EPBOT

I see a lot of amazing steampunk costumes from you readers, but Hilary P.'s is particularly drool-worthy.

First, here's the concept drawing she started with:

Absolutely breath-taking, Hilary! The over coat, the layered skirts, the lace gloves - it's all making me green with envy. I'm also pretty sure I have that exact same belt with the round buckle. Heh.


Next up, you might remember Melissa as the reader who made that fantastic steampunk medal for her fiancé to wear in their engagement photos. (And doesn't he look dapper in it?)


Well, Melissa's fiancé is now her husband (congrats, guys!) and this is the gorgeous steamy boutineer she made him for the wedding:

Her guy is a big VW fan, so she incorporated the logo in with the gears and hand-stitched felt leaves. I love the color choices, and the composition is perfection!

And even though it's not really steampunk, I have to show you guys Melissa all blushing and beautiful with her felt-and-vintage-button bouquet:



Here's something you don't see every day: a steampunk motorcycle:


Shannon M. spotted this out in the wilds of Daytona, and she snapped several photos with her phone for me. I can't say I'm a fan of the leopard print seat, but that's a minor quibble with amazingness of this caliber:


Those wheel spokes are grommeted leather, and I love all the shiny copper and brass gear accents. The headlight is pretty sweet, too:

I don't have any details on who made this, so if you know, please tell me in the comments!

[UPDATE: Shannon tracked it down! The bike is by Copper Mike - and it's even for sale! Hit the link for more details & pics.)


And finally, Abney Park is the most famous steampunk band out there, and their new(ish) video Steampunk Revolution doesn't disappoint:

Oh, and while we're talking steampunk music: my personal favorite is Steam Powered Giraffe. I've mentioned them before, but just had to plug 'em again, since they're not nearly as famous as they should be. Here's their sweet old-timey ballad, Honey Bee:

 

Their first album gets regular play on our modernized vintage radio - although I just noticed they replaced one of my favorite songs, "I Am Not Alone," on the album over on iTunes - no doubt because the girl who sings it is no longer with the group. Pity. Anyway, hit that link to listen to snippets of all their songs, or go to their website for physical CDs.

Seen something steamy this week? Then please, share the goods in the comments or over on the Epbot FB page!

Wednesday night John and I went out to Disney for some serious picture-taking. I mean, we brought a tripod and everything. ;)

The new Fantasyland area has been open - albeit unofficially - for several weeks now, off and on, and I wanted to get some shots of the new Little Mermaid building and the Be Our Guest restaurant - not to mention Cinderella's castle with all its icy Christmas lights. (SO. PRETTY.)

With my aversion to trams it took us a while to walk in to the TTC - of *course* they parked us at the farthest possible lot - but I did Ok on the ferry. So long as it's not too crowded or hectic, the ferry is open enough that I don't feel penned in.  

(And thanks again to those of you who pointed out I can walk in to the park from the Contemporary - we've done so just once so far, but it's a relief knowing I have a back-up plan if my anxiety flares up in the future!)

Finally - FINALLY - we were in my favorite park, and we had about two hours of daylight left to wander and snap pics sans tripod.

 The Emporium has their animated Christmas Carol windows up:



And the Candy Shop displays never disappoint:

I intended to make a beeline straight for Fantasyland, but the Dapper Dans were out, so cue the Jen fangirl squealing:


Oh, and I realized why I love the Dans so much yesterday, too (you know, besides the awesome music) - their puns!! They rattled off a ton of holiday-themed puns that had everyone groaning, and at least one girl whooping with glee.

Also, their rendition of Christmas in Kilarney is gorgeous. Be sure to request it if you see them before January.


Moving on, we finally made it to new Fantasyland. We were there too late in the day to see the restaurant, sadly (lunch ends at 2:30, and you can't go inside during dinner hours unless you have a reservation), but I took some pics outside and on the bridge:






Further along we discovered Gaston out posing for pictures. We ended up stopping to watch for a few minutes, because it turns out Gaston is freaking HILARIOUS. 

Gaston doesn't stand - he leans. He flirted shamelessly with all the women, kissing their hands and telling them how lucky they were to meet him. Then he'd whip into a bunch of rapid-fire Zoolander poses that had everyone rolling. Next time I'll get some video, because you guys really have to see him in action.

John didn't know that the Little Mermaid ride was already open and running, so he was pretty excited when we made it over to the jaw-dropping ride exterior:

The wait was only 40 minutes, so even though I doubted my anxiety would let me ride, we went in to photograph the queue.










There's a lovely mural on the back wall featuring Ariel and Eric's ship, and the ride cars are the same clam shells used on the Finding Nemo ride:

While cruising Pinterest last week I found this simple nutcracker makeover by Allison of House of Hepworths:

And since Allison mentioned the nutcrackers were from a dollar store, the next time John and I were out we swung by our local Dollar Tree, and...score!
I quickly ripped off their beards and hair and headed out to the garage for some spraying.

After priming them all I painted one each in gold, copper, silver, and gloss white:
I loved the gold and silver, but the copper just didn't look metallic enough for me. But I reeeeally love copper. So, after a little thought, I broke out some sparkly copper glitter:

We got this glitter sample pack from JoAnn's a while back for my Figment mask. That little packet was just enough to coat the entire nutcracker:


To apply the glitter I just brushed on a thin layer of white craft glue and sprinkled the glitter over top. Messy as all get-out, of course, but also really fun!

Rather than covering the entire figure, I left the arm and leg bands glitter-free, as well as the base. Then I went back and added copper foil around those areas for extra shine:

 Finished! It's hard to photograph glitter well, but trust me when I say this guy is SUPER sparkly.

Now for the gold and silver guys:

These are the spray paints I used, and I highly recommend both. The silver in particular sprays and pools beautifully. (The secret to a great metallic is to let it pool slightly, but not so much that it will start to drip or sag.) The gold is a thinner paint and a lot more likely to sag with heavy coats, so be extra careful with it.


These nutcrackers are made from terrible quality wood (hey, what do you expect for a buck, right?), so even with a several coats and a little sanding they're a bit rough and grainy in places. Still, from a slight distance, not too shabby!

I wanted these two to have something a bit more, though, so next I added some tiny nail gems and metal accents:


The gold is my favorite - he almost looks like a little brass automaton! - but I think these two make a nice set together.

And as for my final nutcracker, well...


I planned to add multi-colored gems all over him, like I've started to here, but as you can see the wood on this one is a lot worse than the others, and the high-gloss white magnifies every crack and bump. I'm thinking I might dunk him in glitter, too. Unless you guys have any other ideas?


Hope you liked my quick 'cracker re-do! I have a few more ideas I'd like to try, too, so I'm thinking another trip to the Dollar Tree might be in order.  :)

Oh, and here's my attempt at recreating Allison's awesome pin:


And if you're on Pinterest, you can find my own boards here!