I’ve posted about needle felted anatomy and eye creatures before. Here are a few favorites from The Felted Chicken, who has some fantastic sea creatures.
Puffer fish!
And this angler fish actually lights up! She really goes the extra mile here.
There are also plenty of non-sea creatures and other adorable things on her Etsy and Flickr pages.
Pink Tentacle has a great post about Japanese visions of the future from a 1969 illustrated magazine feature entitled “Computopia.”
My favorite:
More pictures and descriptions here.
Ah, how the times change.
Even as an adult, the whole idea of a “secret hideaway” never lost its appeal. I still daydream about escaping to tiny cabins in the middle of nowhere to be alone with books, projects or a special someone.
The Tiny House Blog has a nice little collection of island cabins.
Something about these isolated capsules of comfort is almost meditative.
Granted, they are not the most convenient locations, and in the event of a storm or intense food craving (both of which are equally severe in my opinion) you’re pretty much out of luck.
However, I’d be willing to chance it for a few days and simply show up fortified with oil lanterns and an array of sweets.
See more here.
I would love a chance to view the Victorian Blood Book in person at the University of Texas. This decoupage project was assembled from hundreds of engravings, accented by red India ink.
View the slideshow and hear descriptive commentary here.
Worth a thousand words…
Caption, anyone?
Now for something considerably LESS creepy than the last post, I give you “Midnight Dance.” This video made the rounds on some Halloween countdowns (my apologies for not remembering which blog I saw it on first).
I consider this site an “oddities” blog, and I find few things as odd as the plastic, alarmingly precocious world of child beauty pageants.
Susan Anderson has a new exhibit at the Kopeikin Gallery featuring these mini beauty queens.
From the author bio:
High Glitz, is shot on location at several of America’s child beauty pageants. Setting up her studio amidst the colorful spectacle, she captures the young girls at the height of their performance. Hours of preparation are spent on each child’s appearance, and her camera records it all in graphic detail. Children’s pageants are a fascinating subculture, but more than anything they represent a strange microcosm of America itself. Our own values of beauty, success and glamour reflected in the dreams of thousands of young girls
I find myself struggling through a very strong reaction when I look at these photos. Childhood is the one time in life that should be (relatively) simple. Sometimes I long for the days before the dawn of self-consciousness, when I would never consider things like makeup or extravagant hairdos. The business of being a “woman” was far off on a distant horizon.
What unnerves me most of all is the vague sense of discomfort that seems to lurk beneath the phony smiles and “flippers” (prosthetic teeth designed especially to give small children that Hollywood smile).
Perhaps I’m highly misinformed and I’ll allow for that possibility. I can’t get myself to research the topic of child pageants (or watch those horrendous reality shows) for fear of breaking down in tears at the sight of lost innocence, extreme pressure, and of course…a very unnatural sexualization.
No one could pay me enough to do this to a grade school child:
To me, these poor creatures seem lost in space and time; children with adulthood painted on. They must suppress all the natural movements, drives and freedom of childhood for the sake of frozen expressions and perfect posture.
Sure, I loved to play dress-up as a kid (still do!). But it was all about imagination and fun. In these pageants, I never know where the will of the child begins and ends…perhaps the children themselves don’t even know.
See more from the photo exhibit here.
Or visit the photographer’s website.
Found here
I have a new embroidery hero: Aubrey Longley-Cook.
Look at these! Absolutely amazing…
His subject matter is truly unique.
And the detail is astounding. How many people do you know who can embroider an entire brass band on a piece of found fabric?
You can see more on his blog and Etsy site.
Found here.
Yep, Halloween is over, but wonderful photos are still getting posted. Pumpkinrot has some dynamite images of handmade decorations.
There are more new ones on the blog and you can see archives on the official website.
SheWalksSoftly 