Carousel.

Carousels can be beautiful, mystical and even a little creepy. The hand-carved wooden sculptures have detail you don't often see in anything nowadays. You can just envision an elderly man with an oversized lense, chiseling away at the curvatures against the neck of the beast. The university I locksmith at had a crisis in their library, where they keep their monthly displays. It just so happened to be featuring pieces from carousels. It struck me that they're very Steampunky, or have the potential to be at least. Pardon the poor photos. They were taken with my outdated Blackberry and in secret because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be taking pictures. I'm paranoid about that sort of thing. To the left, they just had a little bit of information about the influence of carousels and what cultures they came from. Some of the images are almost grotesque and macabre, which to me, makes it more interesting.

I would love to ride a tiger into the sunset, I don't know about you. I also like the sketch of the dragon. To the right, this is probably my favorite because it looks the most SP. I love the colors used as well as the textures. If I was a kid skipping toward a carousel, I'd like to think I'd choose this guy. I think I'll name him Archibald.


One of my favorite aspects to this inspiring display is definitely the variety of animals saddled. There was a rooster, a dragon, lion, and even a greyhound. In fantasy, animals usually play a key part because we love animals and wish we could interact more with them. Horses are wonderful but how magical would it be to ride a greyhound? I love it.
To the left, it showed how a carousel worked. I think if you jazzed it up with some steam and a few more gears, you may have something "futuristic" as viewed by the mild-mannered Victorian. Maybe throw in some bronze-plated horses like Archibald and wallah. You've got yourself a Steampunk scene either macabre or romantic or BOTH. I think a really nice, dark love scene on a carousel would be interesting, especially if there was a lot of angst involved or perhaps some underlying surface tension with a preceding chase so that the characters are in hiding. I absolutely love the use of the carousel in the movie Sting. That eerie song that's meant to be cheerful and playful adds something mysterious and borderline freaky to the goings on in the foreground.
I've been inspired to put one in by book. I think it will add a little flavor.

Merry writing.