a hole in his thimble that he threaded the leather strap through.  So I had to get my husband to make some cuts in the thimble with his Dremel.

The closure went through some changes.  At first I had planned to use straps and buckles, but before I started I realized that the straps would be kinda tricky, plus I would need to buy buckles.  So I decided I would lace the bracer on, as in the tutorial.  This would allow for better adjustment for comfort, I figured.  I intended to put brass grommets in the lacing holes, but the grommets I have (for corsets) weren't long enough to go through this thickness of leather.  So plain holes it was.  I intended to lace it with leather lace, but that ended up being pretty uncomfortable.  And then I realized I had made a massive mistake.  I had forgotten to attach my measuring tape to the bracer.  And I didn't really have any room left.  So I once again borrowed inspiration from the Madrigan bracer and laced it with the cloth measuring tape.  It's much more comfortable than the leather lace, actually.  And it means I will have my measuring tape close by.
The final finishing was to glue soft faux suede on the inside of the bracer.  The underside of the leather was really rough and not something I wanted rubbing against my bare skin.  And with that, my Knitter's Companion is done!

I'm quite happy with it.  For someone who isn't really a leather worker, I think it's pretty impressive.  It's a bit awkward to wear because it's heavy and has a tendency to slide down my arm and press against the wrist bones. I'm hoping with some wearing it will work better.  But I'm quite happy with it, and it will certainly make finding and carrying my knitting tools much easier.