Oh. Yes. That.

What? Hmm? You've noticed my flash drive looks a little strange?

Rather like a ray gun, perhaps?

Perhaps.

I'd toyed with the idea of making some steampunk goggles, but for several reasons dragged my feet. A, they're overdone, B, I don't do plastic but hunks of metal + face = cumbersome, and C, I couldn't immediately come up with a solution for the lenses. (Again, I don't do plastic.) But I wanted another project. And then one night I was sitting around, and I realized what I must do with those clock gears I've had laying around my bedroom.

It's time to build a ray gun.

This will be a secondary blaster, mounted above a larger one and set back a little. I'm currently thinking of making TWO guns, because I have too much excellent stuff to fit on one. I have:
• Clock gears/sprockets
• Burgundy and black suede for the grips (only one grip color for each gun)
• A small purple glass flute vase for a barrel (with ray-shooter mounted inside)
• A double-lensed jeweler's loupe
• Two frightening-looking needles (I think they're for injecting marinade into meat... but for me they shall be ray-focusers):

• Ring of ball bearings, clock part for crosshair, random bit of copper, clock part for trigger:

• 5-gigabyte Rio Carbon that largely died a few years back, but still functions well enough to work as a storage drive:
I'm particularly excited about this last element. I reshaped the metal backplate to fit more snugly around the thing's guts, and it will be the crowning bit of geekery inside. I've also changed the settings to keep the backlight on, which will give me some red LEDs to display. I also have a ring of 9 white LEDs, which are lovely and bright, so I can even have it be a flashlight as well. Bwaha. Bwahahaha. Bwa... ha.

(I am very happy that this has inspired my friend Link to make himself a raygunlight for use at the office. Excellent, excellent.)

In other news, I brought my mandolin up to North Campus and recorded a far more strange version of "I'm Not Sorry" (steampunk/speculative folk song), with layers and layers of mandolin. I'm very happy about this, as it has much better vocals. I still trip up a couple of times, but my voice isn't all over the place. I also got to sing with Jess when she performed at Café Verde last Saturday; we did "Sons and Daughters" by the Decemberists, an excellent song and oh so improvisable.

Good times.

Magnetic fingers!

It sounds pretty awesome to have a sixth sense, for electromagnetism (à la this Wired article on rare-earth magnetic implants). But I'm not so keen on the surgery, stuff breaking down inside me, and possible infection aspects of the process. Plus, the "non-removable" part seems a tad impractical. And then, last night, David (my most marvelous S.O.) reminded me that he'd once brought me some broken neodymium ring magnets.

...Experiment time!

I happen to have a decent collection of different types of wire, for 2D twisted-wire drawings (I got into this when making things for a holography project) and jewelry-grade maille rings. During a couple of short house meetings, I came up with three of these:


Each is made from a single piece of brass wire and a magnet (I think the brass/nickel combo gives it a touch of steampunk aesthetic). They're probably not quite as sensitive as the implants, as they're not right against the skin, but they certainly work. The magnets are very strong, and I'll definitely keep playing with this concept. More pictures to come, including detail shots of all three, plus whatever else I come up with.

Thoughts and observations:
• It works best when the magnet is loose in its holder (though still secured against possible escape). This allows it to oscillate freely, which I can feel via the wires.
• Smaller pieces seem to work better, probably for the same reason - free oscillation within a cage-style attachment, while larger pieces suggest a wrapped fixture, as above. Due to these factors, plus the fact that many feedback wires attach magnet to finger, the first fingertip I made (left in the picture) is the most sensitive.
• I'm going to try making earrings, though these will probably be ear cuffs in the same wire-wrapped style, rather than with magnets sandwiching the ear. I do not wish to have my flesh squeezed. But I have a tendency to lose ear cuffs (part of why I make, rather than buy, them), so I'd have to make these extra-secure.
• I am a total sucker for jewelry that does stuff. These are a bit impractical for everyday wear, but the cuffs will definitely be making an appearance. :)