Octopodes!

In my house, there has been discussion -- quickly squashed by the linguistically inclined -- as to the plural of the word octopus. Although other pluralizations are common, we think "octopodes" is a pretty great word.

stuffed octopus

How, you may ask, do octopodes related to steampunk? I can think of two steampunk references to octopodes. The first, Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, the second the Air Kracken -- monsters of the sky, celebrated on March 17th. I'm sure you could come up with more, right?


Reader Caitlyn recently sent me a link to this lovely octopus lamp, and since I missed Air Kracken day a couple months back, I took that as enough excuse for this post.

Gentlemen & Octopus Pillow

Here's the trick with octopodes in the home: there's lots of them out there, but very few have that steampunk flair. You may be able to get away with some of the brighter colors in a bathroom or a kid's room, but I'm not sure I'd put a bright purple or orange octopus in my public rooms. (Unless you really, really, liked it.) Nothing too cute, and the scarier the better.

Black Octopus Pillow

Or perhaps just a foot and a half long giant squid or a 7 inch octopus?

Octopodes II

We've been tracking the "Octopus in Home Decor" trend since 2008, and our friends on etsy have been delivering it for even longer, but I was amused and delighted by these (expensive, handmade) octopus options at Anthropologie.

Octopus Garden Wallpaper, $198 a roll.

Amelie Sofa, Fathoms, $3498.

I love the saturated blues used in both of these.

p.s. If you like the octopus style, you may want to peruse the Everything Octopus blog.

Octopus Table

We're on an octopus roll, it seems. Valerie sent a link to this piece on DeviantArt, the most inspired piece of the octopus trend I've seen.

The creator says:
The glass tabletop sits level on top of the legs. Welding the legs to hold the glass tabletop was a very rewarding and challenging process. I've certainly improved my TIG welding skills a lot because of my work on this octopus. An interesting thing about this sculpture is that the eyes are hand blown glass. In all the table weighs about 500 lbs which means we have put about $5,000 into building it. We estimate that we put around 1500 man hours into this project. If you are curious the table is still for sale.

Is That an Octopus in your Garage?

Decorative Painter Lynne Rutter created this mural of a steampunk aquarium

It's.. sort of unusual for me to paint a mural on a garage door , but actually that's a great place for a mural. My client is a friend, who shares my interest in Victoriana and curiosities... She's also a scuba diver, and wanted for a giant purple octopus. So I came up with a Jules Verne-inspired "aquarium" to house this giant creature!

You don't realize what an incredible job this was until you see the "before" picture:


I love how Lynn incorporated the building, the decorative corners, and the crossbars into her design.

See more details on Lynn's blog, The Ornamentalist.

Octopus Table on Etsy

Yesterday's post solicited a comment by Tammyo about this Octopus Coffee Table, in the same vein as the one pictured, that she has (had!) for sale on Etsy. By the time I read the comment, it was already sold, and I can see why -- it's awesome.

I don't mean to tease, but I think we should encourage Tammy to make more in this vein.

Erin Martin Design

Jaime introduced me to the delightful work of Erin Martin Design. Here's the most steampunk of her designs.

I love the quirkiness of using wall mounted reading lamps to light a sink.

I think these images are some for a radio-crystallography -- but maybe one of you know better?

Nice juxtaposition of industrial lighting with traditional handwriting.

I *love* the door on this bathroom.

Dark. Moody. Train.

Would love to know who made this coffeetable with an octopus on it.

Antique Astronomy Chart...

with an even older celestial tool in front of it...

OctoChair...

Allison found this beautiful, sensual octopus chair...

It looks dangerous, doesn't it?

via NotCot.