It’s JULY already!!!  Wow, the last month just blew right by me, and it’s been a whole month since I’ve posted here – oh my gosh!

I have been working in my craft room, but it’s mostly been replenishing items that have sold in my Etsy shop, Old Raven.  Things like my black widow spiders,

there apparently is no ‘season’ for creepy spiders as these sell all year long.  I’ve also been selling, and remaking, my little Faux Log Fires like crazy.

I wish I could ask every one who buys one of these fires what they were using them for but I don’t want to be intrusive on my customers.  Still, I got the opportunity with one customer who told me her and her (grown) daughter still get together and make doll vignettes – how fun is that?  and it sounds like they have a blast, too.

But this is the time of year I start making Halloween treats for my shop.  And every year I make one Steampunkin.  It always seems to work out to just one per year, probably because they are so labor intensive, but man, I love how they come out.

This year I had plans for adding a propeller to the top of my pumpkin, it would turn and be made of riveted metal, cool.   But, a week ago, as I was out driving, running errands, I remembered something I had purchased at a second hand store.  It was the top portion of a photo display.  It was a chrome knob with an explosion of 18 silver wires coming out of it and at the end of each wire is a clip, presumably to display photographs on.  There was no base on it when I purchased it, but I thought it might be fashioned into a mobile or something along those lines.

As soon as I got home I ran to check on that salvaged piece and YES it would be perfect for the pumpkin I was working on.

So here it is, 2018’s Steampunkin.

The ‘knob’ was the perfect size to be this pumpkin’s stem.  It was originally a bright chrome but I gave it some age when I added the patina of black to the rest of the pumpkin.  (p.s., I made a post called Steampunk Pumpkin on July 31, 2016.  It’s a 5 part ‘How To’ if you would like to see how these guys are made.)

The wires are pretty sensitive and with the slightest breeze, the bats take flight.

This is the first time I’ve made these bats.  They are a thin-let style die from Cheery Lyn Designs called Bat Family.  You get 6 bats with one cutting and each one is nicely different from the next in size and shape.  I really love how they came out. And they were perfect for dancing around my steampunkin’s head.  I just pierced a tiny hole in each and suspended them on black thread.

That’s a lot of little pieces of riveted embossed foil, folks!  But this guy looks good from ever angle.

This model of pumpkin has an electric light with a cord attached but I usually add a battery operated light too, with these guys, for folks who want to display the pumpkin but not bother with a cord.

That’s a 12 inch ruler so you can get an idea of the actual size here.

I thought of a number of things to hang from the tips of those wires, like:  skeletons, candy like Hershey’s Kisses, little pumpkins, ghosts, crystal jewels, tiny ravens or a mix of everything.

I like 2018’s Steampunkin – he was fun to make and the use of my serendipitous purchase of the salvaged photo display made my day.  I LOVE upcycling things into my art.

This happy guy will be listed shortly in my Etsy shop.