Modern Victorian Tea Set

There is a growing trend of what I'd call "modern victorian" home products. One of my favorites are these tea sets by Christine Misiak. She finds old silver tea sets and refurbishes them:

With this black set, when I sourced it at a car boot sale it was in extremely bad condition. The surface finish was rusty, dirty and scratched, also the inside of the tea pot was very unappealing.
Moreover, one of the little legs on the sugar bowl had been snapped off by the prior owner, therefore it had really reached its end life.
So I cleaned the set up and applied black to it, and now the surface finish is glossy and smooth and the set can actually be used again. The imperfection with the broken sugar bowl leg is still there, but it acts as character and the set aims to celebrate the imperfections.

I think the black one is the most steampunk -- for some reason I can see Mrs. Coulter in The Golden Compass using it.

There are pictures of the entire line on Flickr -- in addition to the black one she has an orange set and 2 green sets.

If you were really ambitious, you could try doing this yourself. Old silver plate (maybe start with just a tray?) is cheap and easy to come by at thrift shops. I'm not sure what kind of paint you'd use, but if I was doing it I would start with light coats of spray paint.

Pushing my buttons

Ben got me a great birthday present: A push-button light switch from Rejuvenation. It makes a delightful "clack" noise when you push the mother of pearl inlaid button.

Now for a switch plate to cover it. Luckily for me Rejuvenation was out of their simple brass switchplates, so I've ordered the Victorian brass one from House of Antique Hardware. They have the best selection of push-button switch plates I've been able to find online. Their Art Deco switch plate was also very tempting, but I'm slating the new light switch for a hallway where I'm going with an over the top Victorian feel, and this switch and switch plate will bring a nice turn of the century "electricity worship" feel to the space.

Halloween Goodies

If your home is missing some of the darker style -- where steampunk and gothic overlap, for instance -- now is a great time to remedy that.

Target has all sorts of neat things -- crystal skeleton paperweights, black metal bowls, etched glass bowls and lanterns, gilded rose or black lace candles, fake ravens, crows, and owls, all sorts of gargoyles, cheesecloth tablecloths, phrenology head, skull mirror, etc.

Don't fall for too much kitsch, and aim for things that could be out year round without making your guests think of Halloween (witches and ghosts are probably out, but skeletons could work).

In particular I liked the spooky portraits that changed from traditional to scary when a button was pressed or you walked by. The Master Draven Baby Portrait one was the best. Also worth checking out is the laboratory candy packaging -- petri dishes, beakers, test tubes full of candy. They are plastic, so not high quality home gear, but might work for mouthwash etc. in a bathroom where you don't want breakables.

For those with larger budgets -- or who just like to browse and wait for the post-holiday sales -- Grandin Road has some spectacular Halloween decorations. I liked the black candle holders and the spell book in the Gothic Decor section.

Bonus: Visit Victorian Halloween for all sorts of Victorian costumes, games, and objects. Recent finds include the very clever Gravestone Girls.

Query

Is decorating your home in a steampunk style any more silly than a [faux] country style?

I spent the weekend visiting family in some very nicely decorated country style houses, and it struck me that it was just as much of a fantasy style as steampunk, just with broader appeal.

Modern Daguerreotypes

Sally J, aka The Practical Archivist (an Internet acquaintance on two axis -- steampunk and family history technology!) dropped me a note to mention her recent musing on daguerreotypes (and a desire for one of the very steampunk Neverwas Haul) that led to a comment and correspondence from an real life daguerreotypist.

John Danforth loves to hand craft daguerreotypes for people based on existing photos they already have. John says high resolution color digital files work best. Many of his customers choose a favorite wedding photograph to be rendered as a beautiful keepsake.....
Why Daguerreotypes? According to John, there are two main reasons. The first is the incredible detail you get using this process. Anyone lucky enough to have seen a dag knows exactly what he's talking about. The other reason is close to [Sally's] heart: Longevity.

Wow, how cool would that be? Your wedding photo -- or family photo (Ah, the family Brumfield in all it's steampunk glory, hung over the fireplace?) turned into a daguerreotype?

The above picture is a daguerreotype from John's gallery. I love how it mixes the very 19th century Eiffel Tower with the very 21st century Google Maps on a Dell laptop.

Oh, and John is happy to teach you how to make daguerrotypes. If that's above your budget, hunt up the 2nd issue of Craft, which has an article about John's process.

Get the Look: 20,000 Leagues

I'm going to finish out the Jules Verne Week Extravaganza with some ideas on how to get that Victorian future submarine look.

First, my favorite stores for nautical inspired decor are The Brass Binnacle and Newport Nautical Decor. For submarine specific things, check out The Submarine Store.

Ebay, which differs from day to day, often offers scale models of the Nautilus, or plans for making them (would be great framed!) or other surprising things (last week they had a piece of plastic seaweed off of the original DisneyWorld ride).

I've also put together a kaboodle list of things with a submarine or 20,000 feel to them -- highlights of this are a model giant squid and rusty iron floor tiles.

20,000 Leagues Inspired House by saracarl

Submarine Playroom

Whilst researching things for 20,000 Leagues week, I ran across this charming playroom on the Better Homes and Gardens site.





Unlike many of the other rooms we've looked at in the last week, this one is done entirely in paint -- down to the rivets and pipes. If you're not so artistically inclined, you could achieve a similar affect with fish Wallies -- wallpaper "stickers" that are easy to apply.


Index for the Jules Verne Week Extravaganza.