The post that I made last week spoke a little about my progress in decision making, but more about my inspiration. Referencing my previous post, my inspiration spurred from a steampunk aesthetic. Being a mechanical engineer, gears and mechanical components as a form of interior design seems fascinating. As a result, I decided to incorporate this aesthetic into my life in the form of book ends.
The options I listed in my previous post for progress included..
- Etch a design in double layered acrylic and attach the design to the back of the metal.
- Use multi-colored solder to create a design on the steel L brackets.
- Design a sticker using polyvinyl chloride and create the necessary shapes of the sticker with the sand blaster located in the Idea Forge.
- Tack weld mechanical parts such as gears onto the L-shape in order to make the holes seem like they are purposeful.
- Create a Papier-mâché design on the steel using the spine and pages from old books.
After thinking about these options, I viewed a few more photos such as the ones shown below.
Ultimately, I decided upon option 4. The execution remained simple yet tasteful. Additionally, I wanted to include more than just the outline of gears or sprockets in order to maintain a realistic look.
So far, I have die grinded my steel, sandblasted the steel and sprockets, welded on the sprockets, sandblasted again, inserted bolts into the steel, and added colored electrical wire around the sprockets in order to add color to the punk aesthetic. I am still in the process of deciding if I want to add a rust colored paint onto the exterior of the book ends.
Citation: https://www.cgtrader.com/3d-models/industrial/part/steampunk-gear-10
3 Comments. Leave new
Your final product came out really cool. It’s interesting to look back and take a peak into your thought process at the time and see how your design evolved.
This project seems like it will be a lot of work but it makes me even more excited to see the final product. Do you think by using the rust colored paint, it could create issue with having shadows not portray correctly since light can bounce off some paints and create weird effects.
From your description, it sounds like your final product will have a really unique and intriguing look. I agree with your choice of going with the 4th design path you listed. I think the depth from the tack welded sprockets will do a much better job of portraying the steampunk aesthetic than any of the other options. If you end up using rust-colored paint, how do you plan to do so? Using it in a way that gives the appearance of spots of rust may provide a more steampunk aesthetic than completely painting the book ends.