Club Meeting 20 August 2025
Report by Ian Connelly

Steampunk is an artform that has grown on O’Dell. It is based on the idea of punking something out with a steam theme.

It started with O’Dell looking at what was out there in the way of steampunk birds, he found a number of examples on the internet.

This lead to the development of a Tui in flight, with a steampunk theme that he is currently working on.

The Tui was carved in radiata pine, as O’Dell does not like to use native timbers for something that is going to be painted.

Once carved it was painted first with bumper black, then with lumiere paints.

The steampunk themed gears, swords…. were sourced from temu and glued on with CA glue.

The poi on the tui was white vinyl, as a feather can present problems if it gets sent to another country.

When making an artwork, you need to consider – Form, Simplicity, Dominance and Contrast.

So next O’Dell talked about the background and mounting he was going to do for this piece. It was to be mounted on a pine coffee table blank from bunnings, and there will be another layer between the background and the bird to give it more depth. The background will be coloured with guilder paste.

There was then a discussion about when to stop adding to a piece. O’Dell suggested periodically leaving the workshop for a cup of tea. When you come back look at the piece from different angles, this is when it will become apparent if you have done enough, or you still have more work. There is a risk otherwise that you are not looking at the whole piece, but only focusing on the current detail you are working on.

Progress through learning, copying and developing, on the journey of finding your “art”.

Challenge:

O’Dell’s Steampunk Butteryfly Box Competition.

• Make a Butterfly Box for our Child Cancer Charity and steampunk it.
• Competition Ends November 5th
• Entry Fee $10 (donated to the club)
• Prizes $100 Carbatec voucher, $100 Timberly voucher