My Steampunk Christmas Tree!

We've had our tree up for a few weeks now, adding new ornaments and finishing touches day by day - but I think we've finally reached a point where I can do the grand reveal:

So, without further ado:

Ta-da! (click to enbiggen)
Ain't it grand?

;)

Of course, I realize that's just a jumble of lights and colors from a distance, so here are some details:

First, the tree skirt I've been drooling over for three years and finally decided to buy. It's from Disney (note the Mickey heads) and was crazy expensive (thank goodness for friends with cast member discounts), but it goes perfectly with our tree's color palette:

I started with a foundation of shiny glass ornaments in shades of orange, gold, bronze, purple and fuchsia.

Can you tell that's Lily's favorite spot? Still, better on the tree skirt than under it.

Next I added things like those keys, owls, peacock feathers, and gems, which were found on the cheap at stores like Hobby Lobby and Marshalls.

Originally I thought we might use a plasma ball for the topper, but it didn't go very well with our tree lights. So just ignore the one in this picture:

Next we began adding the ornaments we made ourselves, like those copper swirl/springs.

That's also our first hot air balloon prototype back there. It looks a bit nicer now. (More balloon pics coming soon, along with a tutorial.)

The copper springs are some of my favorites; they catch and reflect the light beautifully:

To make them, we stripped thick copper wiring and wrapped it around a broom handle.

I also gave them a quick wipe-down with Tarn-x to bring out the shine:

See the difference?

To keep the shine you can clear-coat your springs with lacquer, but I didn't bother. I'll just polish them again next year.

Oh, and I should mention the tree lights: they're all amber, which I initially thought would look grungy somehow. Not so! The amber glow is warm and simply magical:

I also used a lot of them: 900 lights for our 6.5 foot tree. And because I was trying to hide the wires as much as possible - *and* keep it from obscuring my "snow" - it took me two whole nights to do. Yeah. There's no WAY I'm taking these lights off in January. I told John he'll just have to build me a "Christmas shed" in the backyard, so I can store the tree upright. :D

More of our handmade steampunk touches:

The gears are made of clay, and were punched out with a custom gear cookie cutter John made from roof flashing:

That's rolled out Fimo Soft. By using different sized circles to cut out the centers, we were able to get two or three different styles of gears. The Fimo is flexible, too, like rubber - so there's no risk of it shattering if we drop one.

The clay isn't perfectly smooth, though, and the metallic paint really shows every imperfection. That's great if you age them, because then they look like pitted metal, but for the tree I was hoping to have a porcelain smooth finish. Any advice, crafters? Is there a better clay I should be using?


I also experimented with some tiny vintage glass test tubes I picked up at a junk mart while on tour. I thought I'd try some kind of oil and colored water combination, but then I realized the only oil I had on hand was bright yellow vegetable oil. Um. NO.

So instead, I used corn syrup.

(Yes, it's technically light yellow, but in the tubes it looks clear.)

I transferred the stickiness to the tubes with an eye dropper, and then stirred in large glitter flakes with a metal wire. The syrup is so sticky that the glitter stays suspended; it doesn't sink. (And as a bonus, the air bubbles from stirring the syrup stay, too, which looks pretty nifty.)

Like so:

At this point I got all excited thinking I could mix in tiny watch gears and springs. So I did. And it looked AMAZING. And then they all slooooowly sank to the bottom of the tube. Curses!

The glitter, however, has stayed put. You could use lots more than I did, of course, and mix colors and whatnot. I was just trying to make something that looked like sample metal flakes for a lab experiment. (Yes, I make up back stories for my crafts. Don't you?)

When I was done I used epoxy to seal the cork in place, wrapped some thin brass wire around the top to form a loop, and then adhered that with another dollop of epoxy.


The gold rope garland is cheap tinsel rope from a dollar store, but I like that it's simple and doesn't compete with all the ornaments:

And finally, let's talk about the tree top!

The hot air balloons have been our longest and most difficult on-going project - we still have a few models in the works - so those will get their own post later. They're hung with fishing line from the ceiling by tiny clear thumb tacks, so they really look like they're floating in mid air - and I love them.

The topper itself is a reproduction Edison bulb from Lowe's. John wired it through a short threaded metal rod, which he inserted down the back of the tree. Because the new bulbs are really bright, he also installed a dimmer switch on it.


We had a lot of ideas for things to add to the bulb: big gold wings, a gear halo, a mirrored starburst mounted behind it - but as time was running short we settled for something simple. For now. [wicked grin]

The silver platter cost a whopping $1 at the Dollar Tree, and is attached to the bulb base with an L bracket screwed in place. It looks like an old fashioned picture frame around the bulb, which I kind of like.

The first time John got the bulb in place on the tree, I immediately remarked, "It's like our tree just had an idea." This made John laugh so hard that I've now dubbed it our "idea tree."

Well, I hope that was worth the wait, guys. Thanks for all the encouragement and ideas, and please, keep the ideas coming! I don't think I'll stop tweaking and brainstorming until well *after* Christmas. Especially for the topper; there are just sooo many more possibilities.