This month is my steampunk challenge!
“How much do you love steampunk?” you ask. (Apparently enough to spend waaayyy too much time looking at pictures on the internet instead of finishing this post.)
Here. Let me show you. Join me on a journey as I figure out what I like…
The comics!
The Graphic Novel! (Yes, there are others, but this online comic is the progenitor of them all…)
Lab Specs from Girl Genius. I covet them.
This is pretty cool, for a world in which I start to go for hot style wholeheartedly in public.
See that little link over on the left sidebar at the bottom? The one that says steampunk? Click it!
Oh, there are books. So many books. A giant favorite here at the blog is The Parasol Protectorate by Gail Carriger (also sometimes called “mannerpunk”, which I love infinitely).
(We have squeed about it before. More on books coming up soon!) (for more on books, check out Books tagged Steampunk on LibraryThing)
Cherie Priest is queen of the steampunks. I love her jewel-tones. (No offense to Gail Carriger!)
One thing that I kinda like is the culture of making-your-own, in other words, hacking your clothing. io9 posits that the reason we, as a culture, embrace steampunk right now is because of a longing for machines that don’t suck. I plan to get the book they talk about there, once it comes out. In other news, it appears to have been Jess Nevins who said,”Steampunk is what happens when goths discover brown.”
The trouble with corsetry is that it requires custom fitting & construction… otherwise, I would have some. THIS CORSET on Etsy IS HOTT but sadly not my size.
The lack of real leather is what keeps me from loving the boots at Clockwork Couture, though I like some of their styles. *ponder* I am working my way towards my own personal steampunk aesthetic here, deciding what I like.
I kinda want some steampunky octopus jewelry, but I’m not sure what.
Owls: also good. Ravens: maybe overdone. Crocodiles: no.
NO NO NO to Angelina Jolie in Sky Captain. Also no gas masks. Top hats: very yes.
Funky old keys, gears: yes. Feathers, fur: generally no.
Silk, cotton, leather: yes. Pinstripes: good. Trying to look like a fairy: bad.
Long coats: cool. Edwardian rings: definitely so very yes. (no pearls or art-deco-y stuff: I’m talking filigree and micropavé [on the sides, too], delicate and nothing sticking out unconnected and not with the stone sticking waaayyy above the band [I would prefer the stone more integrated into the band, not just stuck on the top], probably a halo style, white metal of some sort, and a deep, dark red ruby which could be either perfectly round or that square-thing, whatever that’s called. Cushion, maybe. *Not* emerald-cut. Maybe oval if it was cool. Delicacy is key because I have small hands. Oh dear!!!)
Steampunk Princess Leia costume: No. (well ok, maybe.)
Have I inspired?
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
February 4, 2011 at 3:49 am
It’s funny because steampunk is so opposite to your desire to buy new comfortable penny loafers.
Steampunk is very cool. Sometimes I too dream of dressing unusual and turning some heads with my unique garb. In high school and college I definitely had a more unique sense of style, but now I just wear what’s comfortable. I will make it one of my goals someday…to be cool again.
February 4, 2011 at 5:30 am
shhhh…. the steampunk crazed one is not the loafer one… you should see the steampunk one’s new boots! #2 also enjoys steampunk but not with quite the same fervor.
February 4, 2011 at 5:10 am
Steampunk and cyberpunk. Good alternates when non-fiction gets too dreary and depressing. Charles Stross’s Merchant Princes series has a steampunk component to it.
February 4, 2011 at 7:15 am
ooh
February 4, 2011 at 12:24 pm
#1 here. I have read the first one, plan to read more. Yay.
February 4, 2011 at 5:09 pm
They’re all good. I’m on the fourth one.
February 4, 2011 at 6:18 am
Ahhh, so one is more punk than the other…
So I am a bit of a steampunk idiot. Are there actual books, or is it more of a blog with stories?
February 4, 2011 at 6:28 am
There are books! There will be books posts!
February 4, 2011 at 7:15 am
Hee! Apparently our academic readers are big fans of steampunk– huge spike in hits from Not in general interest’s blogroll. Hi academic readers!
February 4, 2011 at 9:51 am
I’m more interested in steambuns!
February 4, 2011 at 10:06 am
Those are good too. I like red-bean.
February 4, 2011 at 10:36 am
MOTHERCUEKN PORK!!!!!!!
February 4, 2011 at 10:43 am
Those are also excellent. It’s harder to find ones that aren’t nasty with the msg, but if you’re willing to make them or have a good supplier, they’re definitely awesome.
February 6, 2011 at 12:04 pm
I got to go up in the steampunk treehouse a couple years ago – it was SUPREMELY awesome. (I don’t know if you take links in comments, but surely you can poke around and find it.) I have a crush on steampunk-land but don’t feel I can pull it off myself. Or am too lazy to try.
February 6, 2011 at 12:06 pm
link away!
February 6, 2011 at 1:21 pm
This one? Cool! http://www.steamtreehouse.com/Home.html