How to Make Steampunk Goggles

Steampunk is a section of fantasy that blends a world where steam technology is widely used in conjunction with science fiction or fantastical elements. This genre came about in the 1990s and has led to an explosion of fan-based costumes. One of the most important pieces of a steampunk costume is the goggles. Steampunk goggles can be made at home using common household items.

Things You'll Need

• Baseball
• Hem of blue jeans
• Two Gatorade lids
• Clear plastic container
• Black spray paint
• Metallic spray paint
• Hammer
• Nail
• Scissors
• Utility knife
• Strong glue
• Glue gun
• Needle
• Thread
• Binder clamps

Instructions

1. Cut a baseball along the seams and take off the outer leather covering of the ball. You will only use half of the leather covering. Pull away any thread that may be stuck to the leather. Also pull off any of the stitching that may be left behind.

2. Cut the leather from the ball in half. Spray paint both sides of the leather black. Set the leather aside to dry.

3. Place the Gatorade lids on a flat surface. Using the utility knife, cut circles out of the caps, approximately 1/2 inch from the outer edge. You can discard the part you cut out and spray paint the part you have left (the part with the cap threads) with the metallic paint.

4. Cut off the hem on the bottom of the legs on an old pair of jeans. Cut under the seam so you don't have to sew the jeans. Use the spray paint and paint this black.

5. Place a Gatorade cap on one of the leather pieces from the baseball. Use a pencil and mark the inside edge of the cap on the leather. Repeat this for both Gatorade caps.

6. Now you have the size of the opening you need to cut out of the leather. However, don't cut out the circle as you have traced it; cut out the circle, but leave four tabs in the inside of the circle that will be used to attach the caps to the leather. (What you will cut out will look like a cross.) Repeat this for both pieces of leather. Save one of the cross cutouts you make.

7. Place your glue on one side of the leather tabs. Place the Gatorade lids on top of the cutout in the leather, and fold the tabs so the glue presses to the inside of the Gatorade tabs. Clamp it in place until the glue dries.

8. Cut out the center part of one of the leather crosses you kept. This will be the nose piece.

9. Once the glue is dry on the eye pieces (Gatorade lids), place them upside down on the clear plastic container. Trace two circles on the plastic using the lid as a guide. Cut out the circles and place them inside the eyepieces. If they don't fit, trim them down until they do. Use a hot glue gun to fasten them into place.

10. Attach the nose piece you cut out from the crosses to the eye pieces. The eye pieces should have holes that were used for the baseball seams. Run some thread through these holes and then through the piece of leather for the eye piece. Sew both eye pieces to the nose piece.

11. Punch three holes in the outside edges of the eye-piece leather with a hammer and nails. This is where you will attach the head strap. Take your jeans hem and attach one side to one of the eyepieces with a needle and thread.

12. Place the goggles on your eyes and run the strap around your head to the other eye piece. This will determine the length you need for the strap to fit. Sew the appropriate length to the goggles and cut off the excess

Tips & Warnings

• If you have a black pair of jeans, it will keep you from having to spray paint the jeans, which will cut out one step.

• The colors can really be whatever you want, but in keeping with steampunk tradition, you may only want to use the black and silver, or a dark brown for the leather and strap and gold for the goggles.

• When cutting out any of the circles, make sure you don't cut too small. If things are too small they won't fit properly. It is better to err on the larger side and then trim down.

References

• How to make Steampunk Goggles