Scientists and airship pilots alike need goggles.
Cutting a pair of your own steampunk goggles doesn't require cash, just a few basic items and ingenuity. Steampunk culture brings Victorian airship pilots and mad scientists to life, complete with iconic brass goggles. In addition to looking really cool, you'll need them to protect your eyes from the winds whipping around your zeppelin and from the viscous chemicals brewing in your secret lab.
Instructions
1. Cut a 1 ½ inch circle in the center of each drink bottle lid; leaving a ¼ inch border around the top of each lid. Spray paint both lids with brass spray paint; let them dry for hours.
2. Cut the top and bottom from a soda bottle, leaving the center plastic cylinder behind. Slit the side of the cylinder and flatten it out into a plastic sheet. Use the marker to trace two circles around a drink lid on the plastic. Cut out both circles.
3. Glue the plastic circles into your drink lids to create lenses for your goggles. Let the glue dry overnight. Use clear plastic for a traditional look or green plastic to accessorize a scientist persona.
4. Cut along the seams of the baseball with a utility knife. Peel away one of the pieces of leather and remove all of the strings inside. The leather will have an hourglass shape. Paint the hourglass brown with the craftpaint on both sides. Let it dry for an hour.
5. Fold the leather piece widthwise and cut it in half to create two paddle-shaped bases. These paddle-shaped pieces are the frames for the two bottle cap lenses. The curved edges of the paddles make up the sides of the nose piece while the narrow and the cut ends will attach to a strap that secures the goggles around your head.
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6. Place one of your lenses on the curved side of one of the leather paddles. Trace around the cap with a pencil. Cut a circle about ½ inch inside the pencil circle.
7. Cut the ½ inch border between the cut circle and the pencil circle into ¼ inch wide fringes. Place the lens on the circle and fold the fringes up inside the cap, gluing them in place and clamping them with binder clips. Repeat with the other paddle and lens. Let them dry overnight.
8. Cut a ¼ inch wide leather belt in half, snipping a ½ inch piece of leather from the middle of the belt. Set your bottle cap lenses side by side so the curved ends of the leather paddle are about ½ inch apart. Staple the ½ inch piece of leather between the paddle with brass-tone staples. This completes the nosepiece.
9. Measure around the back of your head, from temple to temple, with a flexible measuring tape. Add 4 inches to this measurement and divide it in half; this is how long each of your goggle straps must be. For instance, if your head measures 10 inches from temple to temple, each leather strap should be 7 inches long.
10. Cut the measured amount (in the case of the example 7 inches) from either end of your belt, salvaging the buckle and belt holes. Staple the cut end of each strap to the narrow ends of your leather goggle paddles. Buckle the ends of the belt together behind your head to secure the goggles.
Tags: your head, pencil circle, about inch, airship pilots, around your, bottle leaving
