The Legacy of Airship Isabella

Airship Isabella was more than a steampunk brand, a costuming group, or a collection of makers. It was a creative collective built around the idea that imagination could become something tangible.

Through leatherwork, costuming, prop building, performance, storytelling, and education, the crew of Airship Isabella helped bring steampunk to life for audiences across the United States. Their work appeared at conventions, festivals, markets, and eventually in professional film and television production.

For many people who encountered them during the height of the modern steampunk movement, Airship Isabella was also an invitation to make something.

This page preserves part of that legacy.

Additional photographs, videos, stories, interviews, patterns, and information about the artists who contributed to Airship Isabella will be added as this history is documented.

From an Airship to a Creative Collective

The story began quite literally with an airship.

In 2008, Michael “Hawk” Ford conceived the idea of building a full-scale steampunk airship for Burning Flipside, a regional Burning Man event in Texas. The resulting structure was approximately 20 by 50 feet and two stories tall. In 2009, it traveled to the festival as a themed camp called Airship Isabella.

But the name did not stay attached to the structure for long.

The people behind the project developed characters, backstories, costumes, props, and an increasingly elaborate fictional world around it. What started as an ambitious creative project became a community of artists and makers, with leatherworking becoming one of the group's most visible crafts.

Over the next several years, Airship Isabella became a recognizable presence within the American steampunk community.

Leatherwork, Props, and the Art of Building a World

Airship Isabella's aesthetic was not something purchased fully assembled.

It was built.

Leather armor, holsters, belts, accessories, costumes, goggles, weapons, props, and strange mechanical creations helped give the crew their distinctive appearance. Leather was particularly well suited to the world they were creating. It could look historical or futuristic, elegant or battered, practical or theatrical, often at the same time.

Contemporary coverage described Airship Isabella as a collection of artists and performers whose talents included leatherworking, prop building, and character performance. Their convention appearances did not simply put finished pieces on display. Members regularly demonstrated how things were made and encouraged other people to begin building their own versions.

That willingness to show the work is an important part of Airship Isabella's legacy.

At Comicpalooza in 2010, the crew brought leatherworking stations so they could continue working during the convention. What began as a practical solution effectively became a continuous hands-on demonstration. Visitors could see makers working rather than simply encountering finished products on a vendor table.

It reflected an approach that would follow Airship Isabella throughout its convention years: steampunk was something people could participate in, modify, build, and make their own.

Teaching the Steampunk Community

Airship Isabella became known not only for what its members made, but also for what they taught.

The crew presented panels covering topics such as Steampunk 101, character creation, costuming, DIY modifications, prop construction, armor, weapons, gadgets, and the larger ideas behind the steampunk movement. Period convention programs specifically advertised Airship Isabella sessions in which members would bring their creations and explain how they had been built.

Their role within the community extended beyond formal instruction. Airship Isabella blended craftsmanship with fictional characters, live performance, collaborative storytelling, and an elaborate shared world.

The result was something difficult to categorize neatly.

They were makers, but they were also performers.

They sold artwork, but they also taught people how to make things themselves.

They created costumes and props, but those objects were parts of characters and stories.

And although Airship Isabella developed a recognizable visual identity, the group's early philosophy emphasized giving unusual artists and subcultures a place to belong without requiring everyone to look or create the same way.

From the Convention Floor to Professional Production

As Airship Isabella grew, the group began considering what could come next.

By 2012, its members had spent several years traveling extensively on the convention circuit. The crew made a deliberate decision to place less emphasis on individual convention personalities and focus more heavily on their collective artistic work.

The goal became increasingly professional: use the skills developed through years of building leather goods, costumes, props, characters, and immersive environments to move into theatrical, film, and television production.

That transition opened another chapter in Airship Isabella's history.

The group worked on costuming and production projects beyond the convention world, and its members' work eventually reached major television production, including AMC's Into the Badlands. Their own archive documents the transition from convention-based creators into professional builders and costumers working within larger productions.

It was a natural evolution of something Airship Isabella had been doing from the beginning: imagining a world and then figuring out how to physically build it.

Remembering Airship Isabella

Airship Isabella is no longer operating as it once did.

But a creative group's influence is not limited to the years when its booth is set up at a convention or its members are producing work under the same name.

Its legacy survives in the things that were made, the people who learned from its makers, the photographs and videos that documented its work, the productions its artists contributed to, and the memories of people who encountered Airship Isabella during a particularly energetic period in steampunk history.

Even years after the group's most active period, people continue searching for Airship Isabella and asking what happened to the crew. For some, discovering the group at a convention was a memorable introduction to steampunk itself.

That history deserves to be preserved.

Airship Isabella Videos

Videos featuring Airship Isabella and members of its crew will be collected here, providing another look at their leatherwork, costumes, characters, demonstrations, and creative process. These videos featuring Skycaptain Cedric Whittaker were produced and edited by Michael Magnus for the Airship Isabella YouTube channel in 2016.

Airship Isabella Patterns and Archival Material

As this archive grows, LearnLeathercraft.com hopes to help preserve additional examples of Airship Isabella's creative work.

Select patterns, photographs, artwork, historical material, or other resources may eventually become available here with the involvement and permission of the people who created them.

The goal is not simply to remember what Airship Isabella made, but, wherever possible, to preserve the knowledge behind it for another generation of makers.

Exploring Steampunk Leatherwork

Leather played an important role in the visual language of Airship Isabella, but it also has a much longer history in steampunk costuming and prop-making.

For makers interested in exploring the techniques, materials, project ideas, and design principles behind this style of work, visit our Guide to Steampunk Leatherworking (coming soon).

That guide will explore how leather can be used to create everything from simple accessories and costume pieces to elaborate armor, props, holsters, pouches, and character-driven builds.

Help Us Preserve the Story

This is only the beginning of the Airship Isabella archive.

We are continuing to collect the history of the group, including information about its members, memorable builds, convention appearances, leatherwork, production work, photographs, videos, and the stories behind some of its most recognizable creations.

If you were part of Airship Isabella, worked alongside the crew, photographed their work, attended their panels, commissioned a piece, or have a story that should become part of this history, we would like to hear from you.

The full story of Airship Isabella was created by many people.

This page will continue to grow as more of that story is documented.

 

Article Attribution

Written By: Michael Magnus

Contributions By:

Edited By: Michael Magnus

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Disclosure

This page is intended to preserve and document the history of Airship Isabella and its contributions to leathercraft, costuming, prop making, and the steampunk community.

Some archival materials, patterns, or other resources discussed on this page may eventually be made available through LearnLeathercraft.com with the permission of their respective creators or rights holders. Any commercial availability will be identified clearly and does not influence how the history of Airship Isabella is presented.