Steampunk goggles!

[Luna1375]

This is merely part of a costume I am working on for DragonCon '09, which will not be until September. I know I have tons of time, but when inspiration hits, I have to make it NOW!  Eventually I'm going to be a steampunk airship pirate, and so far all I have are shoes (purchased) and these goggles:







Unfortunately I didn't take process pictures, but the process was basically trial and error anyway.  No, I didn't do the rivets myself, that whole side piece was part of the purse I cut up.  Here's the remains of it, plus the rest of the supplies, minus the hot glue gun, sewing stuff, and translucent green plastic plates I used for the lenses:



That little silver thing is a trinket box from the wedding section of the Dollar Tree. They come three in a pack, that's my leftover.  I only used the lids, which have a bit of a rim to keep the lenses in, but they don't have a center so you don't need to cut anything out.  I traced them with a sharpie onto a green translucent plastic plate (bought at Wal-mart, probably find them lots of places) to make the lenses. 

I used paper to make a pattern for the eye cups, just doing it over and over until I got it right, (well, almost right, I still had to add an extra piece of leather after I put them together) and I hot glued everything together, then started adding more pieces like the back connecting strap and the extra strip towards the front for stability. 

The adjustable strap to hold them on was just the purse's strap, which is glued and sewn (just a few stitches by hand) for extra stability. And then for extra-extra stability and to neaten things up a bit I lined the insides of the cups with black duct tape.  Oh!  And to keep the lenses from falling out, they're retained with strips of the black adhesive foam, as you can kind of see in this blurry picture:



I have seen lots of ways to make steampunk goggles online, and I always thought the lenses would be the hardest part, but using these Dollar Tree tins and the plastic plate was super easy, so I just had to share. 

[PixieDust721]

wow!  this is really cool!  I havn't seen anyone make these yet, but i'm sure they will now

[La Maestra]

Super awesome and what a creative use of materials!  If thrift stores only knew what happens to some of the belts, purses, fabric articles and jewelry they sell...
Con costumers are some of the most ingenious people I know!  And kudos on not waiting until the last minute.

Is there any way to see an action shot???

BTW - Wouldn't you love to see a Con costume thread on Craftster - because making some of the things for Cons (clothes, shoes, props, accessories, etc) is not like costuming for Halloween!  

[mouseatethekitty]

Yeeeeeesssss! You are my hero! I've been trying to figure out what to use to make my own goggles, I was about to give up and just buy some. Awesome job!

[Luna1375]

La Maestra - I'll do an action shot eventually I'm sure, when I get the whole thing done.  Which might not be for months, but we'll see. And I'm pretty sure this board is for non-Halloween costumes, and the Halloween board is in a different place.

Mouseatethekitty - You're quite welcome!  Like I said, I've seen other ones online, but I didn't want to mess with cutting or grinding any metal, since I don't have tools for that. When I saw those boxes at the Dollar Tree, I was like Yay!

[HSG]

Completely amazing, and this is some thrift for your tucus here!

Rockin'!

[Malibukasey]

\m/  THIS ROCKS!! \m/

[La Maestra]

And I'm pretty sure this board is for non-Halloween costumes, and the Halloween board is in a different place.

Yes I know - I think you misunderstood my point.  This thread is kind of a catch-all costume thread - Con costumes are in a class of their own, in my opinion - not like a "standard" costume (ie: steampunk -vs- your standard princess costume - or cosplay -vs- standard fairy - or Firefly -vs- standard pirate).  Steampunk, for example, a more specialized costume involving a great deal more creativity and searching for materials than a costume where you can buy a pattern, standard fabric, and props from a store.

[Radmom]

I love it, and I would honestly never have thought of using a purse...Thanks so much.

I agree with La Maestra-- thrift stores were made for Cons:P

[Luna1375]

Oh, ok, gotcha La Maestra!  I thought since you specifically mentioned Halloween, that you specifically wanted a non-Halloween costume board, and since I thought this was that, I got confused. It happens a lot.