The steampunk watch.

I was thinking about watches the other day as the steampunk forums were going crazy about some new skeleton watches that were out on the market. A skeleton watch for those not in the know is a watch in which the movement is visible. But the new watches they were discussing.... not cheap by any means, so I hit ebay. I actually wanted a transitional wristwatch with a top crown. Before the wristwatch became what it is today, they used to take pocketwatches and mount loops on the case for a band to pass through. Then when a pilot or airship captain needed to check the time, he did not need to take his hand off the wheel to check his pocket watch. But when I saw the prices on the ones I could find.... my rememberances of wayward youth started to de-frost/fog and I remembered my old pop swatches.

They had a top crown because you coud pop them out of the holder and wear them as a pocket watch or a lapel watch if you had the clips for that. And they made skeleton movements. So after ripping my storage closet apart trying to find my old classic, ebay awaited.Eight bucks later (with shipping) I had an eighties (that's 19-80s for you jokers out there) flashback sitting on my desk. A skeletonized one at that. But what to do with it? It didn't really look all that steampunk at this point. WeeeeeeL....Needlefelting to the rescue!



I figured that if you were up in a cold gondola under a big explosive bag of gas you would probably want something warm. But this is only the beginning. I found a website that I can buy old pop swatches from europe. What I am going to do is use this as the band but the watch is going to be a pocketwatch. There is a retro popswatch that looks like an old train conductors watch that will go on this band. Why two watches you ask?

The wristwatch will be set to greenwich mean time, the pocketwatch to local.

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I have new roving. Nylon of all things. It will needle to itself and other items, providing the ability to create jewel and luster tones. It is neat stuff. I have:
Jade

Gingerbread
and Stormy Sea
The pictures don't really do justice to them. but you can do effects like I did on this pouch with them and it looks VERY deco if not tiffany studio-esque.