Thursday, September 29, 2011

Steampunked Chem Lab Goggles

What do you get when you add this
Sellstrom Vented Chemical Splash Goggles with UV-absorbing polycarbonate lens, meets ANSI Z87.1-2003 standards.

plus these

plus paint and random bits of chain and buttons and leather that I had lying around the house?


My fedora in the background.

The chains serve no function other than look cool.

I used leather leftover from the leather pants for the straps, but I'm still trying to figure out how to attach them at the back. I need a very, very tiny belt buckle.

This is all from painting (multiple coats, again, plus "glazing"), gluing, and a little bit of jewelry working to attach the chain. The inside is kinda ghetto-tastic, though, since you can see where I glued everything on.
The visibility when wearing the goggles is still remarkably good, though.

Yesterday's steampunked Nerf gun cost me about thirty cents in new materials (why are brass cap nuts so expensive? Oh wait, it's because they're real brass), thanks to paint that I've been saving forever. Since my husband's a grad student now, I'm trying to keep the costume cost low. For today's goggles, I ended up spending a little more for all the brass nuts and the plastic pipe parts, but overall the cost was still a whopping $8.26. Yay for never throwing anything away!

2 comments:

  1. Uh-oh! I think I know what I'm going to be doing with my chem lab goggles once they're retired from undergraduate lab. XD Fantastic job, as always!

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Sarah I think this is an excellent way to reuse goggles that would otherwise languish away...especially since I have so many spare goggles! I realize, of course, that not everyone is a science teacher with free goggles sent by science supply companies, but with chem lab being pretty standard fare in college undergrad programs, there are definitely chances to get one's hands on a pair.

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