Steampunk Goggles

A friend of mine is planning to attend the Steampunk Exhibition Ball and was thinking about buying some goggles, you know, pre-made "custom" ones. I wanted to spare her the horror of looking across the room and seeing someone else with the same 'custom" ones so I offered to make her some REAL Custom goggles. Really, they are nothing special, but sometimes less is more.

I started by accumulating hardware. There's a lot of brass and copper in Steampunk, but more important than that is using a slotted head and not Phillips, which only came into widespread use after WWII. The round knurled nuts are used on Presta valves, and the acorn nuts are from Dia-Compe brake pads.


Next I stripped down some brazing goggles, sanded the gloss off them, and marked and drilled some holes. I made center marks with the X-Acto, and then pilot drilled them 1/8", and then drilled them to size. Loving my new cordless drill with a keyless chuck.



So this is the new Rust-O-Luem paint, Ultra Cover. They've went to a Montana style cap and the shit covers fast and dries fast. I used Krylon Fusion for plastic on the lens retainers, in hammered copper. I taped off the threads and where the lenses rest against the goggles.

Always "clock" your screws, make them all line up. It's a neat little detail that motorcycle and car restoration nuts do, as well as nerdy chopper and Hot Rod builders.


SRSLY, fuck a hot glue gun. That technology was not available in the 1800's! Nuts and bolts.



There's always some decorative gizmoness on Steampunk accessories. Those "crystal" stars spin. I knocked the gloss of the hammered copper, but resisted the urge to add some "faux-tina".


Behold the Supreme Dorque of Beavertowne