What caught our eye was Rosenbaum's computer work station built from the shell of a Victorian pipe organ.
"You'd be surprised how cheap these treasures can be had," he tells us. "People find them in their grandmother's garage and sell them for $100."
Having worked in a sheet music store for 10 years, we can easily understand that. These small pipe organs had good bones, but the bellows system was murderously difficult to maintain and replacing one now is hard to impossible.
Rosenbaum was able to use the space from which he removed the bellows to house the CPU of a computer, with all the USB ports and other necessary inputs and outlets being easily mounted to the front to cut down any digging around in the underbelly. The monitor is featured in a real antique Victorian picture frame and Edison horns are used for speakers.
Most impressive to us was Rosebaum's web camera housed within an ancient bellows-style camera. We just assumed that the inside was hollow, but using a very small webcam he was able to snake the lens through the inner workings without damaging them.
That camera could be restored to its original form and function tomorrow if someone wanted to," said Rosenbaum. "That's what I'm striving for, to modernize without destroying."
As an added surrealistic touch, the original camera lens remains attached, giving images from the webcam a strange walleye feel.
Rosenbaum is using high-end authentic antiques in his work as well as expert restoration craftsmanship. These things do not come cheap. However, he finds a great deal of meaning in helping young fans who have the drive but not the financial security for similar steampunk projects learn how to follow in his footsteps.
"I am passionate about this," he tells us. "I'm trying to be a bridge for people who want to do things like, I want to inspire them for when they making the kind of money doing great steampunk projects require. I see steampunk as a creative design solution. It's a way for people to enjoy the beauty used in objects a century ago while still existing in the modern world.
