I'm Baaack!

I'm here and not remotely prepared to face the day of laundry and inventory that awaits me. I'm certain to give a more thorough analysis of the weekends Maker Faire experience but here's the quick rundown. I wish I could say that I saw many wonderful sites and explored the maze of creativity that abounded and the fair, but truth is I arrived at 8 each morning, trudged back to the Carnival Mechanique and laid anchor. The crowd volume was intense and there was little time for anything other than minding our tables and talking to the hundreds, perhaps thousands of people that swarmed by us. I literally did not use the bathroom the entire time I was at the fair.

The wind was awful both days requiring us to continually rescue our own displays as well as our teammates. This also made it almost unbearable cold in the shade, so awesome outfits were hidden by wraps and jackets. We also had the added bonus of a steam powered locomotive directly behind us that sounded its horn at intervals throughout each day causing us to stop and plug our ears mid conversation. The sport of choice was browsing with a side of extreme business card grazing, but I think all the members of our group as well as the folk that sent in items to sell, sold something at least. Though I have yet to do my inventory, I think I did fairly well overall. I feel that at least the trip did not end up costing me any money.

The absolute best parts of the faire for me were the people. I heard and uttered the phrase, 'I know you from the Internet' countless numbers of times. I finally met all me new best friends form the steamteam and found my blind date fear of rejection was ill founded and they were fabulous and my daughter bonded unexpectedly with the other Pamela aka ClockworkCrow. I met several folks from instructables and got my special button for my presence on their site. I also spent many hours explaining tatting as well as Steampunk and I think we brought many people into both camps.

I have much more to share, but for now, here's a few pictures...sorry to say they were not many taken...except by complete strangers.

Why SteamPunk?

It is a fair bet that you have at least heard or seen the term SteamPunk recently. It seems everyone is talking about it, but if you've missed it, SteamPunk is just the most recent subculture to stray into the mainstream spotlight. I'm not going to try to explain the genre, that is best left to the countless SteamPunk blogs and other web resources. What I would like to do is try to explain why people go steam.

I am no stranger to subcultures, while I've never gone "all in", I've been part of one or another most of my life. All of them have some key elements in common, sure they all have distinctive fashion and style and many have a music genre to call their own, but where they are exactly the same is that they fill an emotional need and that is what draws in the hardcore members. The easy example to go with here is Goth. Most kids have a certain degree of normal teen angst, going Goth allows them to acknowledge and deal with that angst on the surface. Sure many people just like to wear black and listen to dark music, but the true Goth embraces the emotional support of others just like them. Even as they are rebelling, they are finding a place to belong.

So then to SteamPunk, just like Goth, it fills an emotional need to belong. What is different about SteamPunk is that it acknowledges a sense that we do not belong. The core of SteamPunk is a time that does not really exist, a time that is wrong whose elements do not belong together. That melding of past that never happened and a future not likely to exist has created a place where anyone, no matter how much of a social outcast can co-exist. It is not a depressing place like Goth can be, but rather a place of pure fantasy.

Sure, a lot of people have been adopting the SteamPunk aesthetic lately just because it is stylistically appealing. I know that I love the Victorian fashion and it doesn't hurt that my tatting fits right into that. Some people dig on the gears, leather and futurist tech, but like any trend its mainstream popularity will eventually wane. The lasting result will most likely be that when you see that goggle wearing freak on the street, you will know that she's into SteamPunk. The subculture will likely take its place beside Goth as something everyone knows about with goggles and geared jewelry featured in Hot Topic, but not something the masses will all adopt. This is of course just fine with me.

If you'd like to immerse yourself in some more SteamPunk info check out these links I've gathered.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk
http://www.brassgoggles.co.uk
http://steampunkworkshop.com/
http://www.steampunk.republika.pl/arch/opedia.html
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1595812/20080929/index.jhtml
http://etsysteamteam.com/

Happy Weekend

I know I usually don't write on Saturday, but I thought I'd at least leave a little eye candy for you since I am lucky enough to be featured in two treasuries right now.
















I'm also really happy with my two most recent creations so I thought I'd give you those pictures to look at as well. The one on the left is the Grand Circus Daisy. It was inspired by a Storque article on Circus couture which is described as one of the many sub-genres of Steam Punk. The one on the right is Gears of Grace. It was named by one of my steam team friends Elegant and is the first successful merging of gears and tatting. I promised I wouldn't jump on the gear bandwagon unless it looked like it belonged in the design and I think this was spot on. The design actually came about while I was trying to create a rectangular motif for another steam team member Zkitten. So, see Z, I haven't forgotten, I'm just easily distracted.
See you all on Monday when I'm certain to have something new and witty to say, if not, I promise I'll fake it.

Steam Team Style

It's all about the steam. Or is it? The evolution of my tatting style has found me within quite a few genres over the last couple of years. It has been described as Gothic, Ne0-Victorian, Steam Punk, Shabby Chic, Classic Victorian and even Rockabilly.

Every single time someone suggested that my pieces would fit in a genre, I found myself trying my hardest to make more pieces in that style. I suppose I was just trying to make sure that I deserved a place in their clique. Here's the thing though, I am not good with cliques, never have been. So eventually I always give up trying to fit in and go back to making whatever pleases me.

A couple of months ago whilst googling myself as I'm wont to do on occasion, I found someone on a steam punk board talking about my jewelry. I have always liked the steam punk movement, particularly as it is depicted in many anime movies, though I hadn't actually intended my jewelry to be steam punk fashion. After reading the comment, I got all excited and almost immediately began a search for gears and watch bits to add to my pieces to make them even more steam punk. Then I came to my senses again.

Look, I love that people who like my pieces come from all kinds of different style bases, but I am so finished with trying to fit in with any one of them. Sure, I'll make a piece with an obvious vibe every once in a while, but the truth is, I like too many genres myself to ever pick just one to fit into. When I was in my first street team, it had a Gothic focus and I would actually feel weird about about making a piece that wasn't in black. If I had continued to feel that way, I would have never made my scarves, and you know how I feel about my scarves. I'm glad to have joined the Steam Team, because they are wonderful people and I'm glad to have new folks who like my pieces to work with and offer support.

In the end, my style is my style. It is not defined by anyone else and though it's likely to change as I grow as an artisan, it will no doubt still feel the same to me.