This one is for my fellow crafters who love tea. I give you a somewhat literal version of Tea Lights:
I think this would make a dynamite lighting scheme for a cozy coffee house or bakery. I’d love to see a bunch of teacup lights hanging above my table.
(It still works as a home lighting fixture, but I like when public places get creative with their decor).
This project is high up on the “why didn’t I think of that?” list. I’m not a woman who throws words around easily, so for the rare and precious opportunity to debut the “L” word, I could envision commemorating it with some sort of handmade keepsake.
This hand embroidered love note by Katie Cupcake is just brilliant:
Not sure if I could conjure up comparable awesomeness (well, perhaps I could in the “misanthropic embroidery” category). Something to work on.
I am seriously impressed with Untamed Menagerie’s jewelry creations on Etsy.
I think I’d wear any one of their stainless steel or acrylic silhouettes.
They’ve got my favorite flower, the lotus:
Some macabre delights…
A few choice Alice in Wonderland quotes…
Some abstract beauties…
Even better, the prices are very reasonable for such unique, fine work. Check out the rest here.
Here is one DIY furniture piece I never would have envisioned: a magazine coffee table.
Designer Vered Zaykovsky constructed this table out of glass and six identical magazine copies.
Believe it or not, there is no cutting or gluing involved…only the careful and precise interweaving of the paper.
If I come home from a store with plastic bags, I generally stuff them by my washer and dryer for future use. Virginia Fleck turns them into works of art.
Using only bags and tape, she constructs beautifully detailed, textured mandalas.
Nested in these lovely works is, undoubtedly, some implicit commentary on consumerist culture. Her website features this quote from Gina Piccalo:
“Life is being captured, repackaged and sold back to us as quickly as we live it.”
No one repackages the packaging as well as Virginia Fleck! Check out the impressive collection here.
I’m dangerous around sales where you can pick up shirts for two dollars each. I always leave with an armful of plain shirts to emblazon with whatever design feels right when I get home (I fell victim to this habit the other day).
Here are a few simple alterations of some plain tank tops from Walgreens. Pardon the absolutely hideous snapshots…
Heart diagram from a recent post (I’m eager to give image credit to Ork Posters):
Vintage TV test patterns…
How I love symbols of the impossible…
And for the fun of it, I recently made this decorative surgical mask (pestilence is such sweet inspiration). Unfortunately you can’t really see the details, or the silver coloring of the backround:
This post on Neatorama featured a photo of an amazing cemetery in Chichicastenango, Guatemala.
We certainly do not handle death quite so colorfully in this country. The photo prompted me to fire up google images. Chichicastenango does indeed seem to be a place of wondrously bright colors.
Masks…
Textiles…
Even the discarded remains of handcrafted artifacts (look at the eyelashes on Jesus!)…
Not surprisingly, the area contains what has been called the most colorful market in the Americas.
I was floored when I received an amazing package in the mail from my kindred spirit Sarah. I had made her a plushie last month; a jellyfish named Princess Squishy (an incarnation of a nickname/drawing conjured up in the delightful minds of children Sarah worked with).
In return, she sent me the most amazing collection of trinkets: classic Bigelow Rose Salve (it’s delightful), a Liz McGrath limited edition tin, and a phrenology head pocket mirror!
But the most incredible gift was this handmade necklace. An anatomical heart seasoned with tiny gears, axe in a glass case, black flower and a locket filled with meaningful symbols. Does this girl know me, or what?
All of this for a plush invertebrate! What a talented and beautiful soul she is. I’m so grateful.
Stefan Strumbler injects a healthy dose of graffiti inspired street art into traditional German cuckoo clocks.
I really adore the way he blends the standard cuckoo clock fare (antlers, woodland creatures…) with edgy pop art style. And look at those shadows…
A recurring theme is the distinctly German concept of Heimat, which has no direct translation. For some people, it’s a place…for others, a feeling.
I must stop looking at these before I go on clock re-fabrication kick and start grazing for alterable time pieces in local thrift shops.
See Strumbler’s blog here.
From Wicked Halo
I’m truly impressed with the mesmerizing and haunting effect She Fights Like a Girl creates in this Houdini portrait cross stitch:
I can think of many requests for this talented woman!
SheWalksSoftly 