Last year Mr T and I were invited to a party were the theme was travelling. We decided to go outside the box and go as Steam punk Time travelers.
For those of you who don't know what Steam punk is, have a look at this wikipedia site. It is a very cool alternative style and very fun to dress up.
One of the main features of Steam punk is that most of the outfits have goggles similar to aviation goggles but jazzed up a bit.
I really tried to see if I could hire some or even buy some 2nd hand goggles, but with the party looming I just bit the bullet and made some with some great help from Youtube. See these sites for inspiration.
Threadbanger on Youtube.
Instructables.com
This is what I used to make my goggles using everyday items I had at home.
Old denim Jeans
2 Empty Toilet rolls or kitchen roll
Plastic clear drink bottle ( like a Sprite bottle)
Sellotape
Black sewing thread
Sewing Needle
PVA glue
Black, gold, brown acrylic art paint
Paint brush
Thumb tacks of different shapes
For those of you who don't know what Steam punk is, have a look at this wikipedia site. It is a very cool alternative style and very fun to dress up.
One of the main features of Steam punk is that most of the outfits have goggles similar to aviation goggles but jazzed up a bit.
I really tried to see if I could hire some or even buy some 2nd hand goggles, but with the party looming I just bit the bullet and made some with some great help from Youtube. See these sites for inspiration.
Threadbanger on Youtube.
Instructables.com
This is what I used to make my goggles using everyday items I had at home.
Old denim Jeans
2 Empty Toilet rolls or kitchen roll
Plastic clear drink bottle ( like a Sprite bottle)
Sellotape
Black sewing thread
Sewing Needle
PVA glue
Black, gold, brown acrylic art paint
Paint brush
Thumb tacks of different shapes
To make the eye pieces first of all I cut the toilet rolls on an angle so it would fit nicely on my head. These would be the round parts of the goggles.
I got the plastic bottle and traced around the end of the toilet roll to make two circles that would fit on the end of the rolls nicely.
I then carefully stuck them on the straight ends of the rolls with clear sellotape on the outside and the inside so it was attached well.
(I would have used fancy glue to make it neater but I didn't have any and I was on a time limit!).
I cut the second toilet roll into four thin strips about 1cm wide.
I stuck these with the PVA over the sellotape that was attaching the clear plastic to cover it and to give the ends of the eye piece some definition. I did two layers to make them stand out more, overlapping them as they were not long enough to go around fully.
I painted the eye pieces gold with black and brown to give it a dirty bronze look.
To make the strap I cut the hems of the jeans off about 3cm up from the end.
I cut the denim in half and cut a 2cm piece off to be the nose piece.
I got the plastic bottle and traced around the end of the toilet roll to make two circles that would fit on the end of the rolls nicely.
I then carefully stuck them on the straight ends of the rolls with clear sellotape on the outside and the inside so it was attached well.
(I would have used fancy glue to make it neater but I didn't have any and I was on a time limit!).
I cut the second toilet roll into four thin strips about 1cm wide.
I stuck these with the PVA over the sellotape that was attaching the clear plastic to cover it and to give the ends of the eye piece some definition. I did two layers to make them stand out more, overlapping them as they were not long enough to go around fully.
I painted the eye pieces gold with black and brown to give it a dirty bronze look.
To make the strap I cut the hems of the jeans off about 3cm up from the end.
I cut the denim in half and cut a 2cm piece off to be the nose piece.
I followed that by measuring around my head from temple to temple to see how long the band of denim had to be and cut it to size with about 1cm extra on each end for sewing allowance.
I shaped the denim with the ends getting larger towards where they would attach to the toliet rolls to look like triangles. This makes a more aviator look I think.
I then hand sewed the triangle ends onto the eye pieces with black thread. It was a little hard going through the cardboard but you could use strong glue if you had some.
Then making sure the band wasn't twisted I sewed the smaller 2cm piece to make the nose piece onto both eye pieces.
The denim was then painted black with gold and brown accents.
I finally added some different shape thumb tacks around the front of the eye pieces to make them look more mechanical and gave these a little brush of paint to blend in.
I was really happy how these turned out and made another pair for Mr T for his outfit. It took me one evening to do 2 pairs and mainly took me that long because I had to figure out what to do.
Below is a picture of our full Steam punk Time traveler outfits. We had a blast at the party and have used the goggles for other dress up party's too.
I shaped the denim with the ends getting larger towards where they would attach to the toliet rolls to look like triangles. This makes a more aviator look I think.
I then hand sewed the triangle ends onto the eye pieces with black thread. It was a little hard going through the cardboard but you could use strong glue if you had some.
Then making sure the band wasn't twisted I sewed the smaller 2cm piece to make the nose piece onto both eye pieces.
The denim was then painted black with gold and brown accents.
I finally added some different shape thumb tacks around the front of the eye pieces to make them look more mechanical and gave these a little brush of paint to blend in.
I was really happy how these turned out and made another pair for Mr T for his outfit. It took me one evening to do 2 pairs and mainly took me that long because I had to figure out what to do.
Below is a picture of our full Steam punk Time traveler outfits. We had a blast at the party and have used the goggles for other dress up party's too.
