Since the Steampunk Empire ning seems to be the place to be on the aetherweb, I have created a group there for Pittsburgh, Western Pennsylvania and surrounding environs.

The Allegheny Steam Concordance
http://steampunk.ning.com/group/asc

I attended Windycon, a military science fiction convention that was taken over by steampunks last weekend. You can read my postings at the Steampunk Empire ning.

http://steampunk.ning.com/profiles/blogs/windycon-report-friday
http://steampunk.ning.com/profiles/blogs/windycon-report-saturday
http://steampunk.ning.com/profiles/blogs/windycon-report-sunday

Pictures from the con are available:

http://www.the-enthusiasts.com/gallery?g2_itemId=17520
http://www.flickr.com/groups/1293022@N23/pool/

And finally, I will be attending Steel City Con in Monroeville in two weeks.

So... What is everybody doing for Halloween?

I have built a steampunk lightsaber and wish to add a power generator to it. Much like the electric foils created by Agatha Heterodyne on the "Girl Genius" comic.

I could build something from scratch but I think it would end up looking like I built it from Home Depot. A little too contemporary. My grandfather used to have several electric space heaters that would have been a terrific foundation but we threw them away years ago because they were inherently dangerous. I have been looking at flea markets for something similar but have, so far, been unsuccessful in finding something similar.

So, if my neighbors in the Pittsburgh area could add their assistance. . . if you find something similar to these space heaters but 50 years older, and cheap because they don't need to actually work, I would be appreciative.

A friend on Facebook posted a link to this and I found it quite interesting... Wondermark




Check out the creativity over at wondermark.com

Im looking to buy a steam whistle like from a train, If you find one at a good price let me know.

I found one i want on ebay, even has a buy it now! but my check wont clear in time to bid on it! DAMN IT!

So hear is the issue of Fiend Magazine from Australia that I recently discovered... a great goth outlet for those down under regarding fashion and what not... in issue #18 they did a Steampunk theme and I've taken the liberty of purchasing, scanning and posting just a bit of what they're doing 'down under' as is were...



Follow after the cut for more... hope you all enjoy...

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Hello folks, I come to you offering news of mine and a friends attempt to start up an active community for Pittsburgh Steampunkers, meaning costumes, outings, gatherings in person and suchlike. Perhaps even a chance to obtain that goal of a steampunk convention right here in pittsburgh. It's only a start, we've barely got anything other than ourselves and a few friends in it yet, but the more the merrier and we're considering doing a recruiting meet and greet and a show on August 22nd, I believe it was. There is a 5 dollar show called the Serious Comedy Show at the Benedum, we thought perhaps we could gather somewhere, in costumes of our likings, hang about, perhaps get drinks or even a meal, and then attend the show.

Here is the link to our very precursory forum, hope you folks will join! http://steelcitysteampunksociety.lefora.com/forum/

Thanks for your time!

Jessica Venar

This week I decided my beard was long enough to do the handlebars i had grown it for. Day one of my new moustache enjoy!

I spent last Saturday eve at The Rock Room in the Polish Hill section of Pittsburgh seeing Patricia Wake perform live, it was a great set and for those of you who weren't able to make it (Woodssteam are you reading? LOL) here is what you may have missed...



While her music should not be pigeon-holed into any one genre she certainly has a flair for the antiquity... I'm sure Patricia will be happy to update us on any upcomming performances and it would be wonderful to see more folks from this board come out to support her!

Good eve to all! Does anyone know of a good source of phrases or dialect or sayings in Victorian speech to reference for "talking like a steampunk"? I love to converse in odd and unique ways and enjoy the entomology of lost conversation... 'most assuredly', 'indubidally' and 'distinguishedly so...' are some of my favorite phrases... just a geek at heart throwin' this out...

Ive posted my steampunk work up to my website. www.woodsimaging.com

Enjoy!

Hello! im new here, ive lived in pittsburgh for about 3 years now and just started my adventure in steampunk about a month ago. I came across this group while looking for other fellow steamy people in my area.

Some about me, Im a Photography student in college here in pittsburgh. If you would like to see some of my work here is my website, www.woodsimaging.com I resently did some steampunk fashion shoots for school, they are not posted yet but I will try to add some soon.


cheers

Hello all, haven't posted on here yet so there's a first time for everything...
I have been trolling the interwebs as of recently and have been trying to find some musical persuasions leaning toward steampunkery... thanks to the Myspace page of Mr. Arm I discovered a wonderful little duo called Creature Feature. I also stumbled across the fanaticism of Dr. Steel. Of course most all know of Abney Park as THE (supposed) Steampunk band extraordinaire... Has anyone else found interesting music to accommodate the genre?
~Keith

Dear Everyone,
I am no longer in Pittsburgh. I've graduated from CMU and am set to run away overseas next Monday. While I've pretty much ignored you guys aside from approving new members, the community *will* need an active maintainer. If you are interested in taking over the community, please let me know in the comments. Otherwise, I will probably continue to ignore the community and occasionally approve new members.
Love,
Sara Bee

I was at the Steel City Con this weekend in my steamy finery and garnered the attention of many, including a Mister Scott Simmons who is working to include some steampunk elements into his haunted house: Scarehouse, which has the somewhat dubious distinction of being the "5th best haunted house in America". I thought it would be appropriate to pass on his information to the assemblage as others may in a better position to provide assistance than I am.

Contact him at Scott@scarehouse.com and say that the steampunk at Steel City Con advised you.

 

Things did get busy, but most importantly, I still needed a couple of people in order to have enough central staff to actually move forward. We got five volunteers and we need more like seven.

In talking to a few people, it looks like there is definite interest in this happening and I was hoping that we could scrape together a couple more people to actually start planning.

I'd like to keep the primary discussion here, but once we have about seven willing volunteers, we will need to move it off of this group.

If you missed the first post:

I proposed coordinating a Steampunk Con here in Pittsburgh in 2010. It would be along the lines of SalonCon, where there would be a mixture of Victoriana and Steampunk. I was considering doing this in Downtown Pittsburgh, but could be convinced to do it elsewhere depending on the availability of "things to do" in that area.

If you're thinking about volunteering to help put together this con, contact me and we can talk.

Come one, come all, to a night of festivity, revelry and merriment at
Your Inner Vagabond in Lawrenceville, PA, hosted by the Pillar of
Fire, Pittsburgh's only officially condemned (by the rabbinic council)
heretical Jewish group. Bring your best alcohol, drums, songs, magic,
stories and fun people to share with everyone. (This party is 21+.)



( Click to read more... )

The announcement came out today that SalonCon is going away. They are still planning at charity tea at Teaberry's and maybe something else for this year, but the organizer is really burned out.

SalonCon was a really great experience and I would hate to see the spirit of the thing go away. What I was thinking of is perhaps doing a Steampunk Convention here in Pittsburgh. There are some great options for where we could have it and our location is not a bad one for such things. If there's one thing we have in this City, it's atmosphere.

Would anyone in this community be interested in working together to do something like this in 2010? Trying to do this in 2009 would be insanity, but giving ourselves about a year is reasonable.

Thoughts? Interest?