Hypnogogial's Steampunk(ish) Death Ray (pew pew pew)

I am not a steampunk artist as much as I love the look of it, as I only found the genre' fairly recently and my mind doesn't often come up with a steampunk idea. (I am more of a surreal/fantasy thinker)

If you put steampunk into google images, you will see a lot of two kinds of things: Goggles and guns...ray guns mostly. (pew pew) I decided the ray gun idea was worth giving a go after I came across a cheap Chinese nerf-like gun for 2 euros that I could take apart. (it is almost impossible to work on something with moving parts if you can't take it to pieces and put it back together again.)

It took me two weeks to do. There were a lot of mistakes to undo (don't use stove black, it doesn't completely dry) and a lot of "humm, nah, maybe" going on. The amount of two part epoxy I used was astounding really (I love that stuff)...there were three colors of spray paint (not all spray paints are alike, the white base coat went all crinkly when it dried -- panic! Sand paper -- pfew!) and mixed acrylic paint put on by hand to get the rusty look, coppery look and the cast iron look of the grip. Of course there was also a lot of 'things' I stuck on. Jewelery findings, painted paper, an old spring bracelet, copper thumb tack, grommets, bone beads, leather...the 'ray emitter' is a small drawer pull.

I forgot to take a picture of the gun before I did anything to it, but when I realized how much I was changing it, I took a picture so the original color could be seen on the inside because once was done it wouldn't come apart again (really do love that glue).

-paint and glue can disguise anything-

-under-

-over-

-finished and ready to blast away Morlock's who wander too close-

I have a victorian end table this would look PERFECT on!

I LOVE steampunk objects! Too simply put, Steampunk is Jules Verne-esque altered art, clothing, props and 'devices'. Dark wood, brass, copper and cast iron are the favored elements, and often gears are used in the decoration even when there is no reason (which makes a few serious steampunkers crazy evidently. "If it is not mechanical, why by the 9 hells would it have gears?").

I don't remember how I stumbled across steampunk in the first place, but I have spent many hours simply going through google images marveling at one object after another (and snorting derisively at a few...I may talk about craftsmanship at a later date) One object became my favorite: Datamancer's Steampunk Laptop. Photos of it are always what I show people as the prime example of the genre'.


I have a twitter account that I rarely use or look at, but I follow Datamancer on it. Just the other day I logged on after months of ignoring it, and he tweeted about a 'steampunk object' that had got it completely wrong. (so very wrong that I am still laughing) Realizing he was around at the moment, I tweeted to him that I thought his laptop was the best steampunk object ever, and did it still work? He tweeted that it does but it needs a new battery and power source.

It was really great to finally be able to tell him I love his work (even though I had to gush in 140 characters or less)! You should see the rest of what he has done. "Warehouse 13" used one of his keyboards on Artie's desk...I recognized it immediately. One of these days I will get on the waiting list to have one of his keyboards made for myself.

The question I asked him is the one drawback to giving certain technology the steampunk treatment though. (or covering it with diamonds) Computers quickly become out-dated or go wonky all too easily...laptop #4 at my fingers right now. Still, Datamancer, when ever you get tired of looking at your clockwork masterpiece because it is just collecting dust, send it to me and I will give it a place of honor! Working or not, it is a piece of art.