DC Area Auction -- Tom Sarris' Orleans House

Reader HappyCthulhu was so kind as to send me a link to this online auction (pickup only, though, so definitely more suited for locals) of a recently departed restaurant in Rosslyn, Virginia called Tom Sarris' Orleans House. I don't know anything about the establishment, but the auction is full of architectural elements and clever devices.

The neatest? A large recording clock. What it was used to record, I do not know, but the face is beautiful and the innards are full of brass rods, gears, and a reel for paper.






I thought this fern stand -- with chains on it! Was interesting, too.



Auction ends on February 8th, so you have plenty of time to dream, research, and bid.

Ah -- I think Happy found this via BoingBoing, so thanks all around.

Homes and Cities of Dinotopia

Waterfall City

After reading Dr. Fabre's post on Dinotopia a week ago, I was determined to lay my hands on some of the Dinotopia books by James Gurney. Today, I spent my lunch hour delightfully browsing the first Dinotopia book, with 2 more in "the pile" for when I'm finished with that one.

Bonabba

Are you familar with Dinotopia? Not distinctly steampunk (too few things are), but with some decidely steampunk aspects -- for instance the idea of time as a helix is a delightful one, and a helix pocket watch one of the interesting inventions of this world. It's a series of lavishly illustrated young adult books that have been turned into a movie, a miniseries, and an animated movie. (I'm holding off on the movie and miniseries until the steampunklet is a bit older and we can enjoy them together.)

Chandara -- echos of Istanbul for me!

For my purposes, I focused on the buildings of this land. Mr. Gurney (whose works both invite and delight) builds an incredible fantasy world that blends the architectural styles of many cultures and some straight out of his imagination.

The village of Bilgewater, made from the hulls of sailing ships -- the most imaginative of places.

Are you or your own steampunklet as enamored as I am? Did you know you can get a wallpaper mural of any of 8 different scenes from the books as large as 9 feet tall? For the more moderate, there are also posters available on Gurney's website.

Also worth browsing is Gurney Journey, the artist's blog. His love for his art and his teacher's patience both come through.

Library with a touch of the exotic

I ran across this renovated San Francisco Victorian in the November Better Homes and Gardens. Is there any room more steampunk than a libary? (Ok... maybe a workshop. Maybe.)

There are lots of good steampunk ideas here -- the silk ceiling shade provides a touch of fantasy, the secret powder room behind the bookshelf adds mystery, the corner moldings in the doorway would be easy to install in any open framed space to add details. These bookshelves are likely built-in, but you can get a similar look by attaching molding to plain bookshelves. If you peek into the powder room, you'll get a glimpse of the East -- a Chinese wall hanging and a paper lantern.

I found a similar pendant shade at Lombok (this was surprising hard to find -- if anyone else knows where to find a shade like this, I'd be very interested in hearing about it, since I'm smitten with this one.)

For the door frame, you can pick up shelf brackets from the local building supply store, or order some from someplace like House of Antique Hardware

More libraries.