klubwerks
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This year, I have been making my own Steampunk Ornaments for our Christmas Tree and I thought it would be nice to share some information on making them. First, here's a list of what types of ornaments I have been making:
Baubles (traditional round glass ornaments)
Bottlecaps
Clock & Gear Ornaments
Polymer Clay Ornaments
Polymer Clay Snow Gentlemen
Fabric Snow Gentlemen and Ladies
Fabric Stars
Dangling Charms
Bell Keys
Bulbs & Random Things
Stay tuned for more posts in this thread about each one!
Attached file: 1baubles-group.jpg (497 downloads)
Attached file: 1bottlecaps.jpg (476 downloads)
Attached file: 1bottlecaps2.jpg (486 downloads)
Attached file: 1clock1.jpg (466 downloads)
Attached file: 1gearcharm2.jpg (509 downloads)
Attached file: 1clay-candycane.jpg (483 downloads)
Attached file: 1clay-tree-gold.jpg (472 downloads)
Attached file: 1clay-snowman.jpg (491 downloads)
Attached file: 1frabric-star.jpg (449 downloads)
Attached file: 1frabric-snow2.jpg (442 downloads)
Attached file: 1fabric-snow-lady2.jpg (454 downloads)
Attached file: 1dangle1.jpg (461 downloads)
Attached file: 1lightbulbs.jpg (445 downloads)
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MA_17
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wow! good work! 
I like the bottlecaps and the dangling charms most!
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| Posted Nov 25, 2011, 7:35 pm |
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klubwerks
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Alright! Let's tackle the baubles first! I get a majority of my materials at our local craft store, called Hobby Lobby.
Hobby Lobby sells clear glass baubles. You can get tiny baubles, regular sized baubles, and xmas light shaped long baubles.
First, I paint them black, copper, bronze, gold, and silver. These are the traditional steampunk colors you want to stick with, but you can throw in some other colors. I made a few white and metallic blue ornaments too.
On the dried black baubles, I dry brush them with copper, bronze, silver, and gold. Most of these I leave the way they are. However, you can add some gear or bolts to them, or designs.
Also at Hobby Lobby, you can get packets of gears and clock faces. They also have a packet of "pieces" like clock hands, and these "bolts". When you cut off the back piece and glue it onto your ornaments, they look like bolts to me! They also sell expensive tiny tubes of tiny clock pieces. I use all of these things on the copper ornaments (and other colored ornaments).
You can put bolts down the four sides of the copper ornaments, or on the silver ornaments you could just paint fake bolts. You can put gears randomly on the ornament either mixed with bolts or not mixed with bolts. You can use gears, clock faces, clock parts, and charms to glue on a neat design (like you would for a shirt pendant). There are many things you can do to decorate your baubles.
On my white baubles, I put just a line around the center of the bauble of clock pieces that look as close to snowflakes as I could pretend.
You can leave some the copper or other ornaments just one color and not put anything on them. They'll still fit in with the theme of the xmas tree.
You can dry brush any of the ornaments with a 2nd color. You dip your paint brush lightly into paint and then dab it on paper towel to get a lot of it off the brush. Then lightly make strokes across the ornaments, or dab it here and there. You want it to have that scratchy look.
Or just paint on a design. You can find steampunk stencils online and paint on stencils to your ornaments. I have not done this yet, so there is no picture for it yet.
You can also get some fancy looking stickers at the craft store that may look good on your ornaments. I found some black ones in the scrapbooking department that I spray painted copper and then glued on. You find a lot of the steampunk stuff in the scrapbooking section (including the gears and clock faces).
You can buy silver, gold, and copper wire and wrap it around the bauble (which I haven't done this yet either). Just get creative! Look online and see what others have made. Take inspiration where you can find it and I'm sure you'll make some lovely ornaments!
Attached file: baublescapsgears.jpg (460 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-paint.jpg (440 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-black.jpg (418 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-bolts.jpg (420 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-white-gears.jpg (444 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-gears2.jpg (427 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-gears.jpg (414 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-drybrush.jpg (421 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-design.jpg (446 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-stickers.jpg (445 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-stickers2.jpg (431 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-long.jpg (428 downloads)
Attached file: bauble-copper.jpg (424 downloads)
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klubwerks
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Bottle caps are easy and quick to make! I get unmarked bottle caps from Hobby Lobby, but you can just collect bottle caps and paint them.
I use a gloss called Triple Thick to fill in the bottle caps. Yep, I get the gloss from Hobby Lobby. Then I put random clock pieces into the gel and let it dry for 24 hours.
The tiny clock pieces are expensive, like $14 for a tiny tube. However, with that one tiny tube you could fill up many bottle caps. The trick is to only put a few random pieces into it. You can also just buy old watches and pocket watches from a thrift store and take them apart to use the parts inside it. You can find other random tiny objects to put in it if it looks interesting.
I bought a 1/4th yard of some see-through snowflake fabric and cut out the small snowflakes. I glued hooks to the back of the bottle caps and then glued the snowflakes over it. The fabric helps to hold the hanging hook in place and makes it look more Christmas like. I got the fabric from Hobby Lobby too.
Attached file: 1bottlecaps.jpg (407 downloads)
Attached file: 1bottlecaps2.jpg (406 downloads)
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klubwerks
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forgot to post a few photos
Attached file: triple-thick.jpg (430 downloads)
Attached file: paints.jpg (392 downloads)
Attached file: baublescapsgears.jpg (414 downloads)
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klubwerks
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Clock face, gear, and charm ornaments, including dangles!
I get packets of clock faces, clock pieces (like clock hands, bolts, and rings), buttons, and other random steampunk like items in the Scrapbooking department of Hobby Lobby. I also go into the jewelry section where you can get charms for necklaces and bracelets.
You can glue all these different pieces together to create an elegant and creative ornament. These can be rather pricey, but even 5 or 6 of them can add some variety to your tree.
You can use clear thread, or fishing string to make dangles with the charms and gears. You choose the top charm to tie a few threads of different lengths to. Then tie other charms to those threads. Then put a hook on the top charm for hanging on the tree (or use twine or string for hanging).
Attached file: 1clock1.jpg (391 downloads)
Attached file: 1gearcharm2.jpg (375 downloads)
Attached file: clock3.jpg (383 downloads)
Attached file: clock2.jpg (370 downloads)
Attached file: gearcharm.jpg (399 downloads)
Attached file: 1dangle1.jpg (404 downloads)
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klubwerks
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Bell Keys, Bulbs, and Random Things.
You can get fancy looking keys from the craft store, jewelry, thrift stores, and online. You can get bells from the same places. You can get little light bulbs for sewing machines, vacuum tubes, and other random interesting things.
I tie bells to keys and voila! Ornaments! I wrap gold or silver wire around the top of bulbs and vacuum tubes, and I have more ornaments.
They are simple ornaments but they work for the theme!
Attached file: 1lightbulbs.jpg (398 downloads)
Attached file: bellkey.jpg (341 downloads)
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Tomi
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wow they are amazing i couldn't make them myself they are so much work
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klubwerks
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Polymer Clay Ornaments are pretty easy and you don't need to be good at sculpting or anything. You can get polymer clay from Hobby Lobby and other craft stores. I get black, bronze, copper, and antique gold (which is not the same as regular gold).
You can cut designs into the clay and show off your sculpting skills if you have them. They can be intricate if you want them to be. I didn't do much in the way of intricate pieces.
You can mix some of the colors in just enough to get a marbling effect. I don't recommend doing too much with the antique gold. It was difficult to work with so I left the gold ones just gold.
I use cookie cutters for the shapes. You can get them anywhere you can get cookie cutters, or get them at the craft store. I used xmas tree, heart, and star shapes, but you can use any xmas shaped cutters.
Some of the bronze clay ornaments had a neat design on them already just because that's what the clay does when you fold it in a certain way. So, I left several of them without any paint or impressions.
You can use gears, clock faces, buttons, and random charms to make impressions in the clay. When you dry brush the baked clay, it makes the impressions pop out. Yes, the clock faces will be backwards on the ornaments, but it still looks great!
You can dry brush any of the ornaments with a 2nd color. You dip your paint brush lightly into paint and then dab it on paper towel to get a lot of it off the brush. Then lightly make strokes across the ornaments, or dab it here and there. You want it to have that scratchy look.
Don't be afraid to experiment! You might end up with something unique and awesome. If anything turns out terrible, do what I did and paint it black and then dry brush it. On some of our unpainted, non-impressed ornaments I left the clay cracked and it turned out great!
The candycane ornaments were hard because I didn't have a cookie cutter for it. I made stripes with two different colors of clay and then cut it out by hand and shaped it by hand. It was hard and frustrating, so I highly recommend a cookie cutter for candycanes. Copper is great for that "red" substitute. Gold or silver is great for the "white" stripes.
I find that cutting out two pieces for one ornament works best because you then sandwich the hanging hook between it rather than glue it on (gluing was very difficult on the clay). You can cut out one piece thinner than the other so that you aren't wasting clay.
Attached file: 1clay-candycane.jpg (391 downloads)
Attached file: 1clay-tree-gold.jpg (381 downloads)
Attached file: clay-bigsmall.jpg (391 downloads)
Attached file: clay-heart-drybrush.jpg (398 downloads)
Attached file: clay-marbled1.jpg (366 downloads)
Attached file: clay-star.jpg (396 downloads)
Attached file: clay-tree.jpg (357 downloads)
Attached file: clay-tree2.jpg (391 downloads)
Attached file: clay-tree-bronze.jpg (359 downloads)
Attached file: clay-tree-drybrush.jpg (346 downloads)
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klubwerks
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Clay snowmen are more work and maybe take a little skill. I don't really know how to explain about to make him. You just want to avoid making him look too much like Frosty The Snowman. Give him a Steapunk mustache and a copper vest, a top hat, and copper arms. Think more victorian gentlemen and less christmas and it'll turn out fine. Just being a snowman makes him christmas.
It's the same idea for the fabric snowmen, but you can use more christmas fabric on these. You can use little rings as monocles. Put a feather in his hat. The girls have a bustle style dress and corset. The feathers with the bow just add to the style. Give all the gentlemen mustaches, vests, and top hats. You can even give them scarves!
I got all the fabric from Walmart instead of Hobby Lobby because it was cheaper. The fabric stars can have gears, charms, bolts, and bells. You can make other fabric shapes, like xmas trees and snowflakes, and just add gears and stuff to make them have that steampunk flair.
Just be creative! You don't have to use gears and clocks on everything, there are other aspects to steampunk, like vancy victotrian lace, buttons, lock & keys, and charms. You can add a lot of variety to your tree with all these different types of ornaments. I hope you enjoying making them!
Attached file: 1clay-snowman.jpg (372 downloads)
Attached file: frabic-snow-feather.jpg (338 downloads)
Attached file: 1frabric-snow2.jpg (346 downloads)
Attached file: frabic-snow-feather2.jpg (351 downloads)
Attached file: frabric-snow.jpg (355 downloads)
Attached file: fabric-snow-lady.jpg (376 downloads)
Attached file: 1fabric-snow-lady2.jpg (376 downloads)
Attached file: 1frabric-star.jpg (358 downloads)
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klubwerks
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Yes, some of the ornaments take a lot of time... especially if you are making all of them! Some of the styles are quick and easy. You don't have to fill your tree with everything I posted here, and you could make up some stuff I didn't mention, if you feel inspired.
I didn't make any robots, goggles, or rockets, but those would work too!
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MamiTig
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Those are all so awesome! Thanks for the tutorial tips!
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- MamiTig
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| Posted Nov 26, 2011, 6:40 am |
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Leslee
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Inspirational thank you for sharing!
earlier this week I saw a sculpter's photo stream on Flickr and was inspired by that
http://www.flickr.com/photos/willwagenaar/
and I wanted to let my tiny doll Yewlee make some mini ones. I saw your thread here last night and wanted to comment but my son came home before I could leave a comment and you inspired me to have a little go and my son joined in.
It is not finished yet, and they are not decorations and also more industrial than steam punk. But I'll share when I am done.
You have made so many variations with so many materials and I love all the colour choices you have made.
I looked on ebay and saw that I could buy the cogs, and though they are expensive they look great on your decorations so I might put them on my Christmas list.
I love steam punk but would rather make my own than buy.
I thank you for inspiring me, but also blame you for the strange dream last night...
I found an underground tunnel in the raised vegetable bed at the school where I work, and it led to a gateway to a futuristic world where I was attacked by tiny cog creatures that could 'eat' you in seconds but thankfully I have a micro chip containing a special voice recording that made the cog creatures stop and listen instead of eating me alive.
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My son's puppy Sam Sam is travelling home.
My voyagers Baby Gonga is resting and might come home soon and Mi Go is back home for a short rest.
Momo is travelling home to him Mum. Alien Queen and Karlie are still here but are having a rest awaiting further instructions from their Mothers.
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| Posted Nov 26, 2011, 10:15 am |
Last edited Nov 26, 2011, 10:16 am by Leslee |
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Leslee
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I particularly like the clay ones printed with cog shapes and then dry brushed with black.
I suppose one way to make the candy canes easier could be to make stripy sausages and then bend them at the top like real candy canes are made but with steampunk colours
like this but not with the salt dough http://www.cathyhecknurseryart.com/blog/2009/12/salt-dough-ornaments/
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My son's puppy Sam Sam is travelling home.
My voyagers Baby Gonga is resting and might come home soon and Mi Go is back home for a short rest.
Momo is travelling home to him Mum. Alien Queen and Karlie are still here but are having a rest awaiting further instructions from their Mothers.
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| Posted Nov 26, 2011, 10:31 am |
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klubwerks
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Industrial... it sounds like you are going to dabble in Dieselpunk. I hope it all turns out nicely.
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Leslie
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They're lovely Amelia! You're so creative!! 
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Sadly I'm not able to host for now.
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| Posted Nov 28, 2011, 3:14 am |
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Leslee
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I'd love to see the whole tree when it is up and decorated :OD
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My son's puppy Sam Sam is travelling home.
My voyagers Baby Gonga is resting and might come home soon and Mi Go is back home for a short rest.
Momo is travelling home to him Mum. Alien Queen and Karlie are still here but are having a rest awaiting further instructions from their Mothers.
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| Posted Nov 28, 2011, 7:13 am |
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klubwerks
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I will post it. We're getting a white tree next week because we think the ornament details will stand out a lot better. I'll post photos when we get the new tree decorated.
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Perrydotto
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I am so amazed by your handiwork! As an incredibly clumsy person, I can't help but admire how amazing these look and how well you did them. Thumbs up!
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"Make it quick. I'm missing some excellent chaos here!"
Want to host the talkative, colorful little Plaudagei or the regal, wise Princess Celestia? Please PM!
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| Posted Dec 15, 2011, 5:29 am |
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klubwerks
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It's not an advertisement as I do not sell these. It's a how-to on making the ornaments that have been in several of the toyvoyager photos I've been posting.
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