Here we are again, preparing for the Edwardian Ball, one of our favorite events of the year. It’s really fun dressing up and enjoying all the wonderful, crazy sights and sounds that the Ball has to offer.
This year, we acquired a letterpress and will be handing out some fun take aways at the event. Of course, the letterpress will be run off of steam… here’s a short video of us testing the setup.
The Roll Out was a huge success! Thanks to all of you wonderful supporters who came out. Here are a few photos and a video from the event.
Kinetic Steam Works Rollout 2012 KRON 4 TV
Rolling out Hortense
The pumpkin guillotine
The line shaft at night
Keep an eye out for our newsletter where we test several derusting techniques. So much more in the newsletter, too!
The annual celebration of steam, art, and community at Kinetic Steam Works is coming up! Saturday, November 10th, from Noon to 10PM, come celebrate this autumnal steamy spectacular with us. In 2012, we aced it at the Edwardian Ball with clockwork and line shafts, awed the many curious folk at Maker Faire with the steam boat Wilhelmina, and spent a lot of effort setting up at our new location! We invite you to come on down and celebrate as we open up our grand new shop. You’ll be supporting a unique nonprofit organization.
Save the date and spread the word! KSW is completely volunteer based! If you are interested in volunteering, come on down for a work night Thursday’s starting at 7:30pm, or Saturdays starting around noon. Email jen[at]kineticsteamworks[dot]org for more info on how to get involved!
Sparks shoot from the stack of the 110 horsepower Best steam traction engine (Photo by Troye Welch)
While some of the weekend was spent in 100 degree sweltering heat, the group did get some time to cool off and enjoy some of the sights and sounds. Here, the Best traction engine is facing off with Pappy, throwing sparks (sawdust thrown into a stoked, raging firebox) to the night sky
Pappy wows the crowd again at Chico 2011
KSW had a relatively relaxing weekend at Patrick Ranch for the June 2011 Threshing Bee. This was the first time we had run Pappy since we re-poured the main (babbitt) bearings and replaced the main crank shaft, so we were taking it easy while they broke in.
We decided we needed a half shaft to speed up the RPMs to get this old belt-driven centrifugal pump of Dick’s to work well enough with Stephen’s sculpture for Thursday’s event
KSW will join Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and Old Crow Medicine Show in Oakland next Thursday, April 21st for the kickoff of their sold-out tour. Steam and awesome music! What could be better?
