A peek into Datamancer's workshop

As you know, workshops represent the heart and soul of a steampunk house -- I daresay many of you have workshops with more steampunk style than the rest of your house -- and the Wall Street Journal online has been gracious enough to give us an intimate look at Datamancer's.





The video is about his lovely projects, but let's see what ideas we can get from the glimpses of the workshop it affords:



First, Mr. Datamancer himself with some lab bottles over his shoulder and an intiguing (just what is it?) brass lattice in the background.



Second, a lovely starboard ship lantern casts a red glow over the entire room.



Third, a "parts clock" (it's feet are now part of his steampunk laptop), but it sits on a nice sideboard and has a another ship lantern in the background.

Of course, the most glamorous shots of Mr. Datamancer's shop are on his website, so be sure to check it out.

Update: Datamancer points out that there are some nice shots of the corner of his workshop with the computational engine on his website. I love the arabesque framing around the shelves full of steampunk equipment.

The Lair of Vincent M. Dantes Esq.

Browsing the forums at Brass Goggles the other day, I ran across another workshop that I immediately knew I had to share here. The workshop is such a strong symbol of the steampunk home -- it's the space in a home that embodies the "do it yourself" philosophy of steampunk.

The following is the "Lair" of one Vincent M. Dantes, Esq. who generously allowed me to include his photographs (he's a photographer in addition to a customer and artist -- a multi-faceted talent indeed!) on The Steampunk Home.

I think part of the reason this looks so wonderful is the lighting -- the ambient light is golden & soft, with bright points of light from his lamps and lanterns.

So how might you go about recreating this look? Dantes' Lair is actually the attic of a toolshed, so you could start there. A toolshed is a great idea for anyone who wants to build a workshop but is lacking the space. I haven't done a lot of research into this area, since the garage in our house serves our workshop needs, but I will recommend Morgan Buildings as a starting place, simply because my dear departed uncle used to drive trucks for them.



See at the top of the eaves -- it's a barometer. These should be really easy to find in thrift shops or antique stores. (If you want to buy one new, here's one.)

The lamp to the left of his worktable? It's from Target, and it's still available online. (Only $40!) Floor Lamp with Tassel Fabric Shade - Dark Rust



One of the most innovative stylings in this workshop are the lanterns hung from lengths of chain. The lanterns are tealight lanterns, and Mr. Dantes found boxes of 3 for $9 at Eckerd's. You'd think this would be one of the simplest things to locate online, but Eckerd's doesn't have a website for sales and I can't find anything that is a good match. This is the closest I came, and it's not brass.

There are some nice brass vases tucked onto the bench off to the right -- I suspect they were found at a thrift store, as they are a dime a dozen (ok, not that cheap, but still quite affordable) there.

The captain's chair was ubiquitous in the 70s -- they are harder to find now, but restaurant supply stores or thrift shops should have them. Here's one at an online restaurant supply house.



If you need a hookah to complete your lair, smoking-hookah.com has many, including one that is extremely similar to Mr Dantes'.

There are some additional photographs and a nice discussion of this lair on the forum at Brass Goggles.

Roger Wood's Studio

I'm fascinated by people's workshops. I was considering featuring some of the unique fine art clocks from Klockwerks, and indeed they are wonderful, but I've gotten much more distracted by the artist's workshop.



I love all the antique cabinets and the layered oriental rugs.



Don't forget to go check out his clocks, too!

Steam 90%
Punk 80%

update: The klockwerks website has been redesigned, so these image have moved. Go see them over here.