Sometimes I think I shouldn't be allowed access to the internet. It's dangerous.
I got sucked into an auction site the other day, lured by a beautiful antique green leather tufted couch that would be the most gorgeous prop for outdoor family photos... the bidding was only at $5, but I just don't have anywhere to keep such a thing! Especially considering that I only do portraits every 3 months or so, for a very select group of friends.
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| It looks like it belongs in an enchanted forest! Or a steampunk bar... |
On the same auction site, I came across a really neat old knitting machine, and then a cool vintage scale and a steam-punky old barometer gauge...
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| A sweet vintage Brother knitting machine |
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| Honestly though... what the heck do I need this for? |
And then I started getting ideas. Christmas will be here before we know it (!!), and I had better get a start on my gift shopping... or making, I guess.
My hubby is notoriously hard to buy gifts for. He pretty much buys whatever he wants, so I generally have to get creative if I want to give him anything meaningful. Usually he ends up with a couple sweatshirts and some jeans and socks for Christmas, which is fine and all, but pretty boring.
I ended up on Ebay (no doubt the word "auction" was stuck in my head), and for some reason I was drawn to all the old, antiquey stuff that I don't usually get in to. I think I was inspired by the mechanical nature of the stuff up for auction locally...
While you'd never guess by looking at our home decorating style, Neil loves steampunk junk, and he really wants to open a steampunk brewery/brew pub someday. Steampunk is typically considered "Victorian Futuristic" (think zeppelins, steam power and brass gears), but I think he prefers a more post-apocalyptic 50's style. I think. Who the heck knows. He really loves the game Fallout, so whatever they do in there is what I'm going for. Ha ha.
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| "Traditional" Steampunk... |
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| "50's retro" Steampunk... imagine this all rusty and you get "post-apocalyptic" |
Anyways... I first began searching for an antique food scale. Brewing beer requires a lot of measuring of dry goods and stuff, and he normally steals my little digital kitchen scale. I found a few really neat ones on Ebay, and I decided to go for the black one. I loved the aqua and red ones, but it seems like everyone else did too and the bids went crazy on them. I'm currently sitting at $25 for this nice black scale... and I love that it's got a 25 pound capacity and appears easy to read. All the numbers are legible, it looks clean, and the seller claims it "works great".
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| Pretty color... but expensive! |
And then I came across a seller with a bunch of really random stuff, and my gears started turning... perhaps the steam engine was stoked. Ha ha. I was drawn to a few items in bright yellow that were all worn and chipped up- an emergency telephone box and a pile of proximity switches.
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| Gosh, I wish this lit up... but I don't think it does. |
I have this idea in my head, likely leftover from our closet remodel, to make a lamp out of steel pipe. I can see all of these yellow boxes coming together to create some sort of contraption that looks like it has an important purpose... with random light bulbs, gauges and this funky retro clock all stuck to it.
I spent too much money. And now I wait for my Steampunk Junk to arrive...
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