Welcome to the world of Jake’s Steampunk Workshop. Etcher, technical tinkerer and guitar modification expert, Jake can be found slaving over vats of chemicals with wires dangling in them on a regular basis. Aether Emporium asks him a few questions on his etching and future projects.

Hi Jake, you are most well known for your electrolytic etching techniques, what gave you the inspiration to start making things this way?

I have been wanting to do a Steampunk laptop project and I was envisioning something with a kind of nautical theme, perhaps a rosewood box with brass inlays and a brass plate with a picture of a Royal Navy Ship of the Line, or perhaps my favorite Man o'War H.M.S. Warrior - The Black Snake ! - which would be much more in keeping with the Steampunk theme.

So I was looking for a way to etch an image in to a brass plate and I recalled the toner transfer technique that we used to make proto-type circuit boards when I was an electronics technician years ago.

A co-worker did some work last year etching though aluminum PC cases for a case-mod project and that made me think that an electrolytic process could work for brass as well. I did a little research on the web and discovered that a copper sulfate solution could be used to electrolytically etch copper and zinc plate for printmaking, so it was a pretty sure bet that it could be used to etch brass, an alloy of copper and zinc.

What was the first item to etch in this manner and was it a success?

It was the image of the factory you see in the first article on The Steampunk Workshop, it's really quite an easy technique to execute!

Which of your finished pieces gives you the most satisfaction?

The Steampunk Strat, to be sure - but don't tell the others!

On your website you mention you are embarking on the production of a steam powered car how is that project developing?

LOL! That will be a long term project as there are a lot of tools, knowledge and skills I'll need to acquire. I've been doing a lot of reading on steam engine and boiler design, and I've been bothering some local folk who own antique steam powered cars, but that's all of the progress I've made so far.

A steam car is quit a huge leap from etching, do you have an engineering background?

Yes and no. Currently I'm a Linux SysAdmin, but I've done lots of other jobs over the years. I've worked in a machine shop, as an HVAC tech, a TV repairman and have assembled everything from the little emergency buttons that you press when "you've fallen and you can't get up!" to sensors used in nuclear power plants and undersea sonar systems. I've also worked on or rebuilt just about every automotive component you can think of including automatic transmissions. If you take a look at Vonslatt and Bike Recumbent you'll see that the artsy etching projects are actually a bit of a departure for me!

How long do you estimate the car will take to build and are you familiar with the three wheeler steam car 'Run About' made by the same folks who built the Neverwas Haul?

Hmm, I expect that it will be a couple of years before I am driving around in clouds of steam. Right now I'm looking for a free junk car to be a development platform, so that's the first pre-requisite. I also need to enhance the selection of machine tools in The Steampunk Workshop, I'm in the market for a lathe at the moment.

I have seen pictures and video of the Neverwas Runabout and I am a great fan of the Neverwas crew as well as the Kinetic Steam Works folk. I seem to be on the wrong coast for this particular facet of the Steampunk phenomenon.

Do you have any tips or warnings for those wanting to make their own brass etched items, I would imagine some of the chemicals require safe disposal after use?

Ah! an excellent point. The solution can be used over and over again so I have not yet had to dispose of any myself. When I do, I will look to Greenart Info for advice. Greenart has a wealth of information on the electrolytic etching process as well as many other environmentally friendly artistic techniques.

Apart from the steam car are there any other new projects in the brass pipeline?

I'm working on a PC keyboard mod that I hope to publish soon.The goal is to make a retro keyboard that is fully usable by a fast touch-typist. However, I think the project misses the late Edwardian period by a good ten years in its appearance, so it may be more properly Dieselpunk then Steampunk. Perhaps I'll bolt a kerosene lamp to it so I can call it Steampunk!

I've also recently become enamoured of what the reprap.org people are tryingto do. They are building a rapid prototyping machine that will be able to build copied of itself by extruding a plastic compound with a three dimensional "print head". However, since I'm really into re-use and recycling and metal is my favorite medium, I am thinking more along the lines of a Computer Numerically Controlled Electro-Chemical Machine Tool, a CNC ECM. Such a tool would be capable of making, say, a pair of pliers from a truck leaf spring, or cut intricate brass parts for a copy of itself. The possibilities are endless.

And finally can you give us your definition of Steampunk?

To me, Steampunk is the Personal Industrial Revolution.The 19th Century was really the last era in which a high school graduate had been given the complete set of scientific and mathematical concepts to fully understand the technology of the age. The death of Newtonian physics in the early 20th Century begun a time where we encountered concepts in our daily lives or read about things in the news that we did not have the tools to fully comprehend. Somehow, this became acceptable to most people and the trend not only continues, it accelerates. Steampunk, I think, is a reaction to that. One can imagine the steps required to make a steam engine from iron ore, coal and fire. But a silicon chip from beach sand? Sequence DNA? The mind boggles!That's the "Steam" side of it anyway.

Now, take a look at some of the old copies of Popular Mechanics you can find on the net. You'll see that the projects within are pretty state-of-the-art for the times in which they were published. For a long time that sort of project was missing from the "Popular" mags. In fact, many of the "Popular" mags pretty much disappeared from the news stand and were replaced by computer magazines. The "Punk" side is the refusal to be limited and is exemplified by the likes of Make: magazine,Instructables, and Hack-a-day. The Personal Industrial Revolution is when, if you don't like your cellphone, MP3 player, car, or bicycle, you make one you do like - and you get to inject it with your own sense of style because you don't have to please the masses, just yourself.

It's all about the top hats and goggles.

To catch up with Jake's latest creations go to The Steampunk Workshop