Steampunk Christmas - a Christmas card with handmade steampunk googles and lights!

I entered a card competion at “Ski treffet” last weekend. The task was "Steampunk and Christmas".  I have never made any Steampunk before - had no metal gears to use - and did not really know where to start. I tried to find out what Steampunk really is - and found, that it`s a combination of Victorian vision of the future and science fiction. I thought the idea was just creasy - so I decided to just make the card/project completely crazy.

Without any gears - my search for gears started. Someone told me to go and find old watches - although new watches have few gears. 

Then I found this "Pandoras box” of a clock at a second hand shop - and it made my day :)

After looking through a lot of steampunk pictures - I decided that - in almost all of them - the people in the digistamps or pictures had Steampunk goggles. Then I decided to make a set of goggles to put into the card - just like tea lights in a tea light card.

The goggles are made of the cardboard center of a roll of kitchen cloths - but the cardboard center of a toilet roll or kitchen roll can also be used. The thicker the cardboard roll is - the better.  The cardboard roll has been cut to shape, and covered with paper.

The nose bridge on the glasses, is a recycled part of a draw handle (the nob has been removed). The straps are med from fake leather - and a recycled watch strap buckle has been used to close it.

The glasses are actually made of small sea though acrylic makeup containers. I also made a small draw for them, to place inside the card. 

OK - As if the goggles were not crazy enough - I decided to take it further. I wanted to place battery operated lights inside the card - with a switch that turns on the lights when you open the card!

So this is the inside of the card - with the lights, and the glasses.

The draw can be placed inside the box in the card. The motive is from Dulemba, coloured with promarkers

Wiring diagram for the lights

The switch itself, is a screw on the side of the card and a metal ring slotted inside the edge of the front of the card. The metal meets when the card is opened, which turns the switch on.

The front of the card.  A mixture of old clock parts, pars from a sewing machine and gears, cut with the silhouette.

The front of the card also has a working iris made ut of paper! I had a good look an the net for templates, however, the templates I found - were a bit wrong - so I redid it to make it work. 

________________________________________________  

Templates and Copyright - Please read.

This is my own template. The inspiration is from pictures of several metal Steampunk mechanical irises. You are free to use my templates, and publish your own craft. However, it would be nice if you link back to me. Please do not sell or publish my templates, as they are or edited! My templates are copyrighted by law.

Dette er min egen mal. Inspirasjonen er hentet fra bilder av flere mekaniske metall Steampunk iriser Du kan fritt bruke malen til å lage dine egne arbeider. Du kan også fritt publisere ditt eget arbeide. Jeg ville imidlertid satt pris på om du linket tilbake til meg. Du har ikke lov til å publisere eller selge mine maler, som de er eller redigert. Mine maler har copyright under  Åndsverksloven.

_________________________________________________________  

The motive is from Dulemba, coloured with promarkers

I am entering these challenges:

• Stampwithfun - challenge 183 3-papers
• Ooh la la creations - challenge 116 Christmas sentiment
• Nordsalten-hobbyklubb - Utfordring 63 - Jul
• Kreative hender - Utfordring oktober - God jul
• Totally stampalicious - Christmas card or project
• Whimsy inspires - Challenge 52 - All things sparkly
• Abc christmas challenge - Up to you
• 2 sisters - Challenge 113-anything-goes.html - Anything goes
• Simon says stamp and show  - My favorite (Christmas background paper)
• Trimmies craft - Challenge 177 - Use metal on card
• Bearly mine - challenge 57 - Anything goes
• I love promarkers - Challenge 139 - Anything goes
• Emerald faeries - Challenge 34 - Anything goes
• Deep ocean - Challenge 36 - Anything goes