Welcome to day, what 6?, of Steam Week. Are we even counting anymore? Today is a bit of a mish mash of thoughts about steam as energy, bear with me here. Above, a carving from last night, still unfinished. Sorry for the bad photo, have I complained about how difficult unglazed white clay is for me to photo lately? Anyway, I was thinking of the core of Steam, the source of energy. And while some of the fiction utilizes unusual elements to create steam or energy (lightning, magical stones and substances, etc) the best old fashioned, dramatic source is fire. And fire for energy is usually created in a furnace of some sort, eh? So my carving is a sort of generalized furnace form, which I also sort of wanted to look like a kiln (related to a furnace) or even just a window. This one will change a lot based on the colors used, I can use a neon red, orange, or acid green for the fire chamber and a dark glaze for the brick for a really dramtic effect.

Welcome to day 5 of Steam Week. Today I am thinking about Pirates, and how steampunk relates to the pirate genre. Now pirates and nautical imagery is another thing that does not usually appeal to me. I am finding that my tastes are broadening into genres that I don't particularly care much for in this research of steampunk, which is an exciting thing. But as I think about the steampunk pirate, I am vaguely recalling many times I have seen this sort of thing in films, two of which I will highlight below.

 

First, a picture of a new carving, still very rough and in process. It is a shipwheel, like from a pirate ship. I only had about an hour on and off to play with it last night, because I had orders to work on, so it is still very sketchy. I wish I had more time to work with it in the leather hard stage, but I was tired. Now it is very dry, like plaster, or chalk, so I will carefully carve it, scraping a little at a time, with dental tools, and occassionally using a damp tiny paintbrush to smooth the dry carving marks.