Posted By The Cat on November 21, 2009

Yes, I’ve not been keeping up my blog. I’ve been too busy making things and selling them . Those following me on Facebook know what I’ve been up to, so I won’t rehash everything here – just give an overview for any passers by.

What I have accomplished since I last logged on:

• Was featured on Boing Boing by Cory Doctrow
• Designed some steampunk jewelry for author Rosemary Ellen Guiley.
• Had several good shows this fall and one big disaster – I’ll never do a show in Apex, NC again.
• Have finally refined a way to etch metals without blowing up the house.

I’ve taken on one last show of the year. On December 4 and 5,  I will be participating in the Arts Together Gift Gallery.  This is a fundraiser for the Arts Togther School in Raleigh, NC.  Arts Together is a  multi-art non-profit school. Part of the proceeds of sales will go to the school’s scholarship fund. Arts Together strives to never turn away a student because of financial need. This is a wonderful school and I’m very happy to donate part of my sales to such a worthy cause.

So, I will be there with my famous steampunk jewelry as well as my mixed media and glass art. Look for the Steam Man  sign and for me in my top hat and goggles!

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Posted By The Cat on August 9, 2009

or How I Wracked The Hell Out of a Set of Vintage Typewriter Keys & Restored Them

And so I thought I’d get a head start on making things out of a set of old typewriter keys. Last Saturday I spent the entire morning cutting off the stems with a Dremel tool and grinding down the backs. Next step was to clean them. Who could screw that up?

These keys were purchased on Ebay and supposedly glass covered keys from an old Royal typewriter. After all that cutting and grinding, the keys were even more dirty, so it was hard to see if these were in fact glass covered keys. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I began to have doubts as the keys were a little lightweight for glass. Also as the grinding heated the keys, I saw bubbles forming under the surface of a few. Yes, I had suspicions these were not glass covered keys but celluloid covered keys. Unfortunately, the light in that room in my mind went dark yesterday when I started cleaning.

Doing some research on cleaning old keys, most all sources said to clean with window glass cleaner or alcohol, so that’s what I did. I put a little diluted alcohol in the plastic container holding the keys. Instead of testing one key to see if anything horrifying would happen, I decided to dump it on all the keys to save time. Right after, the terrible thought popped into my head – what if these are celluloid?

Maybe it’s the heat. I didn’t go into one of my screaming rages as all the keys turned a brilliant white as the alcohol reacted with the celluloid. Reeling, I declared the whole project a disaster, took a Xanax and went to bed.

After a fitful night of sleep, I awoke with an idea there must be something I could do to clean off that white film and restore the surface. Looking at my collection of volatile chemicals, one grabbed my attention: acetone. Acetone would re-melt the celluloid surface and clear the residue on the keys. What did I have to loose?

Above are the keys now. They are clean and shiny as the acetone melted the residue and the refinished the celluloid surface. Except for the letter “E,” all are restored to former condition and ready to be made into jewelry.

Note to self: Some people are selling celluloid as glass keys; test ONE before wrecking the whole set. Do not hurry as a hurried project almost always turns into a disaster.

Next – playing with acids. Stay tuned.

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Posted By The Cat on August 6, 2009

I’ve finally uploaded all my products to Etsy. I hate doing product photography and writing up descriptions, but maybe the worst is behind me and I can add individually from now on.

Finally put up the new banner for Curious Goods. I wanted both this blog and the shop to have a common theme.

And of course I have both of my beloved Steam Men on the new Etsy banner!

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Posted By The Cat on July 28, 2009

It’s been over a year since I last typed an entry for the blogosphere. One reason is because I’ve become involved with expressing my creativity though crafting instead of ranting on the Internet. What a happy accident! I’ve found something I’m good at and many people are interested in what I’m doing.

So, I’ve decided to keep this domain, blog a little about what I’m doing and creating and hoping more people will visit my Etsy store. Yeah, I need to sell some of the stuff I make, so I can make more stuff! In future posts I’ll be discussing my projects of the moment, my DIY adventures and share a few of my techniques. Stick around for more astounding adventures!

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