Jennifer Oates's Page

Hope you had a great birthday and your holidays are bright! Good to hear you passed the class- post some pics of your project!

Happy Birthday,hope you had an awesome great day,

Happiest of birthdays from Her Majesty's Royal Airship Command! KellysHeroes.webs.com for Gadgets, Gizmos, Goggles & Gear or visit My Page here on Steampunk Empire!

Happy Birthday, may your candles burn as bright as a steam engine.

Happy Birthday, Miss Oates! I hope your project is going well!

Happy Birthday!! May your day be filled with steam!!

Have a Steamy Birthday

Very pleased to make your acquaintance! As you have an interest in aviation, theater, and how to make things on a limited (starving student) budget, you should check out the IAPS group- Students and Ren Faire performers in MI who love to share tips and methods- the ladies make their own uniforms rather than buy stuff. Kapitan von Grelle really demonstrates the steampunk aesthetic in blending theater, history, and above all else, creative innovation in developing a character. Step outside the box and find your own music!

Hello and welcome!
One way to look a bit less stereotypical AND avoid having to buy expensive stuff is to take a second look at your outfit and figure out why different parts of the costume are there. Then see if there's something else that would do the same job.
For instance, you're probably thinking of a tight-fitting leather pilot's helmet, right? Why did they wear that? Because they keep your hair from whipping around. And if you're flying at high altitude, it's cold up there! Can you think of something else that would work? Something that doesn't cost so much, that you could make?
Now let's take a look at an early female aviator ( aviatrix?), Ruth Law:

And you can do a lot more searches on her and the early female pilots. It should give you a lot more "looks" to keep in mind while hitting the thrift stores, and you won't look like a two-bit Amelia Earhart, who is a bit late for steampunk anyway.

The other half of it is "What makes it steampunk rather than historical?" How do you add those retro science fiction touches- but that's another challenge.

On developing a character, things vary wildly, from "Hey, I'm an air pirate, and I drink 'n do pirate stuff, K?" to elaborate back-stories and personality quirks, that they improvise at cons or the chatroom here. Sometimes a lot of the gear they carry has an interesting character story behind it.

If you get stuck or need some ideas, give me a yelp. I love brainstorming on things like that, and part of my persona is "Creative Problem Solver", so it fits right in!