There was a recent post on Slashdot that directed my attention to The Steampunk Workshop. The Steampunk Workshop is a fantastic website created by Jake von Slatt that features a growing number of creative projects to give modern (and perhaps discarded) things a more useful life with a distinctively retro flair.

Now, I’m not criticizing here but I’m not entirely sure what makes most of these projects “steampunk” per say… if anything, they give me a Jules Vern / H.G. Wells vibe with all the brass work involved on the site. It’s actually von Slatt’s techniques with brass that impress me the most.

I never would have thought to use brass in the way that he does on his keyboard project but it seems to be the perfect material for the job and von Slatt uses it well. His project has inspired me to work with and use brass in a similar fashion whenever I get the chance in the future.

Another amazing technique Jake has used on brass and copper is a relatively simple electroplating process using commonly obtainable materials. In fact, something like this would make a great high school science project. (We never did anything that cool in my high school science class.) These etchings have a distinctly old-world turn of the century feel to them and, although they obviously take some trial and error to work out, look fantastic.

I highly recommend checking out The Steampunk Workshop for creative inspiration in any of your own retro projects. I look forward to seeing what Jake von Slatt comes up with in the future.