By Madame vonHedwig on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010
I have a pouch on my adventure belt for a field observation notebook, but alas! none of my existing notebooks fit in my pouch. To remedy this I spent a snowy afternoon making myself a notebook to fit. I copied a wonderful technique from Meredith Scheff who blogged about it at Steampunk Workshop but did not include process photos. I took way too many process photos and have created a tutorial in the von_Hedwig Flickr photostream.
This is a great project to do with kids, even young kids, especially if you start with an existing notebook and cover it with this technique. I only had to buy one supply item, everything else came out of the recycling!
Read the rest of
Making a Notebook
the Camera case project
P.P. von Hedwig with Camera on Marscon '10 adventure
Some projects happen out of practicality, for example the need for a power supply with which to etch brass and copper. Others, come from the desire to make a cool piece of art, like the steampunk burlesque fans. Still others come from the desire for original and swank jank , as in decoder dials and Madam von Hedwig’s pouches. This project was motivated out of a mix of being too jaded by my digital SRL camera to use an Instamatic and being too vain to ruin fine steampunk outfits with gear so clearly of the wrong technology.
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Flash and Glitz
aka
Swanking your jank
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Working hard in the lab, the corset post and exploring the world with the family have distracted me from posting the project I have completed. While I don’t apologize for my priorities, I do make an apology to those who have been checking in.
Not only did I finish the case for the ATX Power supply for myself, but I built a second for a good friend who is a fabulous tinker himself.
Part -1
Constrution Corset, square neck brown canvas corsets
Part 2
This is part three of a living document on making custom corsets. It will be edited, revised, and have new information and links added as readers post comments. So please post your comments, questions and tips so that other can learn from your experience as well as mine.
By Madame vonHedwig on Thursday, November 12th, 2009
Ulrik in the lab
Ulrik is P. Phinneas vonHedwig’s current laboratory assistant. Ulrik had nearly finished his studies at the Academy, when his academic career was cut short with a bang. Herr vonHedwig heard about the bang, and found the cause of the explosion so creative and promising, that he took on its author as his apprentice. Though of a taciturn nature, Ulrik gets on well with the other inhabitants of the Schöneluft. In his more reflective moments, he wanders the envelope catwalks playing his violin. He and Philomena used to play duets together, before she left for the Academy, and remain great friends. Ulrik’s only unusual trait is that his hair is particularly sensitive to chemicals and energy waves, and frequently changes color due to his time in the laboratory.
Permanent link to
Introducing Ulrik
Part 1 was the custom pre-pattern
Figure 1
This is part two of a living document on making custom corsets, as it will be edited, revised, have new information and links added as readers post comments. So please post your comments, questions, and tips so that we can learn from your experience as well as mine.
By Madame vonHedwig on Sunday, September 13th, 2009
I apologize for failing to post last week. It is the end of summer, where the great airship is moored, and there was music, and music, and water, and water, all of which had to be enjoyed. After all, we must have time off from posting, so that we may have more adventures to post about! I shall try to make it up to you with an extra post, the first in a series of character introductions. Allow me to make known to you my estimable and most cherished husband…
The Fearless Fabricator
P. Phinneas vonHedwig
Electro-Etching or the electrolytic technique of etching is basically the same process as when one over charges a galvanic cell (as in a lead acid car battery or a cell phone battery) except here one wants corrosion, but warping and shorting out is still bad. This step requires a 12 volt power source, for example a car battery, a car battery charger or a converted ATX computer power supply. I use the latter, but if you a going to use a battery I suggest two things. One, remember car batteries have more than enough amps to kill you and, two, you should put a switch in the positive line to avoid sparks when controlling the current. I use 14 or 12 gauge solid copper wire for a anodes in the bath. I place about two or three for a small bath. The work piece itself is the cathode. You’ll need a clear vessel; I use a bottom ¾ of a water bottle for etching in, a mason jar for mixing the solution in, an old tooth brush, some jumper wires and copper sulfate. Copper sulfate, you say! Where the heck do I get !*?#@ Copper Sulfate. Well one needs look no further than the hardware store in the plumbing section. I bought root kill, but any similar product should work if you read the label.
To start, fill the mason jar about 2/3 full of warm. Add copper sulfate crystals and stir until no more will dissolve into the solution. After letting it sit, I found that further stirring allowed the some of the undissolved crystals to dissolve. So I added more and repeated the process, for the more copper sulfate in the solution, the better it will work. Once I was happy with the solution, I racked it off into the etching vessel, leaving the slurry of crystals behind.
Now that the solution is ready, I use an alligator clip to attach the positive power feed to the work piece, then submerge it into solution. I leave a tab on the work piece so that the clip itself is not in the solution. Next I place the anodes into the solution and clip the wire to the negative feed. Keep the anode and cathode about 1 inch or so apart. Energize the bath and the process should be visible. Hydrogen bubbles will appear and brown oxidation form on the anode.
Oxidation gathers on the anode, so to keep the process optimum, the power can be turned off and anode can be clean with a toothbrush. The cathode can be cleaned similarly but one must be ginger. Because of the amps involved, resistors are an expensive option to limit the power flow, but I have been told that one can use 12v light blubs in series, for this purpose. I am of the more power, not less, school of thought, so I have not tried this.
Once the desired level of etching has occurred, power off, disassemble and it’s time to clean the piece. Carburetor cleaner seems to remover the toner, but I would like to find a less broad, less harsh solvent. The solution itself can be reused. If let to set the oxidation will settle and you can rack the clean solution off of it. The oxidation, after evaporation, can be used with varnish to make a metallic paint. I wonder if Madam could use it to retard the growth of roots in non-food production plants?
Avoid hot electrical connections (by using power switches), open flame, and work in a ventilated area. Don’t blow this off. Why? BECAUSE THIS PROCESS GENERATES HYDROGEN GAS.
Remember, this process is using amps of power. Amps, not volts, kill and one amp is enough to stop your heart. Minor shocks can cause muscle contraction. While a entertaining effect, these a can lead to other accidents due to failing limbs. If you feel cavalier enough to work with live voltage do as a mentor taught me, one hand on your work, one hand on your belt.
Other ideas I have yet to experiment with. Notice the untested bit, please. I was wondering about having different sized anode plate, instead of just wires, and their ratio to the work piece. Trying hot water for making the solution. Also I have been do some reading about using a small aquarium air pump and air stone or similar ideas to keep the solution agitated, to speed up the process. More on this when inspiration hits.
Hmmm … electrically generating hydrogen gas….. Something I probably will not ether journal on.
Two good places to start your own research are:
http://www.greenart.info/galvetch/contfram.htm
Jake von Slatt ‘s, 01/10/2007 post http://steampunkworkshop.com/electroetch.shtml
Read the rest of
Etching (part 2)
By Madame vonHedwig on Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
For fear of little men!*
Before Yule, there was quite a bit of top secret crafting here on the airship. We promised to tell you about it, so here’s mine. Being a German family, the Nutcracker figures prominently on the mantle. (the objet d’art, not the ballet) We have acquired a small collection over the years, and in the last two holiday seasons I have added to it myself.
This year I made this one. I am nearly as delighted with the little fellow as I am with he who inspired him. It is, of course, a portrait of my beloved husband, the Fearless Fabricator. I got the hair just right, didn’t I? (Compare with the In the Lab photo)
