planishpere

When I was a kid my dad gave me this old movie theater lens. In middle school we studied light refraction, so i brought in the lens for a few days. Eventually someone chipped it, so I brought it home.
Several years later I dug it out to incorporate into my steampunk costume.
I remembered making planispheres in the 6th grade and I thought it would go well with the lens.
After making a leather case, I found instructions for a planisphere here, shrank it to the correct size, printed it, traced it, inked it and colored it in.



A planisphere is kind of like a compass that uses the location of the stars instead of the planet's polarity. This one can only be used in the northern hemisphere.

To use it, one aligns the date with the time of night. Where the line between north and south intersects the perforated circle on the chart is where the zenith {the point in the sky directly above you} should appear.
From there, one may decipher the positions of the constellations pictured and determine North, South, East, West, et cetera.

Because of the size, I had to pick and choose the constellations pictured and exclude others. Also, there may not be exactly 365 days and December is a little funny looking.

This was taken at photo shoot in {http://flickr.com/photos/koreyluna/}. I'm wearing my second steampunk{ish} costume, which was far better than the first {what can a girl do with only 5 days notice?}, though it didn't hit the target as well as the third {a couple of months is MUCH better}. Unfortunately, the only thing I made in this photo is the neckalce. Nonetheless, I'm still quite fond of the costume.


This was just before the San Francisco Edwardian Ball. I am the parade float on the left, followed by Weston, Diana, Lora, Robin and Brandon, with Kiba in front. As far as my costume is concerned, I made everything you see except for the purse, necklace and gauzy undershirt. The ostrich and peacock feathers are made up in a total of four pieces, arranged and sewn on combs and clips.


Here we are at Steampunk day at the Dickens Faire last December. From left to right we have Scott {steampunk, though in his wedding coat, as opposed to his usual steampunk ghostbuster regalia}, Winter, Brandon, Robin, Illana, Lora and I. My costume is a bit unorganized, as I had just finished sewing my costume and put it on LITERALLY in the car on the way there. Here, I made the black skirt, bodice/bib skirt/vest, bustle and various knic knacs.
I feel I should also mention that the black skirt is the same from Edwardian Ball photo. On the inside front, I installed three drawstrings to make it adjustable and change the look around. When there's no hoop skirt it has the slightest train, which, though attractive, is incredible annoying when people step on it. Here's a better photo of my costume looking better. Again, with Robin and Brandon. This one features the bithin' gators they gave me, as well as my goggles. Because, after all, it's not steampunk unless it has goggles. Nikola Tesla himelf could return from the dead riding a brass dirigible, sprinkling the masses with superfluous gears, while Edison stomps about in Dr. Arliss Loveless' giant mechanical spider, destroying everything made or invented after 1890 and the whole thing wouldn't be steampunk without at least one pair of goggles tossed in somewhere.

entry one/steampunk gauntlet

So, this is my first entry, and though I feel I should I guess I don't have much to say at the moment. I created this blog at the suggestion of a friend, to keep track of my adventures in crafting and to see what other people are creating out there.

I suppose this would be a good time for some photos:


this was my second leather project. I made it to go with my steampunk costume.

I got the vials at the Container Store. Since these photos were taken, i filled them with a mixture of sugar, potassium nitrate {which, when melted together, make smoke bombs} and copper carbonate {which lends a nice teal color and burns green}. The proportions arn't perfect and it burns a little weird, but I haven't exactly needed to burn it.The vials on the inside are secured with little leather loopies like the ones on the outside.