Calendar Project

Back in August 2010, one of my class assignments was to design a calendar. We only had to pick two months and do a cover if we felt it would be good for the project.

I chose Steampunk as my theme. Found some really great pictures to use that, with only a little touch-up, fit perfectly into the genre. Adding in some typography that was reminiscent of old Victorian styles, and of course the calendar, and the project was complete. Though only for the homework. ;)


My boyfriend suggested that I turn it into an actual calendar, but for the life of me, I couldn't come up with a good way to present it. You see, when I designed it, we were supposed to think out side the box and my calendar was 6 inches wide and 12 tall. How could I come up with a good way to bind it and share it with others?

Tuesday night before Thanksgiving, I was trying to sleep. It was after midnight after all. But I couldn't. All of a sudden, I knew the perfect design for the rest of the calendar and knew how it should be hung on the wall. I got up and feverishly started sketching my ideas. I knew if I didn't get them on paper, I would have forgotten by morning. These steampunk calendars wouldn't be bound and hung like a standard calendar. They are supposed to be steampunk after all, and steampunk is a mixture of created and found, old and new.

My design called for a wooden plaque, clockwork pieces, gears, beads, chains, hooks, even some pieces from computers. This was going to be a huge project because I wanted to create these and give them as gifts for Christmas - and it was Thanksgiving already. I had four weeks.

We made a trip to Hobby Lobby for parts and pieces, and after staining and varnishing the plaques, I set to work on the rest. My boyfriend drilled the holes for the hooks, but I hammered and nailed and laid out each gear and clock and bead. After designing each month of the calendar, I printed and cut them to size. Their final size ended up being 4 inches by 10, and each one needed to have three holes punched on each page. Since they weren't a standard size, they needed to be punched by hand. Boy, was that a lot of fun... >.>

I'm actually still not done - four left to finish - but I've added some photos of them finished to my gallery. Let me know what you think and I'll sit here and think about next year's calendar. ;)