Knives, Knaves and Knackering

I'd hoped to have some pictures of the goggles mid-progress by now, but my knife blades seem to have all decided to go blunt on me, or snap. Hoping to get some more at the weekend but trying to cut the plastic this thick with blunt knives is just ruining the shape.... and very nearly my fingers.

This is one of the woes of making props. The sheer amount of equipment that I have to get and replace on a pretty regular basis. There really is truth in buying good tools saves you money, my leather punch has lasted me years because I splashed out a little, but knife blades aren't something that seem to last long it seems.

Not a day goes by I don't wish I had a lathe, the things I could make I think. Then I'm reminded they cost literally an arm and a leg and I have to carve the damn thing by hand again, cursing my lack of powertools as I work.

Despite the lack of tools, I've been developing the sketches for an 'add-on' to the sketch I posted up before, it completes the picture a little, anyone guessed what it is yet?

Oh, and I'm hoping to make it big, pretty damned big indeed.

The Near and not so Near Future

So, after Asylum I've had a few ideas floating about and I had the time today to put one of them down on paper. I'm hoping to have this made for next year along with some other stuff, but I wont be saying too much about it just yet, I'll let you guys guess as to what it's supposed to be.

In other news, I've also got the first picture of a project that's been in the works for a while due to time issues (Being bloody busy) but now I've done a mockup and worked out how I'm going to make it. It's going to be a pair of goggles the character Rita Mordio wears and I'm hoping to have these finished fairly soon, going shopping for the materials tomorrow actually.

Should be some updates on the goggles coming soon and some more sketches from Asylum if I can find time to get them done!

Steampunk Goggles

Finally got round to setting up a blog, to get the ball rolling I'll post some of my earlier work up in the next couple of weeks just to get this place updated with my portfolio so I can start a running update of works in progress and inevitably some pictures of my fingers after snipping twenty tin cans apart.

To begin, here are some steampunk goggles, made from steel bike parts, hardened leather, plastic lens and leather elasticated straps, held with buckles.

One thing I've learned from making steampunk props is that working in a bike shop is the closest I'll ever get to a perfect job thanks to the scrap bin, heaps of metal and welding equipment lying around!