Of Circuits and Gears

The older that I get, the more that I want to resist new technology. It seems when everything is comfortable, things change and the process starts all over of having to learn something new. I swear that there are only so many brain cells and when they are used up, they are gone!

Do you remember the first cell phones? They were nice and big and comfortable, easy to use. Then they became obsolete and you had to learn a new one. Our second phone was a flip phone, even then it didn't have a camera capability.... and texting? What was that? Nope, didn't want it. I had a hard enough time with numbers let alone letters on a smaller key board! Anyway, didn't want to change and neither did my husband, we were comfortable, so why change, it wasn't broken.

Well, that all changed forcibly last week. We had to surrender our old phones as they would no longer be capable of being supportive even with a new sim card, So off to phone shopping we went. WOW, I feel that I had been in the dark ages as there are so many new phones out there that I was overwhelmed! Finally we settled on the G3 iphone. Reason being, I already had a mac computer and we would also be able to load in itunes. Yippie, sounds great! AT&T would transfer everything from our old phone onto our new one and have us trained on it and out the door in minutes.... or so they thought! I think the phones we had were perhaps made before the sales gal was born as she had never seen them before. lol It took over an hour and a half to get us up and running and then they didn't spend much time as they were getting ready to close. So we were sent off on our own to play with our new toys. I'm a show me person and I hate to read, as It takes me too long to figure things out. Everything always looks Geek to me!

Well, so far so good, we figured out how to make calls, take pictures and other things, but to down load itunes, I was so dumbfounded! As much as I tried, I couldn't not get it to load. FINALLY figured it out when I had gotten a prompt that I had to upgrade my OS in order to do that! Woah!!! Now they need more money, so I had to upgrade to get to Snow Leopard status. I had the Tiger and never got the Leopard, so I was punished in having to spend $129. to upgrade two levels as opposed to $29 if I had already had the Leopard. One could not just purchase Leopard alone to see if it was any cheaper, of course not! I did not buy the Leopard earlier, so therefor my penalty was $100. Yes, I was being fined and extra punishment to boot! Spent all day yesterday getting it loaded and updated. Today I spent all day with tech. support and they still don't have me up and running! Tomorrow I shall spend perhaps the day talking to my mobile me people to see if we can get all of this figured out. So, now no email. I also have plenty to learn with all of the new functions with my new operating system, still haven't played with my movie camera, nor my felting machine and now I have a new photo shop to learn. I must upgrade more memory in this brain! Just not sure if there is any capability or capacity left! I am like my old phone and computer, my operating system is obsolete!

My brain was tired with things that run in "circuits", so I switched "Gears". (Double pun!)
I was in a heavy metal mood, working steam punk style! I'm in a trade group in which we will be trading 20 pieces of steampunk jewelry and charms. There is something to be said about the heavy metal that lasts far longer than the throw away and buy it new society that we now live in. A time when there were repair shops that were kept in business and were fixable. They just don't make things like they use to! Believe it or not, I still have the Sunbeam toaster that I have had for 41 years!!! No kidding! I had also gotten it free! Someone had thrown it out and my dad (who was an electrician) fixed it and had given it to me! It has the capability of the bread going down by itself so quite modern in a sense for being old. It was heavier and sturdy built and has retained it's shiny luster.

Going back to a time of heavier metal, I had a vision of doing a steam punk doll for fun, so I gathered up all of the bits of hardware that I have collected here and there.

I wanted to make her functioning with some moving parts, so I found these wheels that were to be put on some wooden toy kit that I bought back in the 80's. They were perfect for what I wanted it for. To act as an axle, I cut a wire hanger, secured the ends with foil tape, yet the wheels moved freely. My thoughts were to make her look like a wind up toy with gears and such with a flair for leather and metal. I had some fabric that I had dyed awhile back that had that leather look, perfect! Yes, she would have to sport some rivets! Then I found all sorts of things in my junk jewelry pile and some Tim Holtz gears I had bought earlier. Then there was grommets, fasteners and other small bits to work with. I had figured her wearing a top hat and goggles and searched online for doll hats. I found them at Harvey's Hobby Hut.


then couldn't justify such a small order with shipping so looked for other things that I may use some time in the future. I saw these cool angel wings and thought they would be great for something some time. When it arrived, I couldn't believe the size of the wings! I thought the measurement was for the pair and not just one! As it turned out, little did I know that I would be using them in this very piece! PERFECT!!! a good way to display gears, oh my! What a wonderful doll this was going to be! Everything was coming together and I was so pleased with the results. I had initially planned to give this one in a trade, but decided that I simply had to make another so I could keep one myself! So back to the "welding" shop to produce another one of these gals. I feel like Rosie the Riveter! There is also a place where you can get your steam punk name, so naturally couldn't resist giving her mine. She has become Sarah Isabel Cogsmith! What a fun fitting Victorian name for a steam punk character!



I am also in an online steam punk swap for making charms and jewelry pieces, so I have been in "gear" again working up some new pieces for it. I have had some wooden nickel blanks to use for the base and have used some copper sheets to punch out some circles, as well as add bits and pieces of hardware. I have been enjoying playing in this era. So technology, take a backseat for now, as I am full steam ahead!