Steam Society in the News + Secret Stuff

Steam Society was featured in a little article on the NBC Bay Area Fashion page, found here.

SCI-FI SEA CREATURE: You don't have to know what steampunk is to appreciate the awesomeness of this necklace from San Francisco-based company Steam Society Designs, $28. If you're in a particular funky mood, consider their Gears Gadget Necklace, too.

Also, here is the first sneak peak at one of the images that will be used for my new fashion line that I'm hinting about but is still secret:

Infrared is Awesome.

Fast post, abbreviated text. Cool pictures!

Inrared Photography: I'm obsessed. You may/may not be familar with it, here are some examples I DID NOT take, but instead found online. Photos are taken through a camera filter that blocks out most visible light and records the IR and near IR spectrum digitally, which is then processed for different color effects. Things like plants tend to turn out looking like they are covered in snow and the sky tends to photograph darkly. These photos were all taken on bright sunny days. I just got a modified camera that will shoot IR, so I'm going to be learning how to do things like these.

Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
Not a clue where this is, but it shows how some things like dark sunglasses photograph as transparent in the IR spectrum. IR is also used for forensics and hunting. The outer part of the photos is regular and the inside of the lense is IR in b&w to show the comparison.

A church.
There are photos that I DID take, although they are just totally experiemental shots that i took as soon as the camera came in the mail. IR is usually not good to shoot indoors, but this dragon candle I have photographed an eerie white that I thought was worth showing. I'm still just begining to learn how to use this camra that I've only had for like, 12 hours.





Crazy huh? Its a dusty dark green in the standard human-visible spectrum.

Upcoming Items Sneak-Peak + Feature Update

These last few weeks have been nonstop work for me, day and night. I have lots of new stuff to show you but not enough time to get it all posted right now, but keep an eye out.

First a quick shout-out to The Daily Etsian for featuring one of my necklaces in their Up-Up-and-Away collection. Thank you!


Next, quick sneak-peak at some new items I'll be posting this week. If you're interested in purchasing any of these before they go up for sale to the general public, you can let me know at SteamSocietyDesigns@gmail.com.

Copper Sprocket Gear Necklace with Genuine Swarvoski Crystal and Freshwater Copper Pearl:

Mythological Sci-Fi Flying Hippocampus Necklace:


Ancient Brass Peace-Sign Threadcutter Razor Blade Gear Necklace:

Spinning Propeller Threadcutter Cogs and Gears Pendant Necklace:


And more to come! Alright, I've got to get back to work. Come check out the newly listed one-of-a-kind designer jewelry and fashion up this week in my store: www.SteamSociety.etsy.com

Sand By The Ton - Review 1

Steam Society goes to Sand by the Ton, fashionable hedonism ensues:


Last weekend Sand By The Ton rocked the bay area, and seriously surpassed my expectations. It was off the charts in terms of elaborate madness and mega awesome music. It was particularly bizarre for me since I'd been awake for no less than three days and manically working the whole time. The event was like something out of a delightful nightmare, with a huge San Francisco-style indoor carnival, two story indoor burlesque house performance stage, the world second largest Tesla coil, 5 swimming pools which looked super gross, and of course, sand literally by the ton.

Tesla Coil with 30" lightning bolts. Hard to tell from the angle, but that coil is HUGE and the second largest in the world. I was probably 80" feet away from it in when I took this shot.


The warehouse was so much bigger and intense than I could have imagined, and I had a totally excellent time. It was a bit self-indulgent since I spotted several of my designs being worn by participants, and I was debuting a new custom outfit which was worn by one of the headlining DJs while he played the best set I heard all night. I haven't taken close up detail shots or well-composed editorial shots of the outfit, but keep an eye out for them in the next week or two, since this is an outfit I'm going to feature in my 2009 lookbook. The pictures I took there were not super high quality and I spent most of the time tring to get my camera to cooperate with the rave-tastic lights flashing everywhere.

In the crowd, from the back:


In the Opulent Temple DJ booth during performance:

The crowd. I was swimming through the crowd taking photos, and most people are taller than me, so its hard to tell just how HUGE and EXCITED this crowd was.


Being worn in the crowd I spotted my GNR Slash Steampunk Top Hat, that I made a while ago as a custom order , and managed to snap a blurry pic of it.

Can't live without one of your very own? I have one last Adult Small left in gray and black right here. And here's another photo that a someone else took. Hat is on the far left.

That's my quick synopsis. I have more pictures/videos/etc, and I'll be posting them next week. Lots of new stuff up for sale in my store, come over and check it out!

Circus-Themed Feature

I really liked this spotlight collection that I was featured in today, so I took a screen shot to show you. It's called Circus Fun!, by PaperPlatapus. It will be live on the etsy site until Friday morning, so you can check it out here until then. My White Furry Burning Man Goggles were included, which you can take a look at by clicking on the photo of them below. Props to some of the other awesome featured artists.

A few of my favorite new items - Retro Tech Collection

Just a quick update showing off a few of my favorite new items that are up for sale in my online store. A lot of my favorite jewelry items are ancient vintage-y pieces of technology with a futuristic twist. These are a few of my favs from my new summer 2009 collection called Retro Tech.

Bronze Robot Working Clock Necklace (better than both the pusher and shover robots, yo)


Pulp Adventurer's Hot Air Balloon Race Necklace ( Hot air balloons are the oldest form of human air travel technology)

Vintage Brass Clock Winding Key Necklace


Rockstar 3D Drum Kit Charm Necklace


Explorer's Steampunk Flying Compass Necklace


Uber Elite Gypsy Opulence Necklace. One of my ultimate all time favorites, combining brass and copper with a techie brass chain form a vintage erector set. (Peter take note)


Also, I want to add a shout out to S and O productions for featuring me in both an etsy treasury and blog. Thanks Sarah! I'm also currently featured in this eyewear collection treasury. Thank you!

Wearable Technology or Bust

It's finally heating up here in San Francisco, and things are getting busy for Steam Society. First off I wanted to let you know about a few cool articles and websites I've been featured on so far this month. I'm happy to announce that Steam Society is now a listed member of Bust Magazine's shopping directory of female-owned businesses, listed here on their website.

Now this next feature is actually really cool. One of my futuristic techie necklaces was used as an example of wearable technology at the bottom of this article and interview about self-proclaimed geek and fashion design Diana Eng, who was a contestant on Project Runway and the author of the books Fashion Geek and . The article includes a tutorial on how to make this following necklace using LED lights as glowing gemstones. Not really my aesthetic style (obviously) but I love the concept of integrating technology in places it doesn't need to go.


My copper android lotus flowed necklace was used as an example of related items, and you find it in the first row of featured items at the end of the article page. This necklace IS my aesthetic style, note the differance.

Sand by the Ton - July 11, 2009

This weekend Opulent Temple and Big Art Studio will bring you a massive beach-themed mega party called Sand by the Ton. They aren't kidding, there really will be 200 tons of sand trucked into the American Steel Warehouse in Oakland where the event will take place. Crazy awesome lineup, including some of the bay area's best DJ, as well as some of my favorites. Best of all, I'm designing some brand new custom items that will debut that evening. Speaking of which, I've got to get back to work on that. If you are in the bay area, plan to be at this party.

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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.

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