I started this project long, long ago. I was teaching at TechShop and had the time, tools, and a drive to make something serious. You see, I have had this long history of mixed emotions about steampunk. On the one hand, it is a wonderful and beautiful to look back on generations past and reflect on all the awesome things they have done. It is great to be inspired by Tesla and Grahm Bell and all the guys slaving away in steel mills wearing top hats. On the other hand steampunk has also become a label for hastily made shoddy things muddled together with hot glue, watch gears, and brass spray paint.
Often times my philosophy is to not have opinions on things until I have done something substantial to justify them. This is me putting my money where my mouth is. This is my highly engineered, hard labor, meticulously calculated answer to why steampunk is awesome. There can be so much cool in the intersection between math and metal and leather and science and I think everyone should give it a try.
The whole set of photos from the project is on display here http://www.flickr.com/photos/gianteye/sets/72157624394079042/
You can see a bit more on how the metal components on the goggles were made here http://www.flickr.com/photos/gianteye/sets/72157619078382624/ and find out a bit more about the prototyping process here http://makersmarket.com/seller/gianteye/blog
I fuel my insatiable love for design and adventure through ventures like selling digitally fabricated jewelry on etsy. You should take a look at http://gianteye.etsy.com or get in touch with me at m sinbox.org if you have ideas, advice, job offers, commissions, or cake.