the brushed metal actually looks pretty good. maybe give it a more 'brushed' feeling. right now it looks kinda speckled.
oh, and thanks you so much for those links, i've been tearing my hair out trying to see what the shape of the talking piece was like, and now i know! unfortunately I dont have time to work on it today but tomorrow i have a couple hours between lab and lecture so i'll be sure to work on it then