Contraption Thursday: Grover Marland the Second

Grover Marland

Making his debut at this Exposition is Brassy Galore’s faithful metal companion, Grover Marland the Second. Brassy encounters more than few spooks and spirits in her line of work, and most of them are not at all civilized. For detection of such malevolent beings, Brassy is always sure to have Grover loyally standing by her side. His special mechanical sensory devices are able to detect the faintest traces of ectoplasmic material and his flashing tail beacon provides a warning that is easily seen in dark places. He is tenacious in his defense of Brassy, lending credence to stories of his power source being derived from the soul of a particularly fierce chihuahua.

Come see Grover Marland and many, many contraptions and oddities at our Exposition, starting tomorrow. We are still trying to reach our Kickstarter goal to cover the costs of this huge endeavor, so please donate if you have not. Every dollar counts!

Gover!

Excuse me, madam. Is your dog relieving its steam residue on my tree?

 

 

 

 

Expo Sneak Peek: No Ordinary Fish Tank

Jasper Dunlap approves of the detailed construction.

The mermaid is enchanting, but no match for our lovely ladies.

Here’s couple of behind the scenes photos of the production of the Feegee Mermaid’s containment device. As you can see, it is being lovingly crafted by hand and quality inspected by some of the lovely ladies of Clocktease Burlesque. You can trust their judgement because they have the obvious good taste and style to appear in public with our Mustache-on-a-Stick, which will be available at the Exposition this weekend.

Speaking of the expo, have you donated yet? Our time to reach our goal is drawing short and we need every last little bit of help to get there. No donation is too small!

UPDATE: For those of you who find that mermaids put you in an romantic mood, here’s a nighttime shot of the base of the tank:

Mermaid tank base

 

Expo Sneak Peek: Well, Hello There!

Scrappy

Scrappy is sporting his formal monocle in this photo.

The Exposition opens its doors in just 2 days! Scrappington Hauley has prettied himself up for the occasion. Are you ready?

We still need donations to support this event. Please spread the word because if we do not meet our goal by Friday night, all donations will be returned. Our Kickstarter page is here.

Contraption Thursday: H.A.R.O.L.D.E.

H.A.R.O.L.D.E.

Dr. Torque prefers to labor over his fantastic inventions in seclusion in his sprawling laboratory complex. Though his isolation frees his mighty intellect from social constraints, he is but one man and is often in need of additional strength in order to assemble his larger constructs. To this end, Dr. Torque has devised the Heavy Ambulatory Rider Operated Load Dispatching Equipment, or H.A.R.O.L.D.E. as he is affectionately referred to by his Creator. This ìiron manî amplifies a normal fellowís strength fiftyfold and is easily and surely controlled by a series of pulleys and gears as well as the Torque Laboratories patented Emeraldic Energy Extrapolators™ concealed within this behemoth.

See this contraption and more at Dr. Torque’s Traveling Exposition of Curious Contraptions and Fantastical Oddities at GMX October 21-23. Your donations will make it happen!

Contraption Thursday: A.T.T.

Automated Torque Telegrapher
The miracle of near-instantaneous messaging notwithstanding, recording and decoding telegraph messages is, at least, massively time consuming and, at worst, is the type of barbaric labor that a gentleman should avoid. Dr. Torque happens to be such a gentleman and has devised an elegant solution to this conundrum. Torque Laboratories is proud to present the Automated Torque Telegrapher, or A.T.T. for brevity’s sake. This ingenious contraption converts the crude dots and dashes of a wired transmission into a finely penned manuscript fit for the civilized eye. Its operation is a closely-guarded secret, and any specious mention of “orphan’s souls” will be met with the fiercest of lawsuits.

See this contraptionand more at Dr. Torque’s Traveling Exposition of Curious Contraptions and Fantastical Oddities at GMX October 21-23. Your donations will make it happen!

Creature Tuesday: Feegee Mermaid


This enchanting creature was collected by the team during a sojourn to the supposedly tranquil islands of the heathen South Pacific. The Feegee Mermaid is an interesting being, simultaneously beguiling and treacherous. Captured with no small amount of effort, the specimen that you see before you is of exceptional quality and size, unlike other, lesser examples peddled by duplicitous sideshow proprietors. Unfortunately, this is only one of a larger pod or school of mer‑creatures, the others lost to either the necessary violence of subjugation, a lack of nurturing seawater, and, in one instance, a thrilling but biologically troubling conjugation.

See this creature and more at Dr. Torque’s Traveling Exposition of Curious Contraptions and Fantastical Oddities at GMX October 21-23. Your donations will make it happen!

Contraption Thursday: Scrappington Hauley

 

Scrappington Hauley (“Scrappy”) functions as the pack mule for the team during missions and adventures by carrying equipment and supplies. Scrappy is also often sent ahead of the team into uncertain situations for reconnaissance and remote surveillance. Guidance is achieved by using the Mallardian Steerage Apparatus™ which employs organic global positioning and a radio-telegraph wireless linkage between the operator and the infernal contraption. Primary power comes from a large Emeraldic Energy Extrapolator™ mounted on the rear of the chassis. Scrappy is able to function autonomously when navigating through Dr. Torqueís secret underground laboratory thanks to the recent facility-wide installation of multiple wireless directional devices of the doctorís own design.

See this contraption and more at Dr. Torque’s Traveling Exposition of Curious Contraptions and Fantastical Oddities at GMX October 21-23. Your donations will make it happen!

 

 

Clocktease Burlesque VIP Access – What Does That Entail?

Envious of this fine gentleman? You can join him in the rarefied air of the VIP section for Clocktease Burlesque.

Even a rakish cad such as this knows that life is better in the VIP section.

Generous donors to Dr. Torque’s Traveling Exposition of Curious Contraptions and Fantastical Oddities will receive VIP passes to the alluring and quizzical romp of Clocktease Burlesque as part of an amazing reward package. But what does VIP access entail? What an astute question! Our respectful response is thus:

- No waiting in line for the burlesque show
- Front row premiere seating during the burlesque show
- Special VIP lanyard and pass laminate
- Refreshments
- Various other perks throughout the night

Such a bounty! This is not even including the other rewards that you can claim at this level of patronage. Please do look over our Kickstarter page for this event and choose the appropriate sponsorship for your needs.

The Steampunk World’s Fair

We are quickly approaching the Steampunk World’s Fair which is held May 20th – 22nd in Somerset, New Jersey. Unfortunately, the Abolisher’s will be unable to attend this amazing event, but we felt that we needed to share one of the stunning posters for this year’s event.

This beautiful poster design comes from illustrator, Tom Brown. On his blog, The Moth Festival, Tom shares a few step by step posts of creating this great homage to one of the Abolishers favorite literary masters, H.P. Lovecraft.  His eerie use of value and texture really sets the perfect tone for the stories of Lovecraft.  Be sure to give Tom’s other work a gander while on his site, the man has some serious talent!

Here is the pencils for Tom’s poster.

 

As I had mentioned above, the Abolishers are unable to make this year’s Steampunk World’s Fair. I am personally VERY sad about this because one of Jasper’s most favorite bands, Murder By Death will be performing this year. Just the thought of seeing these guys at a STEAM convention sounds like a BLAST! Maybe one day, Jasper will be able to see this spectacle in person.(Let’s hope they agree to do more Steam cons for the future!) With that notion, We leave you with the fun beer-chuggin’  bar-fighting song “Brother”  by Murder By Death.

ENJOY!

-JASPER