Prof. Uncle Festa Steampunk Inventions

Prevaricateroscope, and a great Steampunky-movie

jdalton3au — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 03:44:59 +0000

In one of my recent RPGs I needed a SP “lie-detector” aka a “Prevaricateroscope” (detects prevarication). So I built one (patent pending). Here’s a spiffing image (below) of the device when it is not detecting and thus no blue glow is to be seen emitting from the tube.

Also I re-watched this haunting and profound short (15 minute) movie – The Anachronism (2010), with image below. Worth watching at http://www.theanachronism.com/movie.html. I think I’d like one of these in our front yard.

The Thing from Anachronism

Prevaricateroscope

Extraordinary Voyages

jdalton3au — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 02:14:14 +0000

The world today sometimes seems very grey and plastic and dull. But if you look hard enough you can find some amazing creativity. I’m not usually into Disney, but this is SP brilliance!

http://voyagesextraordinaires.blogspot.com/2010/03/tokyo-disneyseas-mysterious-island.html

This site also has *many* excellent posts and outstanding images eg, one on “Kyoto: Tradition, Temples and Trains“. I drool over the steam trains but the other pics are wonderful too. Also see the many posts on old movies eg: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1907).

More Steampunk RPGs- too much fun!

jdalton3au — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 08:23:33 +0000

So, over the last while I wrote yet 3 more Steampunk Role-Playing games which I then ran at Arcanacon 2011 and Conquest 2011. “Airship Mayhem” was a murder mystery with lots of drama and action for a group of Airship Navigators plus the Snoots family. It involved ethereal pistols, people in the dark, sneaking around, building various devices and more. “Snoots Family at the Circus” was set at a (surprise) Circus, but featured various SP devices and some odd red glowing stuff. I also wrote and ran a third game that was more a gothic horror/SP cross-over, set in Transylvania and titled “Murder on the Transylvanian Express” bwahahaha. Think vampires, ethereal digging machines, vials of mysterious substances… and here’s some pictures from the various games. There’s Count Wolfenbach, some Airship Francs, an Ethereal Reflectoscope, Angelina, the 3 clowns, and Ringmaster Sir Henry Longbottom.

Some great Steampunk websites for design ideas

jdalton3au — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:20:42 +0000

So I’m into the next phase of beautifying, decorating and generally steampunkifying my office space, which led me to check out (again) some of my favourite sites, vis: The Steampunk Home, Klockwerks, and Carefully Molded.

This place is amazing: The Steampunk Office Tour (check all the pages).

Also I’m a bit inspired by the wild designs at this Polish gent’s site: Ferroneria.

Here’s a taste:

Jules Verne study- really!

Very cool clothing etc reference site

jdalton3au — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 11:34:40 +0000

This site has great info on Victorian era men’s and women’s clothing, house plans, architecture and interior decorating etc. http://www.victoriana.com/Fashion/EuropeanDressInDetail.html

Amazing Steampunk organ workstation

jdalton3au — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:03:32 +0000

Wow, this is beautiful! About 15 years back I built a cyberpunk workstation but it never looked as cool as this. Hmmm, it give me ideas. http://www.steampunkworkshop.com/organ-cockpit-desk

My latest Steampunk RPGs

jdalton3au — Wed, 12 May 2010 09:56:34 +0000

Sir Reginald Snoots- he's from South Africa you know

Well I’ve been busy writing Steampunk RPGs- 4 in the last 6 months, which is part of why I haven’t posted much for ages (also my Dad had aggressive cancer and an operation- thanks God he’s better now).

The first 2 RPGs were “The Mysterious Disappearance of Sir Reginald Snoots: A smashing Victorian adventure” and “The Jan Snoots Diamond Murder”, with all the SP essentials like airships, green glowing goo, exploding inventions, a gentleman’s club and a dash of romance. I ran these at Arcanacon and Unicon in Melbourne and used some fun props including these rather lovely pictures. (Oh and the other reason I haven’t posted much is due to writing about 20,000 words towards my masters which has taken much of my creativity.) And now for your delectation…

Lady Jessica Snoots is consoled

The rather put-out Russian

But is she really?

My Steampunk walking stick under construction

jdalton3au — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:58:50 +0000

As promised here’s my modified walking stick, with some initial work done on it. I’m really quite pleased with how its coming on. I don’t actually *need* a walking stick, but this does look cool, and I get lots of questions about it. At the moment the first bits have been added but there’s no brass paint nor extra bits added yet. The photo shows the stick looking straight ahead.

So far there’s a switch which works the light on the left (LCD light to be converted to yellower colour and inserted into brass can) and on the right is an earphone which emits high-pitch ethereal sounds to scare away dogs (or maybe it will play an iPod?) The light in the lower-middle is a zombie detector warning light.

I’d love to add some little rotary legs at the base which are powered by a clock (then it would be a literal “walking stick” teehee), and maybe insert my old laser pointer into the foot itself (James Bond eat your heart out). It will eventually have a SP GPS (aka compass) and other bits I haven’t decided yet.

I want it to be functional and beautiful and a little eccentric (hence the hanging and off-centre wiring which is real antique house wiring). But not weigh too much. I was tempted to add a steam pressure chamber or a small steam engine but I think it will be too heavy. (You could use the steam to heat up cups of tea!)

Any ideas for other essential add-ons for the proper Victorian gentleman?

So far I’ve had suggestions for a snuff holder (great!) and an anti-anti-anti-missile (teehee).

A pleasure to meet you, let me offer you my card

jdalton3au — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:22:24 +0000

I thought it was time to develop an appropriate calling card with the right neo-Victorian vibe. I’ve tried to marry the olden days flavour with the neo-tech of having a webpage Calling cards help to bring back some elegance and happy formality into relationships. This is a rather easy invention that anyone could reproduce. Anyone for tea?

Profunclefesta-callingcard-01

Costume award at Serenity/Firefly screening

jdalton3au — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:22:11 +0000

My Steampunk costume won an award at a Serenity/Firefly screening in Melbourne last week. So I got a groovy tee-shirt and a chance to hawk my Snake Oil liniment So you ask, “What’s a Steampunk doing in the Firefly universe?” Well some eps have a decidedly SP theme and location, so I was a character at the Trading Post.

Here’s a pic of some of the others plus yours truly. Zoe and Dr Horrible either side. (The “Zoe” is our daughter Laena and beside her is her friend.) My modified walking stick gained a lot of attention so I’ll add some details on it soon.

Can I interest you in a cure for Lumbago?