I'm off to a party on Friday where I need to dress as a hero. And, following belle_fille1982's photo shoot on Sunday, I've decided that I wanted it to be a Steampunk hero. Now, I know I don't have that much time to get ready, and to be honest it's not going to be the best costume ever - but I decided I really wanted to make a good pair of Steampunk goggles.

And so, after remembering someone doing something similar once, I got hold of some spray cans - silver, brown, black - and a pair of five quid gas welding goggles.

For those of you that don't know what these look like, they're the ones with clear glass, and a flip up/down dark sunglasses bit. They look like this.


That's with the flip up...


And that's with the flip down.

So the first thing I did was cover the lenses. The whole point of Steampunk goggles is still to look like goggles, so I decided I wanted the lenses clear and not painted over like some people's versions. So, I printed out a batch of 45mm circles and cut them out, placing them in each lens area, front and back. I knew that this probably wasn't the perfect solution, but hey, I'm experimenting.

So, with the covers on, it looks like this.



With these done, it was then a trip outside to spray - because this is going to be in several parts, today was a basic 'hold the part that doesn't get sprayed and spray the rest' part, and Craig will be happy to know that unlike last year's Golden Champagne Glass cock up where I left spray paint all over the patio? This was quick, paint free and painless to the surrounding area. Firstly, I sprayed the green a uniform black, so that the entire unit was one colour. Then, using a brown I covered the part I intended to paint, in a vague 'brush stroke' way of spraying. Then, with this done I went back to the black, overlaying the brown with a light smattering. And then I did the same with the brown. And then then the black. I didn't want to make a 'wood' effect as to be honest a pair of these in a steampunk setting would more likely be leather, so I wanted something just touching on that.

And, when I had finished, the goggles now look like this.





And here we break. as I need this to dry totally before I start the next part, the 'metalising' of the flip top and the lens rims. I think that will be tomorrow. And I'll do the 'rivets' too, then.

But all in all? Not a bad start, I reckon.