steampunking the doorbell

when we bought our house it came with what i referred to as "the walrus", the world's ugliest doorbell. you can behold all of its plastic and brass glory in this pic:    

the front foyer has long been repainted and given a new ceiling and light fixture, but we still had a hole in the wall with wires sticking out where the walrus had been. so three years later i finally finished our new steampunk doorbell. i love the steampunk aesthetic and thought it would be fun to sneak a little of it in somewhere in the house. i used this creation as my insipiration. 

Parts: cigar box, pressure gauge, radio tubes and glass clock cover all purchased from etsy. Ceramic knife switch and clock guts from ebay. Various copper bits from Lowes.  I used vinegar and salt to "green" the copper and give it an aged look.

I sanded and stained the cigar box, hacksawed the neck off the pressure gauge and then cut a hole in the box for it. Cut a hole for the clock guts and mounted them on the inside of the box with wire and then glued the clock glass over the hole.  The kife switch is screwed on and the various copper bits had holes drilled for them and are glued for extra security. It's all there to give the illusion of a working machine, but none of the parts actually do anything. I used a wireless doorbell and it's housed inside the box.  (Sorry for the blurry pic of the inside, but you get the idea.) So there it is-my first semi-woodworking project.  

Comments

[Dan]

awesome!

[Heather]

I love this. It looks great!