Yep, It's been forever!

Things have been busy getting ready for the holidaze and I haven't posted in forever, ah well!

What have I been up to? I've been wanting to learn more about 'interactive' pieces, so I've assembled my goodies and will be playing with them during the Holiday break:

Switch Craft: Battery-Powered Crafts to Make and Sew - This is what REALLY got me off my duff. I already had the Fashioning Tech book (see below) and was mildly interested. Then I saw THE PROJECT: Interactive Voodoo Doll... OMG! It 'shivers' when you stick a pin in it...what fun! I've already gotten a dozen or more "I want one when you make them" responses... we'll see how many I feel like making before it's on to the next project... I already have several mods I want to do to the original project.

Here's a pic from her blog:
http://iheartswitch.com

GADGET GLOVES, VOODOODOLL, & PETAL SHUFFLE

With my goal in mind and the book in hand, I then went after the materials. I ordered the sample kit from http://www.fine-silver-productsnet.com/, but it was going to take a while at first class mail, so I checked out the Makezine blog's shop, Maker Shed, and picked out the following two kits with 2 day delivery (got them in yesterday! Yay!):

From the Maker Shed:
Smart Materials Kit - Inspired by our Fashioning Technology book, we decided to create a starter kit of smart materials. This is designed to be an affordable way to sample materials that are often available only in much larger quantities. Create designs that only show up under certain conditions; heat sensitive, glow in dark, color changing under different light conditions. Sculpt the polymorph plastic into whatever shape you'd like. Have fun and re-make your world!
Features

• Fashioning Technology, by Syuzi Pakhchyan (a $29.99 value)
• ¼ oz Phosphorescent Powder (it glows in the dark!)
• 10g of Photochromic powder, Blue (it changes color in different lights)
• 10g of Photochromic powder, Yellow (it changes color in different lights)
• 10g of Thermochromic powder (it changes color at different temps)
• 2 feet of shape memory wire (it contracts when heated)
• 5 crimp beads (to control the shape memory wire)
• 2 ounces of polymorph plastic (heat it in hot water - mold it into whatever you want)

Conductive Booster Pack - Inspired by our Fashioning Technology book, we decided to create a starter kit of conductive materials. This is designed to be an affordable way to sample materials that are often available only in much larger quantities.

Features

• Conductive fabric
• Conductive thread
• Conductive tape
• Conductive hook and loop (you might call it Velcro, but we can't)
• Coin Cell Battery
• Assorted LEDs

Considering the amount of fabric in the conductive kit, it seems to be a very good value. As I said above, I've ordered from another source and will have to be looking at comparative costs when I reorder.

I got the Smart materials kit mainly for the shape wire, but was disappointed in how fine the gauge was...will have to double or triple it up to get the effect I want. The powders will be fun to play with (especially the Thermochromic - from Black to White!).

That's it for now...