A year before opening shop my husband and I were putting together steampunk costumes for Comic Con. Not being one to shy away from a crafting challenge, I took it upon myself to make us steampunk guns, goggles (for me), a geared up top hat (for him), and some jewelry accessories (again, for me). The guns and goggles were an absolute blast to make. Time consuming and sometimes a bit tedious but I just loved it and thought the results were fantastic.

I bought a few more toy guns to steampunkify but then talked myself out of doing more because what would I do with them all? Fast forward a year and I had gotten to where I wasn't doing enough artistic things in my life--being a dog trainer is great fun but not terribly artistic--so I dove back into steampunking. Once I got a system down I felt good about I finally opened shop so that I could share my creations with the world. I had a jewelry business a long time ago that I had called Cantaloupe Bliss so as a throwback to that I named my steampunk shop The Clockwork Cantaloupe. You can never go wrong with cantaloupes.

The process for my steampunk guns involves several steps. I start with your average bargain bin water pistol or foam dart gun and step one is sanding with a rotary tool. I sand off any logos and 'made in China' type stuff and then randomly sand away to give it a beat up, war torn look. Once wiped down, it's then spray painted with flat black paint on each side. I'm careful to get every angle and into any openings so you don't see any silly orange or green plastic showing. Once the spray paint is dry--usually I wait a day--the fun part begins. I use metallic wax paints and gently apply them with my bare fingers, carefully applying it so as to not overdo it and ruin the aged look. A tiny paintbrush is used to get into the small nooks and crannies. Then the paint is left to set for a few hours before the buffing phase. The wax paints need to be buffed with a soft t-shirt to set the paint and increase the shine. I wait until the next day to start applying top coats--I usually do about three layers. This seals in the paint so it won't come off on you. I give the last coating of sealant at least a day to dry completely before photographing, editing, and posting. I love to add the personal touch of coming up with a name and description for each item to make it even more unique. Isn't it more fun to say "this is my Augmented Pulse Blaster" versus "this is my steampunk gun"? You gotta add some flair!