Inventor, Scientist, Maker Steampunk Portfolio

 Are you or do you know one of those brilliant inventors, electrical engineers, makers or scientists, always writing notes in all the odd places, and promptly forgetting where you put them? Well search no more - this Nathanial Dillon Pocket Size Portfolio portfolio is the perfect place to tuck those notes and schematics, blueprints and materials lists - and not to forget the ever growing project list. Need a pocket to hold small bits of metal or wiring? There's a pocket for that. What about an envelope for those gadgets so small that if lost, you;d need telescopic monocle to find it? There's an envelope for that - and what about those ideas that streamed across like you brain pan like a series of comets as you enjoyed a fast-paced discussion with your peers, but alas drank Absinthe and now how La Fey Verte has made your mind like a sieve! there's contraption for that!
Fear no more, .. stashing those all important items without which no project can proceed is so easy in this 7 1/2 by 3/1 2 Nathanial Dillon Portfolio - the best stationer's invention on the market - part diary, part notebook, part mini photo album for shots of those inventions you need to use for reference.
There's cards for evidence of the results of experiments, cards for keeping reports and many blank cards and tags for jotting down results and scribbling out the theorems. How did you ever mange without this one-of-a-kind, never to be outdone magnificent portfolio
 Give your wife, your lover, your assistant a rest and keep track of all that essential info all in one compact fold-able place. Compact enough to smuggle anywhere - the rebels in the Equinox Uprising can attest to that!
Even if we don't travel for a live demonstration to your town, don't miss out. Not yet available at stationers or mercers, not even at the rumored Mica Above Air Market - the Nathanial Dillon Portfolio is fun and fast to make! You'll be the envy of anyone with an idea! All you have to do is follow  Steffogal1's most excellent you tube tutorial.  
The style of this portfolio is inspired by one of the main characters, inventor, scientist engineer, Nathanial Dillon,  in my work in progress steampunk novel, Orchidelerium. It is both steampunk and Victorian and the template is based on the tutorial for the super cute and fast journal by Steffoga1. I used papers, materials, ephemera, flowers pigment inks and techniques from Graphic 45, 7 Gypsies, Tim Holtz, Prima, K&Company, and Recollections. Like the Victorians, I'm a great believer in reusing everything from advertising labels and roadside metal findings, to scraps and tatterings left over from other projects or stuffed away in my stash.
The cover in browns - is a bit chaotic, as the brilliant synapses of a brain must be emptied and app;lied to paper all at once. As Nathanial Dillon says, "out of Order,of the comes Chaos.

. For the cover I used a background paper from K&Company's Julieanne paper stack, then added lots of bits and pieces from my stash.  I wanted a journal that addressed all types of science - from neuroscience (hence the heavy metal mask on the cover, as well as the timepiece (made with a card stock clock face and real watch housing,.  I loved this Official time sensitive sticker because aren't all projects time sensitive - a good inventor has to develop his ideas before anyone else does!  And the blue tag is a found object from a textile mill site and the vintage stamp had the look of  Austrian inventor, Tesla, scientist or psychiatrist on it.  He reminds me of Sigmund Freud, the father of neuroscience.  I don't remember where I found the illustration - it was in my science file or what it is - can anyone tell me?  But I had fun surrounding it with amps which to me make it look like the mouth of the Hadron collider - I know that's an odd jump but that's how my mind plays. There are a few jaggedy lines - to me representing electricity made from old school layout tape from my days in advertising before computers when we did all our ad work cut and paste.
The electrical lines continue onto the second page, and actually pretty much throughout the book.  The second page has the background of a paper by 7 Gypsies and layered on top is a tag pocket made of  textured embossed metallic copper card stock because as all scientists know copper conducts electricity . The "Evidence" tag is also 7 Gypsies. Beneath the tag are warning labels, a fragile label and a light bulb reminder because our scientist, with so many ideas running through his brain all the time, becomes a bit scattered from time to time so leaves himself reminders.
The third page is my favorite - this is another paper form the Julieanne paper stack and its so perfect with its copper gilt foil accents. The hand is pointing up to who knows where, the electrical current is amping up and the real hammered copper pocket is ready for the schematics of the next invention. A  "zero" piece in silver and green, as well as a found steel object contradict each other, while the inventor tries to control the electricity by funneling through the steel object, the embellishment, still registers "Zero,"  Still more work to do!
The fourth and fifth  pages, I used 7 Gypsies and open stock papers from Michael's or A.C. Moore. On the fourth page I created a large pocket using paper from the Julianne paper stack and tucked in a plain blank photo mat.  Beneath the electrical wires is another warning label which states, "ATTENTION -  New batteries may require two charge/discharge cycles before reaching full capacity.  Prior to using the battery, it is recommended to carry out two charge/discharge cycles."
 You might be wondering where I found these labels - I found them years ago at the most marvelous recycling thrift store I ever heard of.  It''s The Scrap Exchange located in Durham, NC and at one time, volunteers would go and comb the land fill for industrial items emptied by the truck load.  they carted them back to their warehouse and set up shop.  In there I found medical items from when they still used glass, x-ray equipment, all types of parts from machinery and rolls of warning labels, as well as thousands of other items, bins, hold-alls, springs of all sizes.  You never know what you'll find and it is the absolute to die for place for any scrapbooker, maker or inventor.  they have a wall full of rolls of industrial and commercial labels!  On top of the page is a Graphic 45 tag which I love of a mad scientist testing his flying machine. And on the next page is plenty of journaling with a Smash journaling list and a school notebook tag tucked into a border.
The fifth page I used some 7 Gypsies scraps using a triangle corner pocket to hold a black photo tag emblazoned with a chemistry bottle. a nuclear green paperclip, holds a pen tip as a reminder and another warning sticker keeps our scientist focused on the dangers at hand. The sixth page is made of metallic copper card stock embossed with steampunk gears using the Tim Holtz embossing folder and my Sizzix. At the top is a title card, and below is a double photomat pocket. It opens up for plenty of room for step by step photos and with the flap pockets are two additional photomat cards.
The 7th page bears the label "unbreakable"  (I love the paradox of fragile and breakable all in the same portfolio) with a mini library card holder containing two cards, one a narrow materials list, and a red photo mat card with cryptic designs and letters. The library card holder is accented with an embossed and title card accented with gold leaf.
 The 8th page is another metal copper card stock embossed with a Tim Holtz embossing folder and displaying columns of numbers (plans for a difference engine?" accented with Ranger Inks and Perfect Pearls.  The page overs a to do list, with a Smash reminder to our scientists to write it all down before he forgets or gets distracted by another concept all together.
The 9th page is chock full of tags.  Two are held in the upper pocket bearing an old map.  The smaller is a Graphic 45 tag - perhaps a reference page ripped from a book, the large tag was tucked there by Nathanial,s lady friend, Cecila.  It is the newspaper listing of all the events, parties and performances scheduled around London.  She's so hoping he'll remember how he promised to take him to at least one event.
Below is a pocket made out of woven steel and inside and embossed tag for photos. 

The tenth and final  page is quite pivotal.  Because our scientist has been working so hard on such volatile projects, he's left a photo of himself in case his lab should come to some unfortunate end - explosion, destruction by the Industrial 5, There's also a tag for him to write his full and final report on his findings, as well as a sealed envelope - a note to Cecilia, a last will and testament,  instructions for stabilizing fissionable materials, disarming an explosive device, the recipe for his latest alchemical concoction, or a theorem of physics?  Who's to know except the finder?  And "ah-ah" the finder shall say, before or perhaps after opening the enve4lope And there they will discover a key embedded on a the steampunk pocket...where time is always running out. . . But to what fits the key? His heart, his chest of ancient banned books, his locked cabinet of wonders, his apothecary shed, his below ground distillery, a the housing of Schrodinger's cat, or a getaway 1920 Ford or craftily hidden airship? Only the finder shall know.
Available on my ETSY shop, Gail Gray Studios. 


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