Steampunk and its growing following

[Taffy Saltwater]

Okay, Nitestar, I am officially jealous - that is beautiful.

[sealion]

Great Target find!
Heads up to anyone looking for an aviator style or "bomber" jacket. Both TJ Maxx and Marshalls had them yesterday in a few different styles in both brown and black in a convincing faux leather for under $30.

[groomporter]

Hey Taffy, groomporter, or anyone else with info-
I am seriously considering going to WindyCon. What advice do you have for someone who has never attended any kind of a "con"?

Let's see... they can be one long party so pace yourself.

Make sure you have your con badge with you at all times.

Some can be strict about even non-functional prop guns/weapons like Nerf mods so check their rules. Scroll down to the Weapons Policy info at CONvergence for one example here: http://convergence-con.org/amenities/ops/policies.php

Many have a "Con suite" or courtesy suite where you can find free snacks and coffee/soda 24 hrs, although the best food goes really quickly.

We bring a cooler to keep in our hotel room with sandwich fixings and munchies and do boil-in bag dinners (We've got a seal-a-meal) in a crock pot so we don't have to pay to eat in the hotel restaurant(s) unless we want to. We eat the meal right out of the boil-in bag, and the crock pot just has hot water in it so there's no clean-up needed. And of course we bring our own booze so we don't have to pay bar prices if we want to drink.

Although there are exceptions, most people are NOT in costume all weekend, although you wouldn't be looked at funny if you are. Most of the costumes come out in the evening, mainly on Saturday night especially if there is a costume contest/masquerade.

I haven't been to any CONs outside of the Twin Cities, but the FAQs for our local CONvergence might give you some feel for how things often work at some cons http://convergence-con.org/faqs/faqs.php

If you have a lot of luggage, costuming, cooler, misc boxes of stuff to bring in, pick up a cheap two-wheeler dolly/hand truck than can also be converted to a 4-wheeler so you can haul stuff to your room and out again without having to wait for a bell boy with a luggage cart. Some big hotels no longer allow guests to use luggage carts by themselves, so it can be a long wait for help when checking out on Sunday morning.

Check if they have a possibility for a late check out Sunday in case you over do things Saturday night.

Fair warning, some CONs have a discrete "adults only" floor if you are into the BD/SM thing, they usually have someone checking for adult badges at the elevator as people get off on that floor. Some CONs can get a bit naughty after 9 or 10 when most of the kids are in bed, so if you have kids who are night owls, again fair warning. No public nudity, but the scantier/sluttier costumes might come out (just tape over nipples, for example) but of course some hotels/Cons may be stricter about such things, and let's face it people are drunker later in the evening...

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[groomporter]

Check this out!  Found a Steampunk Style Jacket at Target today!

I've been a little annoyed that there has been some pseudo military jackets in women's fashions lately, but nothing comparable to fit men. But then I make do with my Eisenhower jacket
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b160/Groomporter/Misc/P1010006.jpg

[groomporter]

Hey Taffy, groomporter, or anyone else with info-
I am seriously considering going to WindyCon. What advice do you have for someone who has never attended any kind of a "con"?

Here in Minnesota there's a pretty large overlap between MNRF participants and the local Con community, so if you have a local Renfair online forum, or E-list it might be worth checking if other local rennies are going to your closest cons so at least you know there's going to be someone there you know. You can also check to see if there is any local Sci/Fi fan clubs who might have people attending to give you more info.

For Windycon there might be people from the Midwest "Central Steam" punk group on LiveJournal who might be attending http://community.livejournal.com/central_steam/

[sealion]

Thanks groomporter! I knew you'd have some info for me!

[Taffy Saltwater]

Groomporter, have you looked at old marching band uniforms?  This is a pretty good site:  http://magnoliasusedbanduniforms.com/BandUniforms.aspx 

Keep in mind they're vintage, will need to be drycleaned & may need some tlc, but some of them really have that fantasy militaria look going on.  Same thing w/shako hats - there are some vintage shako hats on eBay that would work well.

[groomporter]

Interesting idea, (I'm actually a former high school drum major) I don't care for what's there currently, but it might bear watching. I've always kind of liked the Napoleonic era cavalry jackets

[Ebillan]

I first got into steampunk several years ago, and the more recently after finding out that a few of my friends are into it as well I've found my interest in it has only begun to grow more.
http://taeliac.deviantart.com/ < This person has a number of really great steampunk outfits and garb that I absolutely looove to death. http://taeliac.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-Tailed-Bodice-v2-131778072 and http://taeliac.deviantart.com/art/Steampunk-Tailed-Bodice-v3-131881090 are two of my favourites

[sealion]

Some fun stuff there Ebillan! TFS

I painted the requisite Nerf Marverick and Restoration Hardware goggles yesterday. :giggle:

[Taffy Saltwater]

My lace-up top hop hat came in and is absolutely drop dead gorgeous and solid as a brick house.  Three cheers for steamy toppers!

[Rani Zemirah]

I sooooo want that hat, Taffy!!!  I saw it on Ebay, or one very similar, and I was very tempted, but I didn't want to steal your thunder...    LOL  It's going to look spectacular, dear!!! 

I still haven't decided whether I'll wear any sort of headgear, yet.  I'm thinking that a Sky Pirate engineer might wear a stocking cap, or even an aviators cap, but certainly not anything that the wind could catch and carry away.  Besides, I'm also thinking that my short hair will be just about perfect for the character, so I might just spike it a bit, and maybe tip the ends with red and orange...

[LadyElizabeth]

Oh that sounds way way cool, I mean the spiky hair with red and orange tips.  That would rock!   I love the sky pirate engineer idea, that sounds like tons of fun!  So very inventive too.  Makes me think of Stardust, which I adore!!

[Taffy Saltwater]

I love the tipped hair, too.  And Stardust - I mean, where else would you see Robert DeNiro in a pink corset?

[Rani Zemirah]

I absolutely ADORED Stardust!!!  It was fun, funny, sappy, romantic, lighthearted adventure that managed to laugh at itself just enough to make me want to walk straight into the scene and stay there, and the De Niro scenes were side-splitting!!!  ROFL 

I need to go to the beauty store and see what they've got in the way of washable dyes that will work on really dark hair.