*pry-bars monkey wrench from the gears*

Well, dear readers, it’s been awhile, yes? Life conspired to keep me away from my reviews and my blog for over a month and bloody well almost succeeded, dammit. I’d like to beg the forgiveness of all my readers and such for lack of updates – it was rather inexcusably rude of me. I shall return to making the reviews by next week.

Now, if you’ve found it in your hearts to forgive me, a post on my own attempts at becoming fully Steampunk.

The process itself has been rather rocky, as one might have guessed from my dour second posting. When one is born in a family that values practicality over beauty one often finds very little support or sympathy when one has a hard time getting into a car because they’re in a corset. And as one might further guess from that sentence, a lot of my transformation lies in my wardrobe. I possess a bevy of Steampunk clothes garnered from dozens of different shops or else made by myself (to be specific I’ve made most of my corsets). I attempt to wear said clothes as often as I feasibly can, though I’m often unable to due either to physical impossibility (top hats also don’t fit in cars) or the demands of life. My return to college, however, will see an upswing in my flouncing around in lace bloomer (and sometimes only lace bloomers, *suggestive laugh*) and bustles.

An easier area of alteration is my jewelry, and I sport an enormous leather cuff bracelet on my left wrist from dawn till dusk unless something like water makes me remove it. Said cuff features a large skeleton watch and a bevy of gears cut from brass. I also have bobby pins decorated in gears, gear earrings, and so forth. These I am usually able to wear often – sometimes every day for weeks on end – due to the fact that jewelry is easier to get on than the elaborate clothes I favor. Keep this in mind, my steampunk paduans: Oftentimes it is the clothes that will prove the most problematic. It takes force of will to get up, squeeze into a corset, button the bodice of your tea dress, grab a parasol, and then manage to make breakfast and go about your day.

We move from here to the gadgets and the accessories. From top hats to walking sticks I wear and use a bevy of strange implements. Some are easy to fit into day to day life, such as calligraphy pens, which allowed me to fix my previously atrocious hand writing. Others, such as the aforementioned walking stick, get me exceedingly weird looks and are difficult to carry with any level of ease.

And finally there is the literature, movies, and music, both old and new, that I absorb nonstop. It's the fuel that fires my love of being a Steampunk and gives me the aforementioned wherewithal to dress and act the part, making that world of gears and gunmetal come to life.

Safe flying, airship pilots!

Trial by Hand, Head, and Heart

A cookie to whoever gets the reference in the title.

Well, as a lovely way to start this blog, here’s a post about the pitfalls on the glittering trail to becoming a Steampunk.

The fact is that there are a lot of things one may or may not consider when one first gets into the subculture. There are many difficulties to be navigated, but most can be solved with a trio of attributes. Simply put, one must possess these three things: One should have skills in crafting items with your hands, some spare money, and self confidence. You won’t go anywhere without them.

The first thing I will handle is the beginning pair, and their import is obvious: to decorate one’s life with the trappings of the late nineteenth century, one is going to require either considerable skill with their hands, or else one must have a large amount of money kicking about so they can purchase the items elsewhere. The former of the two is ultimately the more favorable, since Steampunks as a rule laud handcrafted things and most of the finest items one will find, such as Steampunk-ed laptops or personally fitted corsets, are manually assembled. Thus it is that being able to craft at least some of one’s Steampunk clothing and equipment is very helpful.

At the same time, however, money will inevitably be a necessity, since not everyone will be able to make everything. I’m a fairly expert seamstress and specialize in corsetry, so I have a leg up in the clothing department, but I have no skills with electronics or metal-work, so I’m naturally going to have to shell out some cash if I want, say, a Steampunk lamp.

And finally one must possess the self confidence to act the part. I often get ‘stage fright’ when I go out in full Victorian dress, and this can be exacerbated when I’m at college where, while many of the men dress however they please, there are few women who dress in any unique or eccentric way. It’s hard to force myself through the door sometimes, but inevitably I put on my big girl bloomers and march out anyway. The reason I do it, I remind myself, is that this is what I really love. This is who I want to be. To hell with fitting in and all that it entails. So I hold my head and my parasol high and keep right on walking.

Being a Steampunk is a wonderful thing. Don’t get me wrong. But knowing the difficulties one will face before one enters the fray is always a good strategy. And everyone is different. Some will find that the confidence that often eludes me will come naturally to them, and others may be able to make anything that they put their mind to. It’s all a mix, and that’s one of the wonderful things about Steampunk: you can make what you will of it.

Safe flying, airship pilots!

Introductions All Around!

I am Victoria, steampunk aristocrat and creator of Steampunk Reviews (look the videos up on youtube). I opted to create this little blog to give those who are interested a further look into the machinations of a woman who has made it her goal to incorporate the steampunk aesthetic into her lifestyle in whatever way possible.

So a little background, yes? I've always been a history geek, and I've always felt out of place in this time period. Perhaps as a side-effect of being named Victoria, I was drawn to the era bearing that moniker, and as I got older and went through my many (and varied) phases, I constantly returned to the class act that is the late nineteenth century. Eventually I ran across steampunk and realized that this was what I really wanted - this world of brass, geissler tubes, roaring steam engines, and zepplin flying pirates. And so I am absorbing steampunk into my life, bit by piece.

I hope to use this blog to document the full metamorphosis from oddball young woman to full blown corset wearing steampunk aristocrat, and I hope that any budding steampunks who read my blog will learn from my pitfalls and have an easier time of fully incorporating steampunk style into their lives.

That's all for now. I will update this blog every week on Thursday, or (more likely) every other week on Thursday.

Safe flying, airship pilots!