Steam Punk - A Light Bulb Moment!

For one of my Altered Element DT projects for May I have made this little Inventors' Shadow Box. The Shadow Box is by Twiddleybitz and can be found here. I was also sent this sheet of Playful Gents by Artchix, and a box of cogs, a light bulb, watch faces, and other ephemera which I have used in this item. When I received this pack I also received some other gorgeous goodies for other projects, but immediately put these items together for a Steam Punk theme. Sorry I should have photographed the sheet of images before I cut the two out I was going to use, but I'm sure you get the idea. Some of the men are 'playful' as the name suggests, but I chose the most serious ones with the handlebar moustaches for my Inventors, Professor Hydraulious Hornblower, and his friend, Dr Luddite Sprockett.

I was very impressed with the shadow box, which comes in very solid pieces which you just pop together in a tongue and groove sort of way, so you can decorate the pieces before you assemble it if this is easier. I started off by making an A4 sheet of background paper, using the Tim Holtz Timeworks masks, Distress Inks, a background stamp, and sequin waste. I covered each piece with some of this paper and edged it with gold paint and Vintage Photo Distress ink. I made two large cogs up in black shrink plastic, and adhered the two images to my microscope slides. I stamped the frame with some phrases from Creative Expressions Vintage Aviation set, and also used some computer-generated words, some of which I added to the frame and some to the slide images. My student, Jude, said that the technique we had been doing recently with image transfer worked a treat with computer text, allowing the background to show through, so this is what I did. I made a clock from one of the watch faces with a gold cog surround, and brad legs for hands, and adhered this to the hanging section. I stuck the whole box together and stuck the cogs from the set, and the shrink plastic ones to the frame. I then stuck the microscope slides to the base of the frame, and added the words 'A Lightbulb Moment', as my inventors have just made a wonderful discovery (they didn't tell me what it was). To finish off, I punched a hole through the top of the back of the frame and dangled a light bulb above their heads with invisible thread.

There is such a choice of steam punk elements at the Altered Element, and it is great fun to look back on this period in history.