Friday, June 26, 2009

Feature Feature + Customer Appriciation

Good morning and happy Summer! Hurrrrrr. Okay, real quick before I fall back to sleep I wanted to give a shout out to two wonderful people who featured Steam Society this week and also a beautiful customer photo. Wow, if it gives you any indication of how busy I am, I got 26 emails in the time it took me to write this paragraph, and its barely 6am.

Steam Society featured in Etsy Treasury "Creature Comforts". Check out the link until Saturday morning, when the treasury expires. Thanks to KellyIsNice for curating and including me in this one!

Also this week...Steam Society featured in Affordable Steampunk Spotlight. Thanks to Jessica for including my tricked-out high wheeler bicycle in this gallery on Byhand.me. It is always especially nice to be recongnized as affordable. :)

Now on to the pretty picture portion of this post. Whew, it's a little too early for alliteration. And there I go again. This photo was thoughtfully sent by the gypsy-spirited Risto from Finland who purchased a one-of-a-kind Adventurer's Flying Copper Key Necklace. I sent along a little owl pendent, which turned out perfectly on Anna the Gypsy Queen.


Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Steam Society Featured in Alt. Fashion Magazine

This week Steam Society is being featured in the alternative fashion publication "Creepy Queen Magazine" in an article about Alternative Wedding Styles for Summer 2009. Don't let the electric lime and pink leopard print scare you, we love to support magazines and blogs that feature etsy designers. (Ok, it scares me too)

In other news, I'm insanely tired right now and trying to blink my way through a pile of urgent emails, but I'm working hard on getting lots of exciting new items up. Here's a quick sneak peak at one of my favorite upcoming necklaces.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Etsy Treasury Featuring Steam Society

This week Steam Society was featured in a beautiful Etsy Treasury called Golden Venice. One of my steampunk lolita crowns was included. If you aren't familiar with etsy treasuries, they are user-generated collections of handmade art and designs from Etsy designers that fit into the curator's theme. They are super special because they only exist for a few days before expiring and Etsy only allows a set number to exist at one time. I took a screen shot of this one so you can see what it looked like before it expires, but you can click here to check it out until the end of June 24th.

Golden Venice - created by ElenaMakesThings

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

Okay, here's hoping this post is actually visable to the outside world this time. (I've been having some technical difficulties) I wanted to wish you all a Happy Father's Day, even though it has already past by now, but I have the strange ability to blog from the past. Ooooo.

I was sorting through some boxes of stuff, in an ongoing attempt to cram my entire life into an infinitesimally tiny space that must function as my living and working quarters but is actually not big enough for either, AND I came across some old photos of things I miss. Like shorter sentences. That aren't fragments. Ranking number one of things I miss most today is... Peter!


Steam Society owes its existence to Peter, since without his help I never would have been able to make the jump to San Francisco or bring my strange and awesome creations to Steam Society's adoring public. Or the viral chasm that is the internet. Either way, none of this would be possible with out Peter believing in my crazy ideas and helping me deal with the insanity that has been the last year.

This next photo looks like it could be any number of houses in San Francisco, but it is actually a mansion in Bellingham that I was obsessed with as a child. Its hard to tell from the photo just how incredible this house is, but next time I go up there I'll take a few pictures of it. I called this house "The Purple House" because it is indeed a dark taupe-ish purple, and I was a very accurate child. Its at the very top of a super steep hill at looks vastly more intense and charasmatic than any other house in the neighborhood. I used to pick little purple flowers from the yard when I was up there with Peter or anyone else I could drag up the hill. I do have a standing offer that I will move back to Bellingham if someone will buy me the this house.


Lastly, I found a photo of me swinging that I have no memory of seeing before. Its sort of funny because I never ever wore sunglasses before moving to San Francisco, and now I rarely leave the house without them. Clearly my younger self knew it was a style that worked for me.


I think, but I'm not sure, that that photo was taken at Blodel Donovan Park, when the pavilion was still being built and now-extinct swings still existed on playgrounds.

Anyways, I hope Peter is able to check this post out and enjoy the photos. If he or anyone else wants to see these photos larger, just click on them. Also, Peter should look at this link and also this link as an example of what gears are selling for on eBay. He might also find this interesting, but shhhh.. don't tell anyone about it!

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Business Development + Casting Call

Good morning, I'm happy to report that sunshine has finally made its way to San Francisco and I am NOT COLD for the first time in months.

In my on-going quest to either burn down my house or suffocate myself with toxic fumes, I have taken up soldering in my "kitchen". Now I'm extremely tempted to try to set up an electroplating rig too. Hey, I mean, Richard Feynman set one up in his dorm room. I don't have access to a vacuum though, which may complicate things. (That's imploding vacuum, not vroom carpet cleaner vacuum, although I don't have one of those either.) I have had luck teaming up with a US based metal finishing company, and while this will increase my costs, it will insure that my jewelry and metal accessories are certifiably lead-free and safe. This is important to you, (supremely awesome Steam Society members), since I don't want anyone being exposed to the unsafe metals that are rampantly available on the internet with virtually no accountability, but also important to me (hands-on designer) since I am pretty much swimming in all my design supplies and I'm pretty sure my daily 2-3 cups of green tea doesn't contain enough antioxidants to offset heavy metal poisoning.

Moving ON. I am looking for a small company, possibly local to the bay area, to do some custom metal castings and/or stampings. I have 8-15 designs for metal pendants that I want to have produced in smallish runs and I'm interested in teaming up with a metal production company that can do fairly inexpensive custom work, either old school or CAD/CAM. Send me your leads!

I'm slowly working on getting my hand-screen-printed and chemically-altered textile stuff up and ready, and I've turned my bathroom into a toxic fume bay in the process. Here's a sneak peak at some of my scraps I was messing around with while waiting for the dyes to develop:


And just so this post isn't too boring and non self-promoting, here are two of my favorite new items up for sale. Lots more up for grabs in the Steam Society Online Store, plus a birthstone-collection-sale of freshwater pearl steampunk jewelry for June Birthdays.

Tricked-Out Retro High-Wheeler Bicycle Necklace


Uber Ultra Alpha and Omega Working Clock Skeleton Key Necklace

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Customer Appreciation Photos

Attention future and past customers: I love to see what happens to my designs after they've been sold! Become one of my favorite customers ever by sending me pictures of your Steam Society item(s) being worn. If it's okay with you and you'd like a little slice of delicious Steam Society immortality, send me your pictures and see them posted here. You'll get a nice discount on your next purchase and the highly coveted status of an Elite member of the Steam Society. YES!

Debuting my customer appreciate spotlight is the AMAZING Katja from Germany. I designed a super custom top hat for her using fabric she sent me to match her outfit. It turned out to be gawgeous, just like Katja, and she was kind enough to give me permission to post her pictures here.



You can email YOUR photos and any links to your website/blog/etc that you'd like posted to SteamSocietyDesigns@gmail.com. Don't have any Steam Society fashion to photograph?! Relax, I got you covered. You can get your very own wearable hedonism right at the Official Steam Society Online Store.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Off topic/On topic

Off Topic: Its a Star Trike, and I want one.


On Topic: Special Blog-Only Teaser of Upcoming Steam Society Fashion (Oooo!)


In other news, I've been crazy busy working on getting some of the Burning Man collection fashion ready to hit the market. Its been slowed up by the day-to-day work of running a design company, but I'm getting really excited about how it's shaping up. If only I could figure out how to sleep less... Well, I have a pile of quantum theory documentaries I'm working my way through, so maybe I'll come up with something. So, who wants to make me a Star Trike to take to Burning Man?


Things you could do:

Visit the Steam Society Official Website
Shop for Designer Steampunk Jewelry and Fashion
Indulge my shameless self-promoting at the new Steam Society Facebook

Steam SocietyDesigns's Profile
Steam SocietyDesigns's Facebook Profile