Ashton's Cross-Time InfluXuator

There is a very special place in my heart for Steampunk artifacts. If you're not familiar with the term, Steampunk is a unique mixture of science fiction and creative anachronisms; it's a way of using various media to produce items which are fictional mechanical inventions or technology appearing at an earlier date. Imagine how a computer might have looked if it were invented in the Victorian era, or a steam-powered shotgun. Exciting, right?

There's a whole sub-culture of steam lovers out there, and although I'm not into role-playing or dressing up as an air pirate, I do love a good piece of jewelry. Some pieces I personally own (and I love to give credit where it is due) are this gorgeous brass ring from Catherinette Rings, made by the very talented Daniel Proulx, and this amazing handcrafted watch by Marrianne:



So of course, once I am more experienced in metalworking, I dream of making similarly beautiful items.

Tonight, my son Ashton helped me create a fun little pendant that I think turned out to be pretty cool. The pendant is a "Cross-Time InfluXuator" and is used for personal time travel. Unfortunately it is broken, so the wearer (sent from the year 1884) is permanently stuck in the present day. On the back is stamped: "If found please return to Doktor Chrono." Ash helped come up with the names, he is so inventive.



The pendant is made of copper, with a nickel silver disc inside. The nickel disc was originally supposed to spin around to display several different dates, but unfortunately it didn't work out that way. I riveted the discs together, but although I put a piece of cardboard in between the pieces to allow movement after riveting, they were still hammered too closely and the piece did not spin. As I was trying to loosen it a bit with a pair of pliers, the sharp edge of the metal sliced my thumb wide open. It didn't help that my fingers were filthy with metal shavings and god knows what else from my workbench. After cleaning my thumb with peroxide and neosporin, and covering it with a bandage, I sat back down and decided to just glue the parts together and be done with it.

Then Ash decided it didn't look enough like a time machine, so I twisted a bit of wire and added it to the circumference. I also pierced a hole in a metal gear I snatched from my hubby's miscellany drawer and added it to the pendant to give it more of a steampunk look. Altogether, I think it looks pretty cool. Now that I have a little experience in what to do (and especially what NOT to do) to make a pendant like this, I might try another one sometime. I'd like to add a few extra components and get the inside disc to spin next time around, too.

For now, enjoy these lovely sepia pics of the wonderful X-Time Influxuator that Ash and I made: