Wednesday Wonder- I have bone to pick with my little stick

Oh my.. this just keeps getting better and better. I sit down to write and think *Wednesday wonder* and an image pops in to my head.

This time it was Popsicle sticks. My daughter, when she was younger made me some candle glass holders completely out of Popsicle sticks. I love these things, they are colorful, beautiful and simple in design.  Hard to clean if you live in a dusty place (which I do), but the look is marvelous and complicated. She made them out of colored craft sticks which are Popsicle sticks really.

 

 

Then I ran a search, and there before my eyes popped up all of these links to sticks- tooth picks, Popsicle sticks, matchsticks, and tongue depressors, I have hit the little wooden stick mother lode.

 

The first one to come up was,

 

David Hrobowski makes furniture out of popsicle sticks — thousands of them, glued together one by one to construct spiraling 3-foot-tall table legs, lampshades finished in the most improbable fringe, or as pictured here, a room divider with Japanese flair, its red-dyed sticks arranged like cherry blossoms. The 56-year-old antiques dealer calls them “riffsticks” — each stick like a short melodic note repeated over and over. – from the L.A times http://www.latimes.com/features/home/la-hm-0403-hrobowski-photos,0,4008394.photogallery

The man makes gorgeous, with a capital “G”, lamps, and tables, chairs and screens and a couple of mirrors too.

these two pictures come from the L.A. Times article and the link to see more is above

David’s website is here http://www.riffstick.net/ and from there I found some more talent in the form of little  wooden sticks.

 

Brad Griffith- http://youtu.be/4RmbsDU3SNc craftstick bending video, great info and some skill that might be very useful for crafts. Build your skills.

 

Stephen Guman- Aspiring World Record Breaker- http://youtu.be/WodL_QiAqEw  too much time on his hands. Popsicle stick addictions gone wild.

 

Steven J. Backman-The essence of patience- http://www.toothpickart.com/ full of patience and tooth picks, the things people in western culture will do to skip meditation ;-D

 

Chang’s Art- http://www.changsart.com/index.htm I really love the eggs and the airplanes.

 

Jack Hall the matchstick man- http://www.catfish1952.com/MatchstickMan.html  Jack’s claim to fame is the beautiful instraments that he crafted out of used match sticks. Gorgeous music.

 

Robert C. Haifley- 6 foot tall sculpture of toothpicks

http://www.thecross-photo.com/The_Gift-Toothpick_Sculpture_by_Robert_C_Haifley.htm

 

Wayne Kusy- Ships of Picks http://www.waynekusy.com/

 

Franceska Mc Cullough- http://www.toothpickmoon.com/index.html the sculptor of toothpicks

 

Wednesday Wonder- Not just any ordinary bean

This one is fun and I love Jelly Belly’s, so it is really perfect. I am trying to eliminate sugar from my diet so I thought I would write about them instead. Jelly Belly’s are not the first things that pop in my mind when I think about art, but I am staring to change my ways.

from the Jelly Belly site. A-maizing! Click on the picture to go to the recipe at Jelly Belly’s site

Jodi and I have used Jelly Belly’s when we were playing with our food http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2009/04/playing-with-my-food.html to make cupcakes from the Hello Cupcake book written by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson. The book is full of cute, no darling, cupcake designs that are made using candies and one of those candies is Jelly Belly’s. Well, I bet you never thought that someone would use Jelly belly’s for the colorants of a painting… or maybe you would.

The Jelly Belly company itself is having a contest to decorate cupcakes with their product and they will even give money for the best one. It is possible to win 10000 beans, I mean dollars, for it.

Hurry the contest ends soon. Contest begins at 12:00:01 am PT on 11/15/10 and ends at 11:59:59 pm PT on 7/10/11

http://jbcupcakechallenge.com/landing/

I know the more I do these Wednesday Wonders the more I find nothing surprises me anymore and all that I look forward to now is how creative people can get.

I know that when I see others doing things out of the usual, it opens my mind to being and going outside of the usual. Long live the imagination of man.

 

Artist: Kristen Cumings 4′x4′

Watch this! I think this is so cool! 170 hours of work Geesh!

I can bear-ly believe this is candy and a little kidney shaped sugar delight at that.

these are from the Jelly Belly site and I think they just might be my favorites. Simple yet so perfect, even down to the metal cupcake papers. Click on the picture to go to the recipe.

 If you would like to see some more Belly art you can find it here

http://www.jellybelly.com/Art_Gallery/bean_art_gallery.aspx

Malcom West made this.

Impressive, very impressive.

You can read about the conception of the art of the bean by Pete Rocha here

http://www.jellybelly-uk.com/bean-world/page/?id=25

You can see more UK bean art here http://www.jellybelly-uk.com/fun-stuff/bean-art/

OK, now Belly up to the bar and admit this is cool art, yes art.

Belly, Belly, nice art.

And from Australia http://www.jellybelly.com.au/jb_bean_art_gallery

African Trade beads-part 3

This is a series of African trade bead primary patterns, this is part 3,

you can see part 1 here,

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-1.html

you can see part 2 here,

http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-2.html

I am so sorry I didn’t get this up sooner, I have been flat on my back for a week. I guess I needed a break, because my back went out. I am starting to feel better now. YAY!!

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Please have a wonderful week and remember, if things get overwhelming, to stop for a minute and breathe deeply. Make something or hug a tree.

Here is part 3.

This has the cane we are going to make here  and the last one made together in part 1, both on this bead.

You will need:

 

Poppy red Cernit- 2.2 ounce block

Black Cernit- 2.2 ounce block

Opaque White cernit- 1 1/2, 2.2 ounce block

Yellow Cernit- 2.2 ounce block

Porcelain White Cernit- Large Block 1.1 pound or 4, 2.2

Clay slicing blade

double pointed knitting needle- I do not have the size but it is 1 1/2mm in diameter

Professional Clay Extruder

Ultimate Clay Machine

Links for products will lead to my Hubby’s store www.clayfactory.net

Thank you for shopping at the Clay Factory, not just a clay store anymore.;-D

I mix all of the colors (red and yellow) with equal amount of porcelain white and a 3/8″ ball of opaque white.

I mix the Black and the Opaque white separately with equal parts of the porcelain white.

 

Here we go.

Roll out a coil that is 2″ long and 3/4″ in diameter.

Use the half circle disk that comes with your extruder set.

Place the disk in the end of the cap and screw out the handle and load the barrel of nice and newly conditioned poppy red. The softer it is the better it comes out of the end.

Load the barrel with red.

Extrude a tube of half circles.

This is shown with the cane coil you made above.

Cut sections 2″ long or the size of the main coil you made before.

Place them on to the center coil. Press them gently in to place. Set the next one right next to the last one. You do not have to smash them on.

Cover the center coil completely. I have 8 on here. If you stand the coil on its end. It is less likely to flatten the half circles.

Roll out a sheet of conditioned white on the 4th thickest setting in the Clay Machine.

It must be at least 2 1/2″ wide by at least 5 1/2″ long.

Place the center red coil on top of the sheet of white and trim the sheet on the sides to fit the center.

Cut the end where you lay the coil for a straight edge.

I lean the top of the blade towards the center red coil and cut the edge at an angle.

Roll the sheet of white up with the center coil inside and roll the leading edge over the far end of the sheet and back again towards yourself to make a mark on the sheet so you know where to cut.

Lean the top of the blade back towards you and the coil to bevel that edge and cut just inside the line or mark made on the sheet. The blade will be on the right side or before the mark you made.

Gently with your little finger run the side of your finger down the coil making a slight indentation in the outside of the coil to mark the dip between each petal.

Now, using the knitting needle point and define that line by “drawing” the line down the side of the cane with the point gently.

Hold the whole cane section with it cradled lightly in your palm and fingers.

Condition the black clay right before you load the barrel of the clay gun up and extrude a full barrel of the black clay.

Cut the extruded triangles to the same length as the flower you have built so far, 2″.

Place the points in the dips all the way around the flower.

Roll lightly on your work surface.

Roll out the conditioned black clay on the thickest setting in your clay machine and trim the edges to match the flower coil center of the cane and wrap a sheet of black around it and bevel the ends like you did above with the white sheet.

Roll the first leading edge of the sheet over the opposite end of the sheet and make a mark and cut just inside of the line closest to the center.

You can really see that mark here. 

Match the edges and close them up together. They should be very close if you do it right.

Covered.

Cover it again with the another sheet of the same thickness.

Condition and roll out a sheet of the yellow on the thickest setting in your clay machine and cover the coil with a sheet of yellow.

Bevel the edge like before and match the edges and close them together.

Grab the cane like this and choke it. Turn it a little bit and then squeeze again. Keep rotating and squeezing, moving down the cane a little at a time. Towards the center of it.

Flip the cane over from end to end and squeeze and rotate, work up to the other end.

Turn it a little and squeeze and rotate. You are forcing the whole thing together a little at a time and it will help with compacting everything together so there is little distortion in your work.

Once you have reduced like this to half the diameter. Roll on your work surface to smooth out all of the lumps.

Roll down to about 3/4″ in diameter and cut in the center by rolling the blade and the cane forward or away from you.

Tah-dah!

Wednesday Wonder- make hay while the sun shines

Sometimes when I pick my Wednesday wonders I pick what I think could not possibly have purpose in art as a medium and most of the time I am gratefully wrong.

I do not know why Hay popped in to my head but it did and here it goes.

This picture is from Amazing Art, another website to visit again and again.

This link will take you to their main page.

This picture and the one below come from them.

This is the page for amazing hay art

http://ama-zing-arts.blogspot.com/2009/06/aweosme-hay-art.html

Click the link above to go see some bale art. This really is amazing.

Make sure you go see the rocket ship and castle.

Hay, there is a whole festival in Killington, Vermont for hay bales and some great hay art.

You can find that at About.com

http://gonewengland.about.com/od/vermontfallfoliagephotos/ig/Killington-Hay-Bale-Art-Photos/

This picture is from the Killington Hay Festival 2010 at About.com 

At the website Zuza Fun there are some great pictures of hay art too

http://www.zuzafun.com/great-hay-art 

scroll all the way through, some great pumpkins.

And if you are into Farmville

Here is a whole Farmville Wiki page on virtual bale art.
http://farmville.wikia.com/wiki/Hay_Bale_Pixel_Art

And here are a yaffle of hay words to keep you up to date from the Hay in Art page!

http://www.hayinart.com/000141.html

Or visit Hay in Art they have a data base of over 6700 of great works of hay!

Yep, people someone has spent more time than I have to help you learn about hay in art and art made of hay!

One more straw, hay!

Hay there even is a a tourist attraction in http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/7274

Forkland, Alabama – Jim Bird’s Hay Bale Art. No hay!!

And just so you know, I got this from Answers.com

“Hay is dried grass.

Straw is the dried stalks of harvested cereals, such as wheat, barley and oats.”

Hay, I knew that!!

Well, I gotta bale!!!

Hay, have a great day will ya???

Wednesday wonder- playing with his food

I just couldn’t resist this one, the man is playing with his food. Totally cheesy!!!

;-O

And…

Wednesday wonder- stuck on you

Post it® notes. I knew these were good for more that notes and reminders. WOW!

See, it is not the medium you work in, but the mind, the heart, and the soul of the artist. That is where art becomes.

Take a look in the Post-it® Products Gallery

http://www.post-it30years.com/main/artwork/lifeasart-gallery.aspx

There is a contest going on right now, submit your masterpiece

http://www.post-it30years.com/main/artwork/lifeasart-submit.aspx

Hurry though, the contest ends on the 30th of September, 2010

In honor of 30 years of sticky notes, nice.

They want to thank people for sticking around.

Some very nice prizes.

Some interesting history

http://www.post-it30years.com/main/celebration-history.aspx

UPDATE: on another note.

Check this out!

http://www.crookedbrains.net/2010/09/notebook_22.html

Wednesday Wonder- A lot of hot air

Jason Hackenwerth

non-traditional medium

Photo from http://drawn.ca/

http://www.jasonhackenwerth.blogspot.com/

http://www.jasonhackenwerth.com/#goto=past-projects-i&viewimage=1

http://www.jasonhackenwerth.com/#goto=past-projects-ii&viewimage=1

http://www.siteprojects.org/

http://www.siteprojects.org/hackenwerth/index.html

http://www.siteprojects.org/hackenwerth/megamite.html

http://www.siteprojects.org/hackenwerth/megadon.html

Iron Angel #4

This is my favorite Angel so far

Iron Angel 3

This is my 3rd Iron angel but she was done 2nd! They are so confused.

And I found a piece that I did between 1999-2001. I loved this piece, but I antiqued it with Ne-Opaque Black recently and I now love it even more. It even has Friendly Plastic in it!

I didn’t know this was called Steampunk then. I think it fits real well in that category.

Also I think this is so worth reading. It is from one of my favorite people, Mother Moon http://mothermoonsmessage.blogspot.com/ . The wonderful words and wisdom is titled “Positive Attitude”

The small piece here is just the beginning.

“There is always something positive in any situation. Sometimes it is hard to see the silver lining that may be so faint that the darkness of the clouds that it encircles keeps you from focusing on it. Yet still it is present. Sometimes it is not immediate that you are blessed with the goodness of a situation. Sometimes it can take time… Sometime it can take years….. Sometimes you may never see it… yet it is still present. Sometimes the gain is not necessarily for you, yet for another. Who through your trial and manner in which you handle and work through it, are inspired in an area of their lives to do likewise.”

 

On that brilliant note, onward and upward my pretties!!

Soar!

Iron Angels 1

I have been playing with something lately and I am obsessed and wanted to share.  I save my broken watches, I buy watch pieces, I collect small parts, and I love to look at them. I bought some when Amaco used to sell them. I have been doing this for years. I even bought some when my guild did a bulk buy on watch parts, twice. I thought to myself, why am I buying more of these? I have tons of them.

I feel my supply is very small now. How fast things can change. In the blink of an eye I went to a different attitude. I call them Iron angels.

 

I made this heart in the beginning of 2008 I like it, but????

 Until lately I have not done a very good job of incorporating them in to my pieces.

 

I feel this might have changed a bit. 

More to come.