Hot Rod Jen Pinstriping Gallery at Pinhead Lounge

Hot Rod Jen Panel Art

Last year we put up a post about ace pinstriper Jennifer "Hot Rod Jen" Skidmore of New Jersey, with a link to her SmugMug galleries. Just love her work. Now we just found that she's got a huge gallery of work up at the popular pinstriping site, Pinhead Lounge. The girl is not only talented, she's really prolific. If you love pinstriping and Kustom Kulture, check out her Pinhead Lounge gallery.

Steampunk Tendencies

Nutcracker Rat Bikes at Steampunk Tendencies

A lot of awesome steampunk craft work, art, vehicles, and costumes for your weekend viewing pleasure at Steampunk Tendencies blog.

Art Donovan's Extraordinary Steampunk Lamps & Illuminations

Art Donovan "Tesla" Wall Lamp

Art Donovan is an extraordinarily talented designer with a flair for steampunk aesthetics. He brings these talents and sensibilities to bear on the design and fabrication of incredibly detailed and beautifully constructed lamps, lights, clocks, and mechanisms. Donovan is also a leading chronicler of the steampunk subculture; in a post last year we featured the first edition his book, The Art of Steampunk, which featured not only his work, but that of other excellent artists and craftsmen in the steampunk scene (a revised second edition was published this past summer, see our Amazon link below).

Steampunk Tendencies Blog

Crossbow Archer from SteampunkTendencies.com

SteampunkTendencies, a great big photoblog for steampunk art, costumes, mechanisms, clockworks, lamps, and mods.

Seaweed & Gravel Blog and Vintage Bikes

1972 HD Sprint for Sale at Seaweed & Gravel

Seaweed & Gravel is a SoCal based company with an eclectic line of interesting products: vintage and custom bikes, vintage apparel and jewelry, surfboards, boots, bonsai trees, and other things. Check out their cool blog and current and past inventory of vintage and custom bikes.

Hot Rods & Harleys Magazine, New Kustom Kulture Motor Mag

Hot Rods & Harleys Cover, Issue 2

I put up a post yesterday to draw your attention to the very cool kustom art and pinstriping of Hot Rod Jen... Found her SmugMug.com gallery while googling for pinstripe panel art. I was so impressed that I just googled again today to find anything else by her and came across a mention of her at the website of this new print mag, Hot Rods & Harleys. She is a contributor there.

This little pic doesn't do the cover justice... it's hard to tell here, but a larger, better pic of the original panel is up at their Facebook page.

Hot Rods & Harleys has just begun publication, the awesome panel art here is the cover of issue 2. From their "About Us" page I get the impression that a focus on  the work of custom painters and pinstripers is the thing that will set them apart from all the other hot rod and Harley mags on the market.

You can subscribe at the website, or find Hot Rods & Harleys at Barnes & Noble.

P.S. I did not mean to imply that the cover art was done by Hot Rod Jen... I will try to find out who is and update here later. Meanwhile, here's a link to a better picture of the panel.

Jake Von Slatt's Steampunk Workshop Blog

Jake Von Slatt Guitar Tube Amp

Check out master steampunk-craftsman Jake Von Slatt's Steampunk Workshop for all sorts of cool steampunk events, music, crafts, and more.

The steampunk-themed guitar amp you see here was designed and built by Jake Von Slatt for Nathaniel Johnstone when he was with the Seattle steampunk band, Abney Park.












       

Portland Mini Maker Faire, Pt. 3: Steampunk Creations of Chuck Dolence

Chuck Dolence at his Portland Mini Maker Faire Booth

Chuck Dolence displayed his a collection of his "Musanical" artworks at the Portland Mini Maker Faire. Chuck builds these intricately detailed metal sculptures from found mechanical objects and discarded musical instruments.

The "Cymbolic Explorer" 

Chuck is a devout Christian who sees his work as a "redemptive" activity that he likens to God's redemptive work on behalf of abused and discarded individuals. By analogy, Chuck takes these discarded things and makes something new and beautiful with them just as God can do with a broken human being.

See Chuck's website for his other works that he calls Cosmicanicals and Floranicals.

Steampunk Arts & Crafts Materials

Amazon Supply is a great source for Steampunk project materials, such as brass, copper, adhesives,brass nuts and washers, gears, metalworking tools, leatherworking tools, etc.The Amazon bookstore is, of course, a great source for Steampunk how-to project books.

Check 'em out.

         

The Art of Steampunk

Art Donovan Steampunk Lamp

I just read through this cool book of steampunk art, costumes, and kinetic sculpture last night. It's written by "steampunk lighting master" Art Donovan. It gives some of the history and origins of the steampunk subculture in science fiction and art, and features photo essays on the work of seventeen prominent steampunk artists, costume makers, and craftsmen from around the world, including the lamps designed and fabricated by the author.


The idea of steampunk originated in imaginative literature in the Eighties (though some will argue that famous/notorious sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock was ahead of everyone there in the Seventies). I'd say it really got its start with the Sixties TV show, The Wild, Wild West, which I watched regularly when I was a kid.

Well, I could write a lot more on the subject, but want to focus here on the book... it's beautiful, printed on great stock, and the photographs are excellent. The works featured are products of fertile imagination and top-notch craftsmanship.

Huaro Suekichi Watch & Bottle Carrier

The essential steampunk fabrication materials are brass, copper, wood, and leather, so everything has this Victorian era look and feel about it... by design. I especially like the custom laptops of Richard Nagy, the "Datamancer," and the copper, brass, and leather gizmos of Japanese artisan Haruo Suekichi.

Check it out, and maybe take in an old episode of The Wild, Wild West while you're at it... the TV show, not the Will Smith and Kevin Kline movie (can't recommend that!).





    

Theo Jansen's Wind-Driven Strandbeests

One of my coworkers brought in to work today this really strange looking little plastic contraption with a propeller on it. It was a rather complicated, skeletal structure, never seen anything like it. Hit the propeller with a fan and the thing would walk across his desk. About a half dozen of us gathered around and said, That's geeky cool! It was too good to not do a post about it... (I'll try to remember to take my camera into work tomorrow and get a pic of it.) So, I asked, where do they come from, and where do I get one? He said he built it from a kit, and if I looked up "strandbeest" on YouTube I'd see the real thing in action... Here's what I found about the Strandbeests and their creator:

Theo Jansen of The Netherlands designs these awesome kinetic sculptures, these works of art that he calls "Strandbeests." In English, that is "Beach Beasts." They are entirely powered by the wind on the beach. He has been evolving their designs over a period of twenty years. Someday, he hopes to have evolved them to the point where they can roam the beaches of Holland autonomously, like living creatures.

Check out Theo's Strandbeest website. It features Strandbeest design details, videos, event dates, a webcam and more... You can even purchase and assemble your own Strandbeest from kits that he sells there. Note that the component pieces are fabricated by the Shapeways 3D printing service, a very high-tech concept in itself!
I've included a link below where you can purchase the kit that my coworker built. Also, I've included a link to Theo's book about his work, which includes a DVD.