(After I visited that site my browser crashed. Correlation != causation)
Anyway the aging baby boomer cohort has in a way overrun her pioneering creativity. "Standard" canes — usually with a rectangular "crook", aluminum tubing, and two adjustment points — are now available everywhere, not just in DME or drugstores. They come in colors and prints! Six prints and four colors on this page alone
First, I must apologize for my misbehaving 't' key, a situation which will continue until I make the move entirely to my new Mac. I try to proofread posts and e-mails before I send them, but I get more forgetful as the day wanes.
The cane which I will steampunk is actually a black low-vision cane which I bought a few years ago for some project and never used. Since it's black, I can sand it and then use Rub 'n' Buff on it (I chose copper in hopes of looking like copper tubing), so I don't have to worry about missing spots, since whatever I miss will hopefully just make it look more distressed, but I still get the functionality of a blind cane. I'ts a folding cane, so I can easily pack it for conventions, while using my white cane on the streets.
I'm also going to wrap the handle in leather (I'm looking at the leather wrapping used on motorcycle handles, but if you have any better ideas, please advise), and I may even add a gold tassle. I'm trying to find a small keychain that makes blaster noises to attach also, and there's the chance that I may wrap the handle with brass wire to give it a swordlike look. I was also thinking that I could make a small pouch to hold a tiny mp3 player with a tiny speaker, so it could play some sort of theme music, but that may just be crazy-talk.
No apologies please. When I review my posts the next day they're a suppurating heap of homonym errors and random pronouns. If I proofread them, I'd never post them.
In re: leather wrapping. If you're near a sporting goods emporium, you could ask for golf club wrap or tennis racket wrap. Lately there's some amazing "vegan leather" (polyester, I assume) that actually feels and looks a lot like leather. If you were using the cane extensively, I bet real leather would be better, but for cosplay it would be cheaper. (Anything from motorcycle or car shop costs more. Proximity to engines, I believe.)
Any sort of tassel would be lovely: black, gold, whatever. A good place to find one (outside of the graduation cap in your attic) is at a curtain equipment vendor. Tassels and swags often appear on the fitting which ties back most of the curtain for daylight. I'd go to a fabric store like Joanne's, or a home-stuff place like JCPenney's.
The copper wire wrap sounds like it would be uncomfortable as all get out. I'm sure there's a wacky novelty shop in the great Cambridge area where you could find a noisemaker. (I'm guessing there's a black theme in the rest of your costume: a crypt door opening could be apposite).
The theme is steampunk, so the color scheme is brown. I'm making a rushed velvet skirt and bolero in chocolate brown for Halloween, and I'll be using it for the Arisia presentation.
Re wire wrapping over leather: I acually got this idea from SCA sword hilts, and thought it might create a sword-cane look, but I'll probably abandon it as more work than is worth it.
Tassles: I have some a friend gave me years ago, so I'm pretty sure I won't have to buy any.
Re leather wrap: I've looked a tennis wrap stuff on Amazon, but it all seems to come in either black or sporty colors, with no mention of whether it looks/feels like leather. Yes, the motorcycle stuff is expensive, but it comes in brown leather, and it has a solid adhesive backing. If you see something equivalent, I'll probably go for it.
Re sound effects: this would probably be a good excuse to drag Alexx to a toy store, since there seem to be lots of really cheap space blaster toys. Or I may get a pair of nice unlined wrist-length brown leather gloves (oo, that makes my "Dr. Who" Master fetish happy) and rig something to it, like an Iron Man gauntlet.
I spent osme time his morning sanding and staining the handle of the black cane and, despite being clever enough to wear a latex-type glove on the hand I was using to dab stain on the cane, managed to drip stain everywhere including the ungloved hand I was using to wield the paper towels.
Stain is a bear to work with. It's only doing what we want it to do — work its way into every nook and cranny of the surface to which its applied (or applying, in your case).
I hope for your sake it's water based! Get someone to take pictures!
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kestrell
no subject
Date: 2011-09-21 11:42 pm (UTC)I remember that "cane show-off" site and will try to dig up the url. SPeaking of which, I forgot *this* url in my original reply.
http://www.squidoo.com/PimpMyWheelchair
(After I visited that site my browser crashed. Correlation != causation)
Anyway the aging baby boomer cohort has in a way overrun her pioneering creativity. "Standard" canes — usually with a rectangular "crook", aluminum tubing, and two adjustment points — are now available everywhere, not just in DME or drugstores. They come in colors and prints! Six prints and four colors on this page alone
Are you steampunking a mobility cane? Bamboo?
no subject
Date: 2011-09-22 11:36 am (UTC)The cane which I will steampunk is actually a black low-vision cane which I bought a few years ago for some project and never used. Since it's black, I can sand it and then use Rub 'n' Buff on it (I chose copper in hopes of looking like copper tubing), so I don't have to worry about missing spots, since whatever I miss will hopefully just make it look more distressed, but I still get the functionality of a blind cane. I'ts a folding cane, so I can easily pack it for conventions, while using my white cane on the streets.
I'm also going to wrap the handle in leather (I'm looking at the leather wrapping used on motorcycle handles, but if you have any better ideas, please advise), and I may even add a gold tassle. I'm trying to find a small keychain that makes blaster noises to attach also, and there's the chance that I may wrap the handle with brass wire to give it a swordlike look. I was also thinking that I could make a small pouch to hold a tiny mp3 player with a tiny speaker, so it could play some sort of theme music, but that may just be crazy-talk.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-23 05:38 pm (UTC)In re: leather wrapping. If you're near a sporting goods emporium, you could ask for golf club wrap or tennis racket wrap. Lately there's some amazing "vegan leather" (polyester, I assume) that actually feels and looks a lot like leather. If you were using the cane extensively, I bet real leather would be better, but for cosplay it would be cheaper. (Anything from motorcycle or car shop costs more. Proximity to engines, I believe.)
Any sort of tassel would be lovely: black, gold, whatever. A good place to find one (outside of the graduation cap in your attic) is at a curtain equipment vendor. Tassels and swags often appear on the fitting which ties back most of the curtain for daylight. I'd go to a fabric store like Joanne's, or a home-stuff place like JCPenney's.
The copper wire wrap sounds like it would be uncomfortable as all get out. I'm sure there's a wacky novelty shop in the great Cambridge area where you could find a noisemaker. (I'm guessing there's a black theme in the rest of your costume: a crypt door opening could be apposite).
no subject
Date: 2011-09-23 06:06 pm (UTC)Re wire wrapping over leather: I acually got this idea from SCA sword hilts, and thought it might create a sword-cane look, but I'll probably abandon it as more work than is worth it.
Tassles: I have some a friend gave me years ago, so I'm pretty sure I won't have to buy any.
Re leather wrap: I've looked a tennis wrap stuff on Amazon, but it all seems to come in either black or sporty colors, with no mention of whether it looks/feels like leather. Yes, the motorcycle stuff is expensive, but it comes in brown leather, and it has a solid adhesive backing. If you see something equivalent, I'll probably go for it.
Re sound effects: this would probably be a good excuse to drag Alexx to a toy store, since there seem to be lots of really cheap space blaster toys. Or I may get a pair of nice unlined wrist-length brown leather gloves (oo, that makes my "Dr. Who" Master fetish happy) and rig something to it, like an Iron Man gauntlet.
I spent osme time his morning sanding and staining the handle of the black cane and, despite being clever enough to wear a latex-type glove on the hand I was using to dab stain on the cane, managed to drip stain everywhere including the ungloved hand I was using to wield the paper towels.
no subject
Date: 2011-09-23 06:13 pm (UTC)I hope for your sake it's water based! Get someone to take pictures!