If you happen to be a product of the 90s or earlier, then you’ve probably grown up with Mr. Potato Head. Mr. Potato Head, the plastic potato shaped toy, has been popular with children of all ages, and is something that, as we speak, people are still enjoying.
The New York artist Sarita Maria decided to do something creative with the already creative toy; turn it steampunk.
Maria says that the idea for “Spudnik” was inspired by a craft swap project where designers and craftsmen were paired randomly with a different kind of medium and theme that they were to create with. Her idea was “steampunk” and her medium was “old toy.” Of course, Maria felt that it wouldn’t be any fun to just turn a preowned toy into a steampunk object, so she went and bought a timeless toy from Target; namely, Mr. Potato Head.
On her flickr page, Maria made a timeline of the process of turning Mr. Potato Head into “Spudnik” as she calls it. Images from the design process below:
The design at one point looks like something out of Bioshock, with the mecha like features. It’s really fun to see something like this come from a memorable icon such as Mr. Potato Head. Of course, the steampunk idea can apply to anything. We’ve seen it used with Optimus Prime, for example, and it worked really well. Mr. Potato Head is another cool example of it. The final image scheme looks really fascinating, with the brass wash giving it that traditional steampunk feel. Despite the fact that not all the parts are metallic (most of it isn’t), it certainly looks the part. The completed images below:
One of the cool things about this design is that even the structural plans have been drawn on paper that’s made to look old, and while it isn’t clear that this was a requirement, it certainly gave the project a nice touch.
Along with that, there are other pieces that come along with it, such as a wanted poster, a letter, a telescope capsule, and photographs.
You can check out more steampunk designs, such as the Steampunk Optimus, or the Steampunk Iron Man mask.
via Instructables
