Steampunk Handbag - Helmar Creative Team

Steampunk has been something the family and I wanted to give a go for a while and for many years I have been saying to my steampunk enthusiast friends that Maryborough Qld is a perfect location for a Steampunk event so when Steamfesta was announced naturally my family and I wanted to participate.


This is the first of several posts I will be sharing over the next couple of months detailing the items we made for our Steampunk costumes.  
I didn't get photos of everything as the boys and I were working on our projects at the same time, during any free time we had in the weeks leading up to the event.
Some photos taken on the day may reveal upcoming post content. 

I wanted to start by sharing my Steampunk Handbag with you.  I knew I was going to need a bag with me on the day and I had this lovely leather bag that had lots of awesome space inside that I had found in a op-shop last year which had broken strap attachments and I thought it would be a perfect way to fix it by turning it into a Steampunk Handbag as I could use my embellishments to hide the damage and repairs.


My first step was to cover the back of the magnet closure and the logo with cogs.  I felt this was the easiest way to start and to start getting the feeling that this would work.
I used Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere my metal cogs and gears to my bag and to each other.

Now it was time to work out what to do about the broken top strap.
I decided to use a scrap of trim and some cogs and gears to reattach the strap and hide/blend it all in with cogs and gears.
I rubbed some gold paint with my finger over some brown trim to add some detail to it and then used Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere my to attach the trim and my cogs & gears.

And now for the side.
The way the strap attachment had come completely off there was no way I could fix it in the timeframe and skill level I had so I chose to hide it.
I used Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive to adhere some more of that brown trim and then some skinny gold trim over the entire section that the remaining piece was attached to.    Now there is no sign of how broken it was.

I looped some chain through the remaining side strap thing so that it looked like it had a purpose and call my project done.
I love how it turned out but when I have time I will add some other bits to it as I have had some more ideas since finishing the project but not had the time to implement them.  For now I have a functional bag that I can use at Steampunk events or even as a everyday handbag.