More retro-cellphone handset goodness! This time from my friend and fellow Maker, Captain Mouse!

Her blog is here: http://buttonsformouse.blogspot.com/

And when you visit, do not miss Mandelbrot the Fractal Teddie Bear!

Here's a project of mine from a few years ago, it's an LG mobile 'embedded' into an old Western Electric model 500 handset.

The Bell Model 500 desk phone manufactured for decades by Western Electric is an icon of Twentieth Century product design.  The evolution of the Model 500's receiver begun with the first telephones produced in the late 19th Century and it's longevity has taken it into the 21st.  I have always found it to be ergonomically designed and comfortably to use,  It is the embodiment of "form follows function".

I am thinking about making a follow up version for my iPhone 3 GS but have yet to find a suitable handset to embed it in.

The full build log is here . . . 

I'm sure you'll all remember The James Gang from the New York Times style section piece on steampunk a while back.  In the article they talked about a high end Steampunk boutique in Manhattan.  Well, TJG Engineering may be ready to come out of 'stealth mode' as they now have a on of a kind proto-type brass plated iPhone for sale on eBay. 

I would love to know the process for achieving that lovely patina!

My friend David dropped me a note a couple of days ago along with this photo of a telephone aboard a WW II era warship.  The phone is absolutely gorgeous! I particularly like the the anchor and rope motif in the brass escutcheon.

David goes on to write:

Check out this lovely old telephone from the USS Salem, CA139, noticed it on our sleepover on the ship. It has some lovely brass work on it, a little steampunky, don't you think ?

I suspect it was made on a custom contract for the Navy. The ship completed at the tail end of the war in 1945, and had many firsts, including air conditioning and computerized fire control. This was the first ship to have automated 8 inch guns,

. . .