Steampunk - What is it?

Well, essentially steampunk is a combination of modern and antique. The antique bit generally being from the age of steam, typically from the Victorian era. The genre began to be popular in the 1980's and 1990's in the USA as a form of science fiction writing, art and film based in worlds where steam engines and clockwork machines co-exist with very futuristic landscapes, worlds and plots. A bit like H.G.Wells meets Star Wars!

Since steampunk began, it's popularity has grown a great deal and it is now becoming almost a main stream jewellery making trend. It is particularly popular with the younger generation, but does have followers of all ages, because it is seen as a cool style representing  something extremely out of the ordinary and something that will provoke interest.

As a genre of jewellery making it usually means the combination of "steam age" style components with modern jewellery components to produce fantastic futuristic jewellery pieces. Typical components will include antiqued or antique looking brass, copper, silver, silver plated or gold plated findings such as filigree's, charms, larger linked chains and other jewellery findings together with cogs, keys, winders, watch movements and other "steam age" style components.

Although It isn't essential to use watch or pocket watch parts to make a steampunk jewellery item, many steampunk jewellery makers do favour this style of parts combined with gothic or fantasy based filigree's and charms, for example cogs and wheels from an old pocket watch together with a dragon charm or a fairy like filigree assembled in an artistically and genre specific way. Watch faces, watch and pocket watch keys also figure quite frequently in steampunk jewellery creations. However, whatever components are used, the important thing is that they combine together to produce a finished piece that looks both futuristic and Victorian at the same time.

Most steampunk jewellery makers will give fabulously futuristic and fantastic names to their pieces, linking them with both the past and with an unforseen altered future.

This photo represents a fairly simple but very effective use of the steampunk jewellery style, consisting of a Silver Plated Burnished Bangle Blank and a de-constructed vintage watch movement :

Other steampunk jewellery items can be much more elaborate in their construction and de-construction.

We will be adding a selection of findings, watch movements and other watch parts to our web site in the forthcoming weeks. So, if you are interested in making steampunk jewellery it's worth book marking or saving the site to your favourites.