Tag Archives: steampunk snow globe

That’s just so … cool!

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Tesla Coil model in snowglobe

It’s been a crazy May and starting out to be a crazy/fun June. I am starting to see signs that July could be off the charts.

Time to take a moment and thank a few folks for recent mentions in columns and blogs, or for otherwise assisting Camryn Forrest Designs in getting the snowglobe artwork out to be seen by people who might enjoy it.

Here are some recent mentions and features on the snowglobes I enjoy making:

If It’s Hip, It’s Here  http://ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com/2012/06/steampunk-snow-globes-by-camryn-forrest.html

I heard from many readers of this site, who discovered my artwork through “If it’s hip, it’s here …”   Very fun!

Illuminati Watcher   http://illuminatiwatcher.com/?p=2575

Note: You called my steampunk snowglobes “badass” and I thought it was great!

The Trend Hunter (trendhunter.com)   http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/camryn-forest-designs-steampunk-snowglobe

Thanks for the feature article and all the great photos!

Clockwork Alchemy (www.clockworkalchemy.com) part of Fanime (www.fanimecon.com)

http://www.clockworkalchemy.com/artists_bazaar_list.html

Thanks to all the jury members who agreed that snow globes were art, and invited me into the Clockwork Alchemy show. Special shout-out to Sandra Forrer, who ran the artists bazaar and was absolutely incredible about communicating with all of us. Bravo! (And she has the most amazing steampunk wardrobe, as well. Color me jealous: a new outfit every day for four days, including steampunk belly dancer.)

Epbot (www.epbot.com) Geekery, Girliness and Goofing Off   http://www.epbot.com/2012/05/saturday-steam-52612.html

Many thanks for including Camryn Forrest Designs in your Saturday Steam section. As a fan of Epbot, it was a huge thrill to see my work on your site!  Double thanks for the unrelated “how to create a patina” tutorial that I found useful for a particular project. Your timing was impeccable.

Tampa Steampunk  http://tampasteampunk.tumblr.com/post/23868973419/check-out-these-amazing-steampunk-sculptures-built

I’m just awed that you found my globes! Hope I can get out to a Tampa-area con in the future.

In the meantime, all of you ROCK!  Keep on shaking!

 

Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

 

 

Circular Logic steampunk snow globe

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One definition of Circular Logic is restating your premise in a different way and thinking it’s the answer … and after a lot of trial and error, this is certainly true of this piece. It appears to go round and round, but always begins and ends in the same place it started. The conclusion is the same as the premise.

I got a little obsessed making this tiny curious invention, with all its layers of machinery. When I was working on it, I had to set an alarm to remind me to leave the workshop, stretch my legs, eat something. I even set an alarm to prompt when it was time to go to sleep. But I’d be in the middle of making some connection, or finding the perfect component, and I’d reset the alarm for another hour, then another. It was the opposite of the snooze button, wanting to stay awake and see the gears evolve, how the connections worked, spin the tiny wheel.

As you can see from the photo, the finished sculpture was about two inches wide, and less than 3 inches tall when finished.

Placed inside the four-inch glass globe and magnified with liquid and shakeable metallic dust, the tiny assemblage looks larger. The base of the waterglobe is wrapped in leather, and finished with an assemblage of gears and levers, along with an engraved plate proclaiming “Circular Logic.”

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Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

A Little Money

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Recently, an artist friend said to me, “I just want to make a little money.”

The idea for this custom waterglobe / snow globe took that comment literally. There’s a tiny cash register, with steampunk detailing in the brass bands and tiny hardware, gear-tipped register handle, and tiny people sitting, standing and resting on the machine. But when you shake this globe, not only is there metallic glitter, but there are tiny dollar signs and tiny dollar bills swirling in the liquid when shaken.

Because, you know, it’s fun to make a little money.

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Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

Snow Globe for Sacramento Steampunk Society

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It probably doesn’t make much sense on the surface, that I would correspond with members of the Sacramento Steampunk Society whom I had never met – living in Denver and all, as I do. But I had discovered this group when I was looking for steampunk events near where my family members live, and it was such an active and friendly group, I eavesdropped on their facebook page a while, and felt as though I knew these people. They seem to enjoy each other and have so many activities! If you live in northern California and like all things steampunk, I suggest you look them up.

Well, next thing you know, I’ve got a steampunk artshow in San Jose (and members of the SSS were quite involved in putting Clockwork Alchemy together). Then I read a comment by the effervescent Alexander Watt Babbage that set my creative energy on “high.” All he said was, it sure would be nice if we had a piece of steampunk art or sculpture at our group table at the Con.

Oh, I do love a challenge.

I felt my snowglobes (about 6″ tall and 4″ wide) were too small to make an impact on a busy table with buttons, brochures, ribbons and photos, but it occurred to me to make the base larger to give the snow globe more presence. I contacted the elusive snowglobe engineer (he who solves all problems snowgobe-related), and described what I wanted: a double base, supported with metal columns, and the snow globe riding above.

He produced this as a starting point:

Unfinished snow globe structure for Sacramento Steampunk Society.

It was structurally perfect, but needed … something. I knew the support hardware would be new, but the shiny silver was jarring. As I was trying to figure out what to do to soften the color, possibly taping off some parts, and spray painting it matte gold, I happened serendipitously across a post and tutorial from Epbot, describing how to patina just about anything with the right layers of paint.

Epbot: How to Paint a Faux Copper Patina

Perfect timing!

So I tried it on shiny “fresh from the hardware store” silver bolts, using layers of hand-applied acrylics and the improvement to the supports was immediate. It looked great.

We used the Sacramento Steampunk Society’s logo and the SSS group photo inside the snowglobe (logo design courtesy Chance Von Bekke), added riveted leather straps with gears and timepieces, to work with the dark and mysterious logo, featuring a steampunk airship hovering over the California State Capitol.

Sacramento Steampunk Society original graphic, courtesy Chance Von Bekke

Next, we created a scene in the space between the upper and lower base, using tiny historical (with artistic liberties) figures. That scene includes a ray-gun-packing proper lady, a man relaxing in a time machine who looks suspiciously like Mr. Babbage in his Saturday cap, a traveler with a jetpack and a neo-Victorian couple conversing, both hiding weapons behind their backs. Here’s the finished piece, which also includes the Society’s motto on four separate brass plates wrapping each side of the base. Adding a jetpack to a figure just over 1-inch tall made me positively giddy.

Here’s a close up of the scene in the space between the two base pieces. You can see the tiny jetpack, and if you look closely, there’s a Victrola playing as well.  (And note the nicely patina’d supports – Thanks again, Epbot!):

What was totally fun was to see how many times the globe itself appeared in people’s photos of the Society’s information table over a four-day Memorial weekend.  Sweet!

Clara Blackheart photo

Chance Von Bekke photo

Chance Von Bekke photo

Chance Von Bekke photo

Clara Blackheart photo

Chance Von Bekke photo

Dragonfly waterglobe

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Dragonflies.

There are more than 5,000 species. They can fly as fast as 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour). Dragonflies typically have six legs (but walk poorly), and prefer to fly, since they have a double-set of wings. Generally, I get a glimpse, and as soon as I start to appreciate their unique beauty, they are off, darting to another part of the universe.

I was inspired to make this dragonfly snowglobe after meeting someone who seemed to be flying everywhere at once. I do not claim this artistic adaptation is scientifically correct, but it made me smile when it was finished. The dragonfly is mounted on a coiled wire spring, so it bounces slightly, like an insect holding on to a reed in the marsh on a windy day.

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Suspended in Time

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Did you ever feel like you were suspended in time?

I showed this one of a kind waterglobe (snowglobe) at Anomaly Con in Denver, back in March. At the time, I brought about a dozen globes to be part of the Artist’s Gallery display there.

While I have always liked the airy feel, and the balance of this design, I was a little surprised that many people told me it was one of their favorites. I would have bet the floating airship. Maybe RayGun One.

The design incorporates a coil of very thin copper wire, threaded through spacer shapes to make an airy spiral. There is the suggestion of a clock hand on the spiral, indicating infinite time, wrapping and warping into the future.

There is a second clear tube inside the glass globe and that tube is filled with beads and black dust, so it is a snowglobe inside a snowglobe. When you shake one, you shake both, but the black beads are suspended longer in their interior liquid chamber. The clock face, which is wrapped around the tube is a nod to the great Salvatore Dali and his melting clocks. The interior base of the globe is also a clock face, although it’s only visible to someone looking straight down on the glass globe, I know it’s there.

Suspended in Time, custom snowglobe/waterglobe, March 2012.

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