Careering Through Nature: asylum 2014

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

The Steampunk Gadgets of Lincoln Asylum 2014

Here, just a final round up of some of the weird and wonderful gizmos and mechanical fancies on view at Lincoln Asylum 2014. The amount of time and creativity, and bits of household appliances Matt Irvine style, that go into the "accessories" is fantastic, and makes my clutzy dyspraxic hands feel very jealous.

Here endeth my coverage of Asylum 2014, hopefully the event, and myself, will return in 2015 and I can spare three days to really get more involved.

*rushes off to write more science fiction*

Let go on steep hill, and a 100mph wreck might have been in prospect

Hats and goggles. The esentials

Guns large and small

Charity shop ephemera

Steampunk dragonfly

On a larger scale, a horse and carriage

I think that's a vegetable strainer at the bottom there

Rocket ships

Once again, the musical hat

The horny box of curiosities

The antique shops wanted in on the action

Monday, 15 September 2014

Lincoln Asylum 2014 - Wacky Race Fun

Note, I am now able to decorate the title with the correct name, but this is more Lincoln Steam punk fun, coming now from the Castle grounds. The highlight of the afternoon's programme was the Wacky Races at 2pm, which involved two penny farthings versus a tricked out Steampunk trike and boy in a roadster. I suspect a little non-malicious cheating went on resulting in the little boy winning, but from my vantage point I had no idea.

The next major task was getting hold of a cup of tea, which turned out to be a very lengthy process for the overstretched staff at the stand as they nursemaided a temperamental coffee machine that sounded more Steampunk than anything else I'd heard up to that point. Frankly, with so many of the participants wearing more brass and copper than the Titanic, I'm surprises that they couldn't have whipped up rudimentary boiler or kettle in the time it took me to get a cuppa.

I then did a tour of the stalls, surrounded by these fantastic looking folk wearing get up that must have cost the veritable astronomicals in terms of cash and man hours. I so wanted to hunt down some nice jackets and waistcoats, alas no joy with my cashflow so I restricted myself to buying some prints.

I was disappointed not to find more literature or artwork, but this is more due to the fact I had to hurry for the train and didn't know where to look rather than the fault of the event, I suspect. I would have happily stayed into the evening and attempted to chat to a few of the folk in the pubs and tea shops of Lincoln, and next year, I will try and get over for more than one day.