Author: JP Dean

Presented by Lisa Hansen – $5 Session Materials Fee 

Using decoupage, steampunk themed paper and tiny gears, celebrate Edison’s transformative technology with a custom (standard size) light switch plate for your steampunk home! Many designs available.

$5 material fee will be collected at the session by the presenters.

Lisa Hansen is a compulsive crafter and thrifter with aspirations of vending, but would rather share her crafting hoard with others and lead makers’ panels.

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Presented by Michael Bakula 

The pursuit of prosperity in the modern Steam Age requires sophisticated calculations, yet the nimble innovator will generally find it impractical to transport a Difference Engine. Fortunately, there is a simpler — and better — solution! Enterprising engineers and discerning businesspersons have for hundreds of years trusted the Sliding Rule for such diverse operations as predicting airship fuel consumption and anticipating profit margins on a novel product.

Participants in today’s seminar will gain direct experience in the manipulation of the Sliding Rule, and discover the myriad applications to which this essential tool is perfectly suited. You will wonder how you ever lived without it!

Those not already in possession of a Sliding Rule will be lent a demonstration unit for the seminar.

Michael Bakula is a retired “computer guy” (that’s a technical term) who now has time to pursue more of his too many hobbies. He enjoys researching and using analogue computers, medium-format film cameras, and other interesting technologies older than he is. He resides in Chicago (yes, really – not the suburbs) with his lady wife and pet Sun Conure.

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• Games Master: Captain Grey Wulfe
• Gaming System: Cthulhu by Gaslight
• Players: 2-6 
• Duration: 3 hours
• Sign Up at the main Registration Desk in the Atrium Lobby

A summon from the Voodoo Queen brings the greatest Steampunk heroes into a deadly conflict with a powerful Chthonic entity!
Heroes of a Victorian Steampunk world are called to New Orleans to confront a dark evil who created a bloody and brutal massacre. They will need all their power and strength to vanquish this dread otherworld entity.

Characters provided, rules taught, roleplaying emphasized.

Captain Grey Wulfe (AKA Gary Lange) is a game and scenario designer who has been running events for over 20 years. Gary has run events at GenCon, Gamicon, GameHole Con, Chicago Steampunk Exposition and other cons in person and online. He is the founder of Iowa Steampunk and has led many events and extolled the virtues of Steampunk at many cons around the Midwest. With Call of Cthulhu adding both the new Gaslight and Pulp rules, it is now possible to have steampunk adventures with their award-winning rules. Gary encourages roleplaying and keeping the rules to a minimum interference. So, join him in telling a grand story of Steampunk Adventure!

Cthulhu by Gaslight is the Victorian incarnation of the classic Call of Cthulhu RPG. Gaslight provides variations to capture Victorian history and societal norms, but is essentially the same rule system as the original 1920’s Cthulhu RPG. If you are not already familiar with these rules but would like to get better acquainted, click on the cover below to access the free starter kit for the latest edition of Call of Cthulhu.

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Presented by Kat Pleviak, Erin Krause, & Maggie Krause

• Workshop Fee: $15 for materials
• Workshop Length: 90 minutes

Can’t find the words to describe the true terror of Cthulhu? Make him a shadow puppet & then you won’t have to. Learn all the professional tricks of the trade for shadow puppet construction focusing specifically on cutting skills from the talented staff of Sea Beast Puppet Company.. Students will be provided all the materials necessary to complete the project and get to leave with their puppet.

In this class students will learn how to make a professional quality shadow puppet with an emphasis on techniques in precision hand cutting. Using the art of Cthulhu to learn advanced hand cutting will be so fun you won’t even notice you’re going mad.

Materials- covered by $15 fee: Black Rail board, 2 bamboo skewers, brads (paper fasteners), glue stick or spray glue or stapler, xacto knife/blades, cutting mat, masking tape or scotch tape or clear packing tape, transparency sheets, red sharpie, hole puncher, scissors.

Kat Pleviak is the Artistic Director and founder of Sea Beast Puppet Company in Glen Ellyn, IL. She has an BFA in Directing from the University of Illinois (2002) and an MFA in Youth Theatre and Puppetry from the University of Hawaii Manoa (2009).
Under Kat’s direction Sea Beast has initiated a number of exciting puppetry projects including a series of original projects and productions including the Puppet Meltdown Puppet Slam, “The Shadow Puppet Conspiracy”, “The History of Light” and “Méfiez-Vous de la Vache-Garou”, which won best in show at the Chicago Fringe 2013. She has taught countless workshops all over the country and currently serves the Membership Officer for the Puppeteers of America. Kat was a featured artist in Puppetry International’s issue of “40 under 40.

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Erin Krause is the best Box Office Manager a group could want and is also a committed puppet enthusiast. She also worked for years as a High School teacher and is one Sea Beast’s go to and favorite workshop presenters. When not at Sea Beast she works as a legal secretary and rocks some of the best original cosplay around.

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Maggie Krause may be young but is a long time Sea Beast alumni. She has been helping Sea Beast present at conferences for years and when they are not teaching puppetry on land, they teach swim lessons in the water. They are also enjoy creative writing and is absolutely crushing driving!

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Presented by Lord Bobbins (AKA  Eric Larson)

For 14 years we have traveled the globe for adventure. This coming year we travel into myth and legend as TeslaCon brings you “The Tear of Odin,” a paranormal archeological adventure set in Oslo Norway of 1895.

Come find out more about what will happen, our guests and what will be in this years immersion story.

Eric Jon Larson (aka Lord Bobbins) has the longest running convention in North America, and has created the immersive experience for many Steampunk fans from around the world. He has worked for Disney, Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. and continues to use his skills to create immersive experiences for the Steampunk World.

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