Le Poisson Volant

"Le Poisson Volant", 2012

Steampunk-inspired Airship Dedication Plaque. 8" x 10" brass in wooden frame.

"Buck" Cigar Box

"Buck" Cigar Box, 2011

4" x 6" etched, brass plate mounted on a cigar box. This was made for my brother-in-law for Christmas.

Detailed view of box, 2011

Christmas Ornaments

Shoe Ornament #1, 2010

 Two Christmas ornaments I made as gifts.

Shoe Ornament #2, 2010

Clocks

Table Clock, 2010

This was made from a 4"x4" piece of brass I had lying around. Since making this one, I have seen many antique, etched clocks and inspires me into making more clocks in the future.

Wall Clock, found at Biltmore Estate, Asheville, NC.

This clock is in Biltmore Estate. I liked the two metals to give it a contrasting appearance. (Sorry for the poor photo. This was hanging in a roped-off hallway and I had to shoot it with the zoom on my phone at an weird angle.)

I definitely want to try a two-toned one like this with brass and stainless steel.

Antique Wall Clock

This wall clock was hanging in a antique shop. It's hard to make out, but there is a nature scene etched within the center circle.

Odds & Ends #1

Vader's Raiders, 2011

Here are two I recently finished. The above is a 4" x 4" stainless steel plate with a Star Wars/WWII nosecone inspired image. It didn't turn out a clean as I wanted, but it has a nice battle-worn appearance. I'm going to do this one again, only larger and maybe with more Star Wars styled fonts.

The one below was for a friends' son for his karate belt display he received for his birthday.

Name Plaque, 2011

Clockwork Electric Guitar: Part 1

Cipher Guitar neckplate, 2011

Cipher Guitar, 2011

This is the project that started me wanting to etch. In 2007, I found online the works of Jake Von Slatt of The Steampunk Workshop and his "Steampunk Strat".

Inspired, I purchased a used Cipher electric guitar from Craigslist for $25 with intentions of producing my own steampunk guitar... and never did. I moved this guitar from townhouse-to-apartment-to-townhouse until this spring when I dug it out of the attic to finally finished it.

I am making three plates for the guitar: the backplate, which sandwiches the neck to the body, a small keystone-shaped plate for the neck near the tuners and the pickguard which will have a clockwork pattern. Pictured here is the backplate and the neck plate is etched, but needs to be shaped and finished.

The guitar was originally a cream color. I spray painted it flat black with many coats of flat clear coat, then sanded smooth with 400-grit sandpaper. I also painted all of the chrome hardware gold to match the plates.

Note: I etched the date of "2011" into the backplate to date my work and to force me to finish this project this year.

Work in Progress

Airship Plaque work-in-progress, 2011

Two works in progress. The above is a 8"x10" plaque that I prepping to be etched. After I transfer the image, I touch up any holes in the transfer with black, enamel paint. The exposed brass will be etched away.

Below is an etched plate that needs to be drilled, polished and mounted. This is the first plate I've done where I etched away the background and left the details raised above the brass. Usually I etch the image into the brass and then fill in the etch with paint. The fine details are hard to make out at this point, hopefully everything will be clearer once polished.

Steamship, work-in-progress, 2011