Clockworks and welding

We started carrying a few books on Welding at work, and like the idiotic person that I am, I started looking one over. And it has all these fun projects in it that you can make. So, naturally, it started giving me ideas on some fun things I could make for selling at convention, down the road.

I'm still not certain whether picking this book up was a good idea or a bad idea. I am, however, fairly certain that I would not be able to make any of the projects without either a) a full workshop or b) my own home out of the city, as the ordinances governing use of that kind of fire power is pretty extensive. I have enough problems with the mini torch I currently use for soldering! So, probably won't happen any time soon.

In the meantime, I was recently introduced to the comic Girl Genius, which is online at www.girlgeniusonline.com . This is a very fun comic, and it took me about a week to get to the current story. On the plus side, the card game my older brother bought me for Christmas a few years back now has some relevance - I might even figure out how to play it, now!

The crazy thing is, some parts of the comic look familiar, so I suspect he showed it to me in comic-book format some years ago, and I wasn't interested in it at the time. Which wouldn't surprise me any; I went through the same thing with the Xanth series.

The bad news is, this comic has gotten me interested in Steam Punk, which looks rather fun. Which also has relative jewelry that goes with it. So, naturally, I've looked into it and have started working out some pieces. The nice this about this genre is, most of the metals used are copper, brass, and maybe silver, which makes it more affordable to work with. I checked one of my suppliers, and I can get the relevant wire through them with no troubles - sold by the spooled pound, even. And the price is certainly better than buying it by the foot at work, that's for sure!

Since I've some money left over from the bonus I received last weekend (having used most of it to pay some bills), I have looked at and bid on some junk watch lots on ebay, which I plan to hock for some parts for the jewelry I have planned. Meanwhile, I'm resisting the urge to look at other people's designs, as I like to try keeping from being influenced enough to make a design to similar to someone else's. I'd much rather that happen by sheer coincidence.