Nutty, Dave – Old School Handy

Last weekend I attended the 2010 Nova Albion Steampunk Exhibition held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Emeryville, Ca. I was given an opportunity to be one of their  Makers for 2 sessions in their programming lineup. Saturday was the Kinetics & Engineering session and Sunday was Casting with silicon, resins, etc. Since I am primarily a Glass Craftsman I focused on some things you could do with glass in order to use it in a SP themed prop or costume. I’ll post the details on the sessions later.

Overall I had quite a bit of fun. Dropped in on Friday long enough to scope out the vendors in the Traders Concourse and while I did not stay for the entire Ball later that evening I did catch the performance of the Brass Farthings (fine chaps singing fine drinking songs). The Grand March started the ball and it was a good chance to see the fine threads of apparel and swarmy pith helmets.

It was nice to see people getting into the spirit of the event. The outfits were fairly well thought out and covered the wide spectrum from Western styled Martian Bounty Hunters to Safari Explorers (with aforementioned Pith). The bustles and corsets were nicely coupled with the tophats and bowlers and an occasional latex gas mask mixed it up a bit. There was even a visit from a White Rabbit with carrot laden armbands to give the society types a reason to lift their eyebrow (well hidden behind the brass monacle of course).

Saturday after my Maker session I took in the mechanized machines they had in their outdoor area. In the small world scheme of things I met another Maker (Kimric Smythe) that had been in  a Junkyard Wars episode as an opponent to another friend of mine (Sean Dynes). I believe Kimric was at this con with some Stirling engines he had built. Another gent, Vaughn, had his Stirlings there also.

Sunday morning was too soon since the Savings Time jumped the clocks ahead. My morning session on casting was kind of a blur but I was able to introduce some people to the concept of using glass powders in molds to cast jewelry and decor items.  …. more on Sunday … finish manana