A Blisteringly Brilliant Day

Still, I find myself struggling for words to describe the Great Handcar Regatta. It's been over a week, and I carry on basking in the glow. Sweltering heat, yes ~ 102 degrees. Intense crowds, yes ~ possibly more than 9,000 people. But all in all, an incredible, joyful, luminous day.

(Picture by Gwen Harlow)
Hats off to the organizing team, who I am so proud and grateful to have in my community. The Regatta is a most astonishing confluence of determination and talents and passion, and it came to life with a roar once again, in the very back-yard of my own sleepy suburban town.

(Picture by Mr. Nightshade)
The heart of the event is surely the races on the railroad tracks, where no less than twenty-three teams of industrious racers entered, with amazing person-powered vehicles of every stripe. The Screaming Vortex, pictured above, the Rail Skins by Nordic Track, a bobsled which slid along the tracks on blocks of ice, and Todd Barricklow's giant Two-Penny were crowd favorites.

(Picture by Mr. Nightshade)
To bring a little absurdity to the races, my beloveds Krank-Boom-Clank built a vehicle out of pink children's bikes for the delightful clowns of Fou Fou Ha to ride...

(Picture by Rick Washburn)
A wonderful variety of people in costume were seen traipsing about, and many a beautifully-attired patron thanked me for my costume guide from the Regatta Web site. I was so pleased it had proven useful.

(Picture by Gwen Harlow)
The art installations were incredible, especially Bryan Tedrick's Portal of Evolution and the always-delightful work of Tony Speirs. The various and sundry curiosities in the Wunder Closet were fantastic, from antlered babies to disturbing machinery to hybrid musical instruments ~ complete with sideshow freaks hanging about outside...

(Picture by Daniel Silveira)
And Baby Seal Club put on a medicine show of our own on the Snake Oil Stage, where I tried to keep from fainting in the heat whilst peddling our much-lauded Baby Seal Club's Miracle Elixir and Tits-Up Tonic, which very nearly sold out.

(Picture by Sassy Monkey Media)
We were thrilled to hear that our most-beloved publication Coilhouse was sending photographer-about-town Mr. Nightshade to take photos of the event, and his images are gorgeous, as ever.

(Picture by Audrey Penven)
Some of my favorite artists, builders, crafters, and performers were on hand. The Golden Mean Snail Car pulled up next to the Front Porch where the Hobo Gobbelins were playing... Cyclecide set up their bike rodeo, the Neverwas Haul crew showed up, and the Department of Spontaneous Combustion brought contraptions... there was a steampunk stilter, and a tiny marionette robot...

(Picture by Mike Estee)
Like a miniature Maker Faire with a steampunk edge, it was a celebration of ingenuity, beauty, and the simplest of technologies. All in all, a rip-roaring success for all involved. My deepest love and gratitude to everyone who made it so fantastic!

(Picture by Charlotte Hampton Trombley)
See more Regatta photos on Flickr. Watch Regatta videos on YouTube.

Splendid Accomplishments!

As I swoon in the wake of this most fabulous outpouring of creativity, passion, and dedication from my friends and family that culminated in the Great Handcar Regatta yesterday (and while I wait for more pictures to come in so I can post them!), I have an exciting announcement. My love Stache, truly a giant among men, somehow managed to publish a brand new Web site for Adornments for Tarts last week... Take a gander at his amazing work!

The new site has a beautiful gallery of all my designs, easy links to my shop and this very blog, a captivating biography, a list of my favorite resources of all kinds for inspiration and edification, and more decaying yet elegant curly-cue embellishments than you can shake a stick at.

And Stache did all this while building a new racing contraption and re-furbishing the Hennepin Crawler with Krank Boom Clank, and being on the organizing team for the Regatta... he has been working tirelessly. He also fabricated the splendid Mini-Penny, a hi-wheel bicycle inspired by the penny farthings of the late 1800's.

(Picture by Swaziloo)
There will be so much more on the glory of the Regatta soon, but in the meantime, a moment of deep appreciation for this brilliant, talented, ever-so-dashing man I am lucky enough to have for my husband. See more of his work at his company site, Sassy Monkey Media.

Handcar Regatta Costume Guide!

I've been a bit slow on the blogging front lately ~ and simply put, it's because of the approach of the Great Handcar Regatta, merely days away.

So alas, no time for blogging! But I did write an article on costuming for the Regatta Aetherweb site, so I'll reprint it here for my fair readers (sans local shop references, which can be seen in the original here, along with many more images).

As our most-favoured local faire the Handcar Regatta approaches, your Choklit has been besieged by faire-goers wishing for advice on proper Regatta attire. So I've compiled a brief guide to how to outfit oneself for this most auspicious occasion.

Steampunk has a thousand definitions and a spectrum of devotees from purists to novices ~ but in my humble opinion, the very joy of the steampunk genre is the fantasy and flexibility of it. So I present this guide only as a playful suggestion, ideas for the curious, and not as any sort of definitive tome. Onwards!


Inspiration and Character

When starting from the ground on a costume, I would advise choosing a character ~ not that one need play that role all the day, but it can help keep one focused. Are you a mad tinkerer? A street urchin? A vaudevillian vamp? A dandy aristocrat? An intrepid explorer? A soiled dove? Last year's Regatta played host to a fine cast of characters.

The basics for any steamy costume are historically inspired, from the Victorian or Edwardian period. Look up costuming resources online for images ~ the Costumer's Manifesto, the Greater Bay Area Costumers Guild, and Truly Victorian are good starting points. The good news is that the basics are rather simple - long full skirts and blouses for the ladies, dress shirts, vests and high-waisted pants for men. Natural fibres like cotton, wool, linen, and leather are ideal, and many steampunks tend towards earthy, natural colors - browns, khakis, creams - but bright colors can also be used to great effect.

Where to Find the Basics

If you're going for an authentic look, there are a number of online shops for re-enactors that provide reproductions - try Gentleman's Emporium or River Junction Trade Company. But if you're on a tight budget, or short on time, some creativity at the mall or in thrift shops should yield plenty of ruffly tops, long skirts, vintage vests, and simple dress shirts.

Accessories for Gents & Dandy Cross-Dressing Ladies

But it's really all about the accessories for a steamy look. Let's begin at the top: hats of all kinds are key to the steampunk aesthetic. Top hats and bowler hats are common, and aviation caps and newsboy caps are also a lovely direction. Online, look at the Village Hat Shop.

Small touches like suspenders, fingerless gloves, ascots, jabots, and spats can go a long way, and can be found at vintage stores or quite easily online at places like Gentleman's Emporium. One may also find fine sleeve garters in the same spots, or in my own Etsy shop, ahem.

Accoutrements of a Fairer Nature

Corsets and bloomers are key to the steampunk wardrobe for ladies. Well-made corsets can cost a pretty penny and the custom kind take some time to make, but you can find less expensive versions in thrift shops and off-the-rack. Meschantes Corsetry and Timeless Trends are two makers who offer off-the-rack spiral-steel-boned corsets, but one could certainly start gently with the spandex kind found in your standard mall lingerie shop.

Stripey socks are great for anyone, Sock Dreams has a dizzying array. And don't be caught in the sun without your parasol! Bella Umbrella has gorgeous pagoda styled umbrellas, or paper parasols are inexpensive and sweet.

Putting the 'Punk' in Steampunk

And lastly, don't forget to punk it up! Add a modern twist to make it anachronistic - fishnets, torn edges, spikes, gears, feathers, rayguns, asymmetry, combat boots. Goggles are so common among the steampunk set that they are approaching caricature, but it's an easy way to say, "Tally ho, I'm about to go adventuring!" Your basic cup-style brazing goggles from a hardware store will do the trick, but if you'd like to find more elaborate fancy ones, I'd recommend BoilerGoth, the Neverwas Store, or searching eBay for vintage ones.

A true Victorian lady would never wear her corset on the outside, or reveal her bloomers (much less the striped stockings underneath) ~ which is exactly why we do it.

For your further edification: Aether Emporium has a jaw-droppingly long list of online resources. Steampunk Costuming, Deconstructing Steampunk, and How to Dress Steampunk are articles worth perusing. And Threadbanger offers a fun library of DIY costuming videos, including episodes on making your own steampunk outfits, spats, and gloves. And finally, here's the Flickr group for Steampunk Costume, and away you go!

The Hen Also Rises

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Everything that Creeps: Elizabeth McGrath

I've long been an ardent admirer of Liz "Bloodbath" McGrath ~ woman of innumerable talents and one of my aesthetic heroines. Equally comfortable in a gallery, on a stage, or wearing a dress made of candy wrappers.

(Portrait by Darla Teagarden)
You see, as if it weren't enough to be an auspiciously brilliant pop surrealist sculptress and artist, she also fronts the theatrical L.A. outlaw rock band Miss Derringer, along with her husband, Morgan Slade. Liz creates all of the album cover designs, naturally.

She sings, she paints, she draws, and she sculpts. But my true love is for her compelling dioramas. Like so many artists I'm drawn to, she finds the loveliness in the grotesque, the magic in the wicked, and binds it all together to craft dark and whimsical little worlds for us.

(Sailor's Valentine, 2001)
I'm mad about McGrath's meticulous attention to detail and her penchant for the macabre ~ the unlikely bedfellows of preciousness and freakish oddity. Many of the pieces have a carnival side-show feel, like she's built a tiny stage for a character with a story to unfold...

(Detail from Honey Creeper, 2006)
I'm fortunate enough to own a copy of her lovely and sadly now out-of-print book called Everything That Creeps, which contains gorgeous full-color images of her work, so one can get close to the haunting creatures she's created.

(Detail from Queen of the Inanimate, 2001)
Wide-eyed blue-lipped waifs and mournful two-headed fawns, winsome skeleton birds and tutu-wearing insect girls, they're all in here.

I hope to see her work in person, someday, to peer into the vast reaches of the twisted universe of her imagination.

(Portrait by Mark Berry)
Until that day, I'll content myself by reading about her adventures on her new blog at my favorite underground art mag, Juxtapoz.

Don't Let Long Sleeves...

...get in the way of your adventures. New in the Adornments for Tarts shop - Zephyr Sleeve Garters.

(Image courtesy of Photomato)
The inventor tinkers away in his dusty workshop, deep into the night, sculpting fine wood, gleaming brass and supple leather into arcane treasures for amusement and edification. With nimble fingers and piercing eyes he sees the potential in a pile of mismatched parts, senses the adventures that await if he can just craft that perfect apparatus to help unfold his fortunes....

Suitable for both dashing gents and audacious ladies, Zephyr Sleeve Garters are made of dupioni silk, and there are five colors of garters available to match any ensemble - scarlet red, pewter silver, bronze gold, mahogany brown, and ebony black.

And yes, that's my much-adored and dapper husband Stache above, by his kinetic contraption, the Hennepin Crawler, at the Maker Faire.

Thanks to fellow Steam Teamer and brilliant goggle-maker BoilerGoth for inspiring the title of this dispatch.

Giveaway at the Wunderkammer!

Most of my dear readers will be familiar with the lovely TotusMel's addictive daily Etsy finds blog the Wunderkammer ~ finds for those of us with dark and decadent tendencies, that is.

TotusMel covers a spectrum of drool-worthy goodies, with a new batch of four every day. Past favorite collections include Necking, Top Hats, and the intoxicatingly odd Gas.

But the glorious news is this - just yesterday, she started a giveaway contest to celebrate a new blog design by the multi-talented Industrial Fairytale, with incredible prizes contributed by past featurees on the blog. A gift certificate to Adornments for Tarts is included with grand company like Tom Banwell, WinonaCookie, and ZKitten. The more people enter the contest, the more wonderful goodies are unlocked, so start spreading the news. If we get up to 175 entrants, this amazing custom bustle-skirt by CrescentWench will be added to the treasure-pile.

You like free goodies, don't you? Tally ho! Rules are here.

Things That Please Me: Pie

Though one wouldn't guess it, considering how rarely I write about epicurean delights here, I am actually something of a foodie. So a brief interlude from our regularly scheduled shameless debauchery and costume lust for an ode to the humble pie, one of my most favorite desserts.

(Image via Pie of the Month Club)
I had a most sublime pie-eating experience last weekend at a coffeeshop ~ house-made blackberry-rhubarb pie, and it was perfect. Buttery flaky light crust, tangy sweet fruit, and a big dollop of very lightly sweetened handmade whipped cream ~ heaven on a plate.

(Image Courtesy of Faith Durand via The Kitchn)
And I'd choose pie over cake any day. My love for pie is so strong that when Stache and I got married, we refused to have cake for our wedding feast. Instead we requested a pie potluck, which resulted in the delight of dozens of varieties of pie, all spread out on a long table as far as the eye could see.

Amazingly, we were not eating processed sugar or white flour in those days, and a family friend who owns a bakery made us a rather glorious whole-wheat-crust, honey-sweetened, triple-decker ginger pear pie for our very own.

Who can deny that home-made pie makes everything better?