NYC Treasures

As promised, here's what I found at the open air flea market near the Flat Iron Building.

Rhinestone pins & pendants, an enamel butterfly, several earrings missing their other half, a pearl bracelet I am going to deconstruct, and 3 rhinestone necklaces that I can't wait to re-imagine as steampunk pieces.

Also, buttons & sewing notions galore!

Test glasses, a pocketwatch, gold cigarette case, locker keys, small skeleton keys, a piece of metal that looks like a ship's steering wheel, and a tiny rhinestone & enamel shamrock pin (which will just stay as is--since it's utterly fabulous).

Some of these materials have already made their way into finished pieces.

This necklace, which is simple but elegant.

This bracelet, which I now can't part with! It's too cute. I love how the key says "Presto"!

And numerous pairs of earrings made with sewing hooks, snaps, & clasps.

I love traveling & finding new materials to create with--it's rejuvenating. Merry Making & Safe Travels everyone!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 15

As always, Happy Junkin'!

Recharging My Creative Batteries: My Visit to New York

Everyone needs a bit of re-fueling from time to time. I feel creative most days, but never as creative and excited to make things as I am when I'm around my family. I got to visit my family in New York 3 weeks ago, and it was refreshing. I stepped into the house, through the kitchen where we all inevitably end up gathering, and felt it. Everyone was making something, their imaginations were taking them somewhere.

My niece, Avery Jane (who is 6 years old) gave me a pile of drawings she made and paintings she had done just for me & Rhys. I love seeing her drawings evolve. The whole weekend she was coloring or sketching all the while singing. When she was concentrating particularly hard on something she was trying to get just right, her tongue stuck out and her brow furrowed--something my mom does when she's making things too. I'm glad that the next generation of us also finds fulfillment in creativity.

My grams was sewing away on her sewing machine--a Spring table runner as a surprise for me. It is beautiful. I love all of the quilted treasures around her home and mine. The gentle whir of her Singer was music to my ears. It is the sound of home.

My brother, Leb, had just finished welding a rose out of scrap metal he found on the floor of his shop. It has a twisted almost thorn-like feel on the stem. He was proud to show it off to everyone and was already planning his next welded flower.

The most re-invigorating thing was taking the train into NYC, grabbing sloppy joes at Schnippers, and shopping in the fashion district with my mom. We've been doing this for ages, and I've really missed it.

My favorite thing about the fashion district is that there are stores that sell just one thing, and it marvelous. We headed into shops bulging full of chain, jump rings, buttons, sequins, beads, and so much more...it's fun to pour over the endless rows. I don't work with a lot of new materials, but I do like to mix in a couple of new items every now and again. Here's what I took away from one of my favorite places.

I have now become obsessed with the pale pink tiny sequins I picked up. They look gorgeous paired with antique & vintage pearls. It's a new fave combo on a lot of my new pairs of earrings.

Our next stop was an open air flea market near the Flat Iron Building. We found some really great stuff! Will save that for the next post!

Until then, Merry Making! xoxo Sam

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 14

As always, Happy Junkin'!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 13

As always, Happy Junkin'!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 12

As always, Happy Junkin'!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 11

As always, Happy Junkin'!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 10

As always, Happy Junkin'so you can get to Steampunkin'!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 9

As always, Happy Junkin'so you can get to Steampunkin'!

Steampunk Inspiration: Iola, KS

I'm inspired to create by so many things I encounter--especially architecture. On my many roadtrips with Rhys around the state and region, I continually discover new and beautiful buildings & remnants of buildings that give me new ideas. One such inspiration was on our recent roadtrip to Kansas City. We stopped in Iola, KS to take in their town square. We soon found out that the Allen County Courthouse which stood at the center of the square had been razed in 1959 and all that was left of it was the clock mechanism and clock face.

The sun was shining and it lit up the clock face so you could see the gears & mechanics through it. It was truly breathtaking.

I highly recommend the stop, it's well worth your time (pun intended).

Inspiring Inventions: The Can Opener

Ironically the can opener was invented 50 years after the idea of storing foods in cans. Before the can opener, you would open a can of food with a chisel and a hammer (and I imagine a lot of patience, and sincere love of peas)! The can opener was invented in 1858 by Ezra J. Warner, of Connecticut. Warner's can opener was a pointed blade with a "guard" attached--to keep the blade from penetrating too deeply into the can, along with a second blade. To open cans of food, you'd saw around the top. The parts of the can opener were nicknamed "the bayonet and the sickle."

Useful during the Civil War, Warner's can opener was used mostly in the Army and in grocery stores rather than individual homes. (Perhaps because of the can's jagged edge after "sawing" the top off.)

There were many iterations of the can opener through history:

• 1866 J. Osterhoudt invented the "unwinding" can--a can that opens itself. (Much like our modern pop-top or pull-tab cans.)
• 1870 William Lyman invented the rotary can opener with one sharp rolling wheel that cuts the rim of the can.
• 1925 The Star Can Co. of San Fransisco improved upon Lyman's design and added a second rolling wheel to allow for a smoother, steadier cut. This design is the can opener that is still widely used today (unless, of course, you use an electric one)!

Thanks to Ezra Warner, and many other inventors after him, for creating a wonderful, modern convenience.

Sunday in the Studio

It's been a lovely week & weekend topped off with a Sunday in the studio & puttering about the house. I hung the wonderful WWI propaganda poster Rhys & I bought in Kansas City while we were visiting the WWI Memorial Museum--a trip I highly recommend. It is a very well done museum and has a huge collection of propaganda posters from that time. (Propaganda posters from WWI & II fascinate me. I grew up with a Bread for Victory sign in my grandmother's kitchen.) I finished reading Over Tea by Terri St. Cloud, a book of poetry about sisterhood, friendship, and self--one of many gifts I received in a package from my best friend, Tiffany. There was one poem in particular that stuck out to me in the book--"Gratitude":

as she thought of her friend, she recalled hearing that "gratitude is the heart of prayer." she smiled, realizing her entire being was one big prayer at that moment. and her friend the reason for that prayer.

I am grateful to have such good fortune in all of my friendships, most of all for Tiffany's.

Today I also doctored some books I purchased yesterday at Holland Hall's Annual Book Sale. I found these gems for my own collection, and also 20 more that I am donating to a book drive at work.

If you're in the Tulsa area, please consider donating your new & gently used books. Here's a link with donation info.

Rhys and I got caught up on Serial, and while we were listening my hands were steadily making necklaces & earrings.

Of all the earrings I made today, I think I like these green beauties best. I rarely use traditional glass beads in my work but I couldn't resist these old beads. I love their soft green color and gold accents.

Not bad for a lazy Sunday! Until next time, happy crafting!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 8

As always, Happy Junkin'so you can get to Steampunkin'!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 7

As always, Happy Junkin'so you can get to Steampunkin'!

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 6

As always, Happy Junkin'so you can get to Steampunkin'!

Inspiring Inventions: Toothpaste Tube

Art inspires science in the history of the toothpaste tube! Before the 1850s "toothpaste" was not actually a paste but more commonly manufactured as a powder & included chalk as a main ingredient. Later in the 1850s, as other ingredients were added to toothpaste which gave it a consistency we're more familiar with today, manufacturers and dentists sold their toothpastes & powders in jars.

Many dentists, in fact, sold their own brands. One such dentist was Dr. Washington Sheffield of Connecticut who, is responsible for the invention of both toothpaste as we know it and the collapsible toothpaste tube. Sheffield got the idea on a trip in Paris with his son Lucius. They happened upon painters who were squeezing paints from collapsible tubes. Sheffield then devised a tube for his own ready-made toothpaste to distribute to his patients.

He created another common dental product that we still use today--mouthwash, or "elixir balm" as he called it.

After perfecting his ready-made paste by adding mint to it, in the mid-1870s Dr. Sheffield began his own manufacturing company called Sheffield Dentifrice Co. to produce the popular ready-made toothpaste and balms.

Sources:

• "History of Toothbrushes & Toothpastes," www.colgateprofessional.com

Junkin Tips & Tricks: 5

As always, Happy Junkin'so you can get to Steampunkin'!

Inpsiring Inventions: The Telegraph

Thanks to the telegraph, smoke-signals, drum beats, marathon runners, and Pony Express riders on horseback-all inhibited by weather, distance, and geography-were no longer the sole means of communicating across country.

The telegraph revolutionized communication, and while its demise came with the invention of the telephone and the radio, it paved the way for many inventions.

The telegraph itself is basic: "a key, a battery, wire, a line of poles between stations, and a receiver."

http://player.history.com/pservice/embed-player/?siteId=hist&tPid=21136643

Video courtesy of History.com

Here's a brief history of the telegraph:

• 1832-36 Samuel Morse, Leonard Gale, and Alfred Vail develop the telegraph which "worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations."
• 1830s Morse, with Vail, develops a code that "assigned a set of dots and dashes to each letter of the English alphabet and allowed for the simple transmission of complex messages" across long distances.
• 1837 Morse files a patent for the telegraph!
• 1843 Morse & Vail receive funding from U.S. Congress to test their telegraph system.
• 1844 The very first message was sent via the telegraph. It read: "What hath God wrought!"--something that Vail often said to Morse.
• 1845 A small group of investors purchased a license from Morse, Vail, & Leonard for the telegraph for $15,000. They formed The Magnetic Telegraph Company (later known as Western Union).
• 1846 The first commercial telegraph line was completed. It ran from Washington, D.C. to New York City.
• 1860 U.S. Congress passed The Pacific Telegraph Act approving the construction of a transcontinental telegraph line (in part because of the looming Civil War).
• 1861 Western Union laid the first transcontinental telegraph line!
• 1866 The first permanent telegraph cable was laid across the Atlantic Ocean with help from the U.S. Navy vessel the "Niagara."
•  1874 Thomas Edison made an improvement to the telegraph. Edison introduced the "Quadraplex system, which allowed for 4 messages to be transmitted simultaneously using the same wire."
• 1906 S.O.S. (..._ _ _...) is established as the worldwide emergency signal of distress. While S.O.S. was not an abbreviation of a saying, it was chosen for being easy to remember and differentiate, in popular usage, it came to mean "Save Our Ship," "Save Our Souls," and "Send Out Succor." The most famous S.O.S. message sent was by the R.M.S. Titanic on April 14, 1912 when it hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. and then sank.

The telegraph  was a truly remarkable invention STOP

Sources:

"Morse Code & The Telegraph" on History.com

Historywired.si.edu 

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As always, Happy Junkin'so you can get to Steampunkin'!

Notable Women: Mary Anderson

There are many inventions we use everyday thanks to great minds. One such mind is that of Mary Anderson who invented the windshield wiper! The National Inventors Hall of Fame notes that while Anderson, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, was "touring the city of New York in a trolley car on a snowy day in the early 1900s. [Mary] conceived of her idea of a windshield wiper blade that could be operated from the inside by the trolley driver." Mary patented her invention in 1903.

In 1905, she tried to sell the rights to her invention, but she was rejected because it was not considered of "commercial value" to manufacturers (as the automotive industry had not yet skyrocketed). Her patent expired 1920, and only 2 years later Cadillac became the first car manufacturer to include windshield wipers among a car's standard equipment.

Mary was successful, despite not profiting from her invention; she managed an apartment building in Birmingham and a cattle ranch and vineyard in California.

Mary Anderson's design for the windshield wiper is the basic one we use today (with some modern adjustments along the way). In fact several patents for reinvented windshield wipers are filed each year. From 2010 to now, there were a staggering 390 alone!

While there are no doubt many tweaks, adjustments, and reinventions--thanks to Mary Anderson we all drive safer because of her marvelous invention!

Sources:

Dashka Slater, "Who made the windshield wiper?" NY Times Magazine.

"Mary Anderson." The National Inventors Hall of Fame.