Some of the young steampunk workshop attendees are, back from left, Sophie D, Taylor McCown, Addison Brears and Hannah Court. Front from left are Chloe D, Amy Webb, Ruby Webb and Poppy McFarlane.
Pirongia-based steampunk aficionado Paula McWha brightened the lives of a group of youngsters by holding a steampunk workshop for them during the school holidays.
The workshop, which drew about 12 youngsters aged 9-13, covered off the fun side of making costumes to fit the steampunk mould. Most of them are homeschooled friends from Te Awamutu, Pirongia, Ngutunui and Ōtorohanga.
Paula was assisted by her colleagues in the local Lords and Ladies of Steampunk/Time Travelling Trio group.
Steampunk is a genre of fantasy-inspired fashion that borrows its style from the industrial innovations of the Victorian era. Those who love it incorporate nuts, bolts and cogs, wires, clocks, and a host of other weird and wonderful accessories into lavish costumes of the era.
Paula has been knee-deep in the trend for seven years. She trips around the region regularly with her colourfully dressed fellow steampunkers, often under names such as The Golden Pins or The Time Travelling Trio. Some of the youngsters at the recent workshop joined them recently at a King’s Birthday Weekend outing to Hamilton’s Frankton railway station.
The July workshop was the second Paula has hosted. The first was in April and was organised after a pair of youngsters, Amy and Ruby Webb, spotted steampunk at the Paeroa Highland Games and decided to investigate further. Word spread among the group of friends and school-mates and it’s been all go ever since. Not only have they been swept up in the workshops, but they can often be seen wandering around their village in steampunk gear just for fun.
Paula said the group made the most of the four-hour workshop.
“I get a great buzz from seeing what they come up with. Many of them look to their grandparents for ideas – suddenly that old stuff isn’t junk anymore.”
Ruby, 12, adopted the steampunk name of Lady Elizabeth Ferguson for her outing. “My persona is more into travelling around the world … I was hanging things off my belt that tied into that.”
Younger sister Amy, 10, adopted an ‘engineering’ persona and called herself Lady Alice Smith. She looked through her electrician dad’s workshop for unusual pieces to include.
“I like that there is a bit of a story around the outfits. It’s fun,” she said.
Their mum Ruth Webb said she enjoyed the creativity steampunk generated and the fact there were so many different things the youngsters could learn from it. “As they work out their outfits and talk about what they are representing, they are inadvertently learning about the era it represents.”
The workshop crew and those steering them will be over in Cambridge next month to join an August 13 steampunk event being held in conjunction with Interlock at the Cambridge Town Hall.
