World Steam Expo

So I got a little sidetracked from my Arwen costume when I heard about the World Steam Expo. http://www.worldsteamexpo.com/ It was excellent. I would definitely want to go next year. I happened to find out about it from a notecard thing at a steampunk bookstore called "Off the Beaten Path" that I randomly visited. So I decided to go and had less than a week to whip up a costume for myself and my boyfriend. Considering my limited amount of steampunk knowledge and timeframe I'd say we did really well. It's amazing what Salvation Army and Value World can provide.

What a cute steampunk couple we make! Several people stopped to ask if they could take our picture. I wish you could see more of Alex's costume in the picture. I made his shirt out of two shirts and it has a nice gold button detail down the left side that's hidden by the jacket. Alex took a pair of sunglasses and made them into goggles.

My jacket was an excellent Value World find. I wanted to make it fit better and add more details, but I ran out of time. The shirt was another Value World find (a different Value World that is) and I just removed the collar to make it look more period. I got some capris at Salvation Army and added curtain fabric and buttons. I had already owned the corset in preparation for someday making a steampunk costume. Yay foresight!

I have never done a costume that was so accessory oriented and I felt a bit out of my element. Making and finding pieces of metal with which to work was a challenge by itself. In the upper left corner is a barrette on which I glued decorative gears and metal pieces. I bought the pocket watch, but it was an obnoxiously shiny gold so I painted it with black nail polish and rubbed in in/off. I love how well it turned out. The left pin was made by Alex and the right pin was made by me. I just connected it with a bit of chain to make it more interesting. I didn't have anything to do with making the cameo in the right hand corner, but I thought it was really pretty.

I made the earrings out of some small clock gears from The Scrap Box in Ann Arbor. I usually have a problem with asymmetry, but in this case I think it works.

Here's a pic Alex took in FX mode with his phone. I quite enjoy how it turned out and instantly found my new a Facebook profile picture. :)