Sand By The Ton - Review 1

Steam Society goes to Sand by the Ton, fashionable hedonism ensues:


Last weekend Sand By The Ton rocked the bay area, and seriously surpassed my expectations. It was off the charts in terms of elaborate madness and mega awesome music. It was particularly bizarre for me since I'd been awake for no less than three days and manically working the whole time. The event was like something out of a delightful nightmare, with a huge San Francisco-style indoor carnival, two story indoor burlesque house performance stage, the world second largest Tesla coil, 5 swimming pools which looked super gross, and of course, sand literally by the ton.

Tesla Coil with 30" lightning bolts. Hard to tell from the angle, but that coil is HUGE and the second largest in the world. I was probably 80" feet away from it in when I took this shot.


The warehouse was so much bigger and intense than I could have imagined, and I had a totally excellent time. It was a bit self-indulgent since I spotted several of my designs being worn by participants, and I was debuting a new custom outfit which was worn by one of the headlining DJs while he played the best set I heard all night. I haven't taken close up detail shots or well-composed editorial shots of the outfit, but keep an eye out for them in the next week or two, since this is an outfit I'm going to feature in my 2009 lookbook. The pictures I took there were not super high quality and I spent most of the time tring to get my camera to cooperate with the rave-tastic lights flashing everywhere.

In the crowd, from the back:


In the Opulent Temple DJ booth during performance:

The crowd. I was swimming through the crowd taking photos, and most people are taller than me, so its hard to tell just how HUGE and EXCITED this crowd was.


Being worn in the crowd I spotted my GNR Slash Steampunk Top Hat, that I made a while ago as a custom order , and managed to snap a blurry pic of it.

Can't live without one of your very own? I have one last Adult Small left in gray and black right here. And here's another photo that a someone else took. Hat is on the far left.

That's my quick synopsis. I have more pictures/videos/etc, and I'll be posting them next week. Lots of new stuff up for sale in my store, come over and check it out!

Circus-Themed Feature

I really liked this spotlight collection that I was featured in today, so I took a screen shot to show you. It's called Circus Fun!, by PaperPlatapus. It will be live on the etsy site until Friday morning, so you can check it out here until then. My White Furry Burning Man Goggles were included, which you can take a look at by clicking on the photo of them below. Props to some of the other awesome featured artists.

A few of my favorite new items - Retro Tech Collection

Just a quick update showing off a few of my favorite new items that are up for sale in my online store. A lot of my favorite jewelry items are ancient vintage-y pieces of technology with a futuristic twist. These are a few of my favs from my new summer 2009 collection called Retro Tech.

Bronze Robot Working Clock Necklace (better than both the pusher and shover robots, yo)


Pulp Adventurer's Hot Air Balloon Race Necklace ( Hot air balloons are the oldest form of human air travel technology)

Vintage Brass Clock Winding Key Necklace


Rockstar 3D Drum Kit Charm Necklace


Explorer's Steampunk Flying Compass Necklace


Uber Elite Gypsy Opulence Necklace. One of my ultimate all time favorites, combining brass and copper with a techie brass chain form a vintage erector set. (Peter take note)


Also, I want to add a shout out to S and O productions for featuring me in both an etsy treasury and blog. Thanks Sarah! I'm also currently featured in this eyewear collection treasury. Thank you!

Wearable Technology or Bust

It's finally heating up here in San Francisco, and things are getting busy for Steam Society. First off I wanted to let you know about a few cool articles and websites I've been featured on so far this month. I'm happy to announce that Steam Society is now a listed member of Bust Magazine's shopping directory of female-owned businesses, listed here on their website.

Now this next feature is actually really cool. One of my futuristic techie necklaces was used as an example of wearable technology at the bottom of this article and interview about self-proclaimed geek and fashion design Diana Eng, who was a contestant on Project Runway and the author of the books Fashion Geek and . The article includes a tutorial on how to make this following necklace using LED lights as glowing gemstones. Not really my aesthetic style (obviously) but I love the concept of integrating technology in places it doesn't need to go.


My copper android lotus flowed necklace was used as an example of related items, and you find it in the first row of featured items at the end of the article page. This necklace IS my aesthetic style, note the differance.

Sand by the Ton - July 11, 2009

This weekend Opulent Temple and Big Art Studio will bring you a massive beach-themed mega party called Sand by the Ton. They aren't kidding, there really will be 200 tons of sand trucked into the American Steel Warehouse in Oakland where the event will take place. Crazy awesome lineup, including some of the bay area's best DJ, as well as some of my favorites. Best of all, I'm designing some brand new custom items that will debut that evening. Speaking of which, I've got to get back to work on that. If you are in the bay area, plan to be at this party.

Fashion Nerd

Feature Feature + Customer Appriciation

Good morning and happy Summer! Hurrrrrr. Okay, real quick before I fall back to sleep I wanted to give a shout out to two wonderful people who featured Steam Society this week and also a beautiful customer photo. Wow, if it gives you any indication of how busy I am, I got 26 emails in the time it took me to write this paragraph, and its barely 6am.

Steam Society featured in Etsy Treasury "Creature Comforts". Check out the link until Saturday morning, when the treasury expires. Thanks to KellyIsNice for curating and including me in this one!

Also this week...Steam Society featured in Affordable Steampunk Spotlight. Thanks to Jessica for including my tricked-out high wheeler bicycle in this gallery on Byhand.me. It is always especially nice to be recongnized as affordable. :)

Now on to the pretty picture portion of this post. Whew, it's a little too early for alliteration. And there I go again. This photo was thoughtfully sent by the gypsy-spirited Risto from Finland who purchased a one-of-a-kind Adventurer's Flying Copper Key Necklace. I sent along a little owl pendent, which turned out perfectly on Anna the Gypsy Queen.

Business Development + Casting Call

Good morning, I'm happy to report that sunshine has finally made its way to San Francisco and I am NOT COLD for the first time in months.

In my on-going quest to either burn down my house or suffocate myself with toxic fumes, I have taken up soldering in my "kitchen". Now I'm extremely tempted to try to set up an electroplating rig too. Hey, I mean, Richard Feynman set one up in his dorm room. I don't have access to a vacuum though, which may complicate things. (That's imploding vacuum, not vroom carpet cleaner vacuum, although I don't have one of those either.) I have had luck teaming up with a US based metal finishing company, and while this will increase my costs, it will insure that my jewelry and metal accessories are certifiably lead-free and safe. This is important to you, (supremely awesome Steam Society members), since I don't want anyone being exposed to the unsafe metals that are rampantly available on the internet with virtually no accountability, but also important to me (hands-on designer) since I am pretty much swimming in all my design supplies and I'm pretty sure my daily 2-3 cups of green tea doesn't contain enough antioxidants to offset heavy metal poisoning.

Moving ON. I am looking for a small company, possibly local to the bay area, to do some custom metal castings and/or stampings. I have 8-15 designs for metal pendants that I want to have produced in smallish runs and I'm interested in teaming up with a metal production company that can do fairly inexpensive custom work, either old school or CAD/CAM. Send me your leads!

I'm slowly working on getting my hand-screen-printed and chemically-altered textile stuff up and ready, and I've turned my bathroom into a toxic fume bay in the process. Here's a sneak peak at some of my scraps I was messing around with while waiting for the dyes to develop:


And just so this post isn't too boring and non self-promoting, here are two of my favorite new items up for sale. Lots more up for grabs in the Steam Society Online Store, plus a birthstone-collection-sale of freshwater pearl steampunk jewelry for June Birthdays.

Tricked-Out Retro High-Wheeler Bicycle Necklace


Uber Ultra Alpha and Omega Working Clock Skeleton Key Necklace

Customer Appreciation Photos

Attention future and past customers: I love to see what happens to my designs after they've been sold! Become one of my favorite customers ever by sending me pictures of your Steam Society item(s) being worn. If it's okay with you and you'd like a little slice of delicious Steam Society immortality, send me your pictures and see them posted here. You'll get a nice discount on your next purchase and the highly coveted status of an Elite member of the Steam Society. YES!

Debuting my customer appreciate spotlight is the AMAZING Katja from Germany. I designed a super custom top hat for her using fabric she sent me to match her outfit. It turned out to be gawgeous, just like Katja, and she was kind enough to give me permission to post her pictures here.



You can email YOUR photos and any links to your website/blog/etc that you'd like posted to SteamSocietyDesigns@gmail.com. Don't have any Steam Society fashion to photograph?! Relax, I got you covered. You can get your very own wearable hedonism right at the Official Steam Society Online Store.

Off topic/On topic

Off Topic: Its a Star Trike, and I want one.


On Topic: Special Blog-Only Teaser of Upcoming Steam Society Fashion (Oooo!)


In other news, I've been crazy busy working on getting some of the Burning Man collection fashion ready to hit the market. Its been slowed up by the day-to-day work of running a design company, but I'm getting really excited about how it's shaping up. If only I could figure out how to sleep less... Well, I have a pile of quantum theory documentaries I'm working my way through, so maybe I'll come up with something. So, who wants to make me a Star Trike to take to Burning Man?


Things you could do:

Visit the Steam Society Official Website
Shop for Designer Steampunk Jewelry and Fashion
Indulge my shameless self-promoting at the new Steam Society Facebook

Steam SocietyDesigns's Profile

Saturday Dieselpunk Weirdness + Memorial Weekend Sale

Just a quick post here to let you know that I am having a Memorial Weekend Sale, and I've discounted some special items for this weekend only. I have two particularly interesting items that I wanted to post. I've been taking some liberties with personifying inanimate objects and robotizing creatures. You'll have to check out the store for most of them, but here's one of the most successful animal-technology hybrids:

Prehistoric Cyborg Dragonfly

Dragonflies are terribly misunderstood ancient creatures, particularly the ones that have been hybridized with paradoxically futuristic technology. As one of the oldest surviving species on earth, dragonflies have been around for over 300 million year and are considered by the scientific community to have originally come from outer space. These prehistoric animals have several important features that have evolved over time. Dragonflies are the fastest flying insect on earth, and have been recorded to fly great distances at speeds of over 145 miles an hour. A recent genetic mutation in the torso of a certain species of these insects has resulted in an incredibly accurate time-telling device. This species has a natural advantage over other insects as it is very punctual.... Read more about the cyborg dragonfly by clicking here or on the picture.


Industrial Dieselpunk Geared Gadget Medallion Necklace

Perhaps it is a compass from a distant planet with more than two magnetic poles or a barometer for measuring the heat-death of the universe, this pendant features silver gears with tarnished sliver dials that all rotate... Read more here.


Come check out the Memorial Day Sale and my new collection of mechanical animals and metal things with moving parts!

Mechanical, Animal and Nonsensical

As promised, here are a few of my new items that I think are worth featuring in the blog. These are some of my favorite new mixed metal jewelry pieces that are particularly interesting.

Okay, we'll start with my favorite, the world's first engineered Android Robot Lotus Flower Necklace. Here's how this happened: Ever wonder what sort of bizarre and wonderful things might happen if Jules Verne and Gregor Mendel were somehow fused together in some sort of freak accident of time and space, and then developed a sudden passion for botany? Or, alternately, have you ever stayed awake at night thinking about the consequences of some sort of Plant-based Borg Collective that invaded earth back during the steam era and transformed the all plants into robotic mechanical versions of their former selves with some strange plant-like collective mind? Oh, and also the plant-borg collective has a strong sense of aesthetic beauty. Yeah, I thought you'd been wondering too. So, for the rest of the story, click here or on the picture.



Now for some ramblings about moths (this might happen a lot). Made from a vintage tarnished copper key, this pendant necklace has brass moth wings look like they could take flight. Why moth wings and not butterfly? Well, moths are like the sultry hedonistic counterparts to empty-headed butterflies, who come out at night and are inexplicably drawn to the flame that can so easily destroy them. Also, moths communicate by pheromones, in scent-based sonnets and haiku.


I know, I know, you just took one look at this next picture and you said to yourself, "Wha???? There is no way those things could be hair clips, they look waaay too cool!" Well, the bad news is, you're dead wrong. They are totally hair clips. Good news? They have moving parts and gears, and yes, they go in your hair. And as soon as possible. Made for the pulp adventurer who needs to keep her hair out of her eyes.


Whew, too much writing. Now come see everything else in my store.

Opulent Gypsy Collection

I'd like to share a few items from my Opulent Gypsy Collection, geared towards tribal belly dancers and Burning Man participants. Some of the collection is steampunk style, some is more traditional ATS style. I'll be coming out with some hipbelts and choli-style tops in the near future as well. Enjoy!

Steampunk Gypsy Copper Fairytale Skeleton Key Earrings:


Opulent Gypsy Tribal Belly Dance Headband:


Ultra Elite White and Green Vintage Cameo Peacock and Fern Hair Fascinator (Personal Fav) :


Tiger's Eye Gypsy Tribal Hair Fascinator:

Clockwork Steampunk Hair Fascinator with REAL WORKING CLOCK (!!)


Gypsy Antique Skeleton Key Hoop Earrings:


Don't forget to come visit my store for way more awesome stuff and some super duper recession busting sales!!

Where have I been??!

Well, it's been a while since I've updated and I have lots to share. I spent most of last month finishing up some custom orders and working on my earth shatteringly awesome line of Burning Man apparel. I'm going to be updating a bunch in the next few days to show you some of my favorites of my new batch of jewelry and accessories that is up for sale now over at my store. First, I want to show you a few photos of custom work I've done recently.



Keep an eye out for my new Opulent Gypsy Collection and new batch of steampunk jewelry. Come over and check it out!

City Of Lost Children Charm Bracelets

Well, I hope you all survived April Fool's Day. I managed to make it through the entire day without being fooled or fooling anyone. What I DID do was work on these two bracelets inspired by The City of Lost Children, as well my new Clockwork Earring (ooooooohh).


I'm having a sale for the next few days until I leave for Sakura Con, so come check out my temporarily discounted items!

Happy Tuesday - Queen Of Hearts

This new item started its life as a custom order I designed for a Queen Of Hearts costume, but I liked the result so much I'm going to keep it around as one of my few cosplay-ish items. Also, the picture looks delightfully alienish. Alright, check out these photos while I run off to the post office (again) !

Alice in Wonderland SUPER DELUXE Cosplay Queen of Hearts CROWN

Don't forget to check out my March Madness Sale!!