Wednesday Wonder- Step right up!

I know, it has been a while.
I have had this in the back of my mind for a while.
One of my blog buddies even did a post on it, you can see Nicole's thoughts on this trend here
http://beadwright.blogspot.com/2011/10/shoes.html 
and here
http://beadwright.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-cant-help-myself.html

So you see shoes have become the latest art form and I do not mind at all, even though some of them seem quite ridiculous.
I have always wondered how one could walk in these, they are way higher than any platform I ever wore.

I do love these though, they are Steve Maddens and you can get them from Heels.com

These are works of art and the have 18 k gold heels. "Crafted by Mai Lamore, don’t degrade them by tagging them as mere shoes as they are no less than a work of art. They 27,000$ plus."

I would never wear them outside and they best be the most comfortable shoes I have ever put on and kiss my little tootsies as I walk too.
I got this pic from http://elitechoice.org


How about shoes in shoes as a statement from DIS magazine
http://dismagazine.com/distaste/new-style-options/13659/shoes-in-shoes/ 

This might be a great choice for a Day of the Dead wedding theme.

Now these from the Prada Spring 2012 collection, I believe these to be truly some of my most favorites and you can see more at this site Talkshoes.com
http://www.talkshoes.com/5970/fashion-week-shoes-prada-spring-2012/ 

They have others that look like they have tail lights on the heels, you know the ones that look something like bullets. I believe 50's cars, like Chevy's had them.

Christian Louboutin Deja Vu Slingbacks, $1595 via Christian Louboutin
And these Louboutins rock my world.
Eye adore them.

http://www.talkshoes.com/5507/louboutins-with-eyes-sure-why-not/
Also from Talkshoes.com
What an awesome website!

Ok, maybe it is me, but I think we are moving in to the space age with aliens invading the planet.

Heelless shoes??? WTF? These are amazing.
Do people really wear them though??
I want to see the video!
Are your bunions and toes just screaming seeing this?
Also from Talkshoes.com, can you understand why I love this site?
http://www.talkshoes.com/5510/daphne-guinness-wears-heelless-natacha-marro-shoes-to-paris-couture-week/
Gives me an idea of the money wasted on foolish things, while people do not have health insurance.
That is always good for a laugh in the morning.

Here is another wonderful blog with a real persons view of shoes. Unique Style.
Some of these would definitely qualify as art.
Photo by Tommy Ton

http://uniquestyle11.blogspot.com/2011/11/shoes-shoes-yummy-shoes.html
Check out the rest of the blog too.

So if I look at these as art, I feel better about the prices and the looks. I would never wear them though for fear of getting them wet and breaking my leg or maybe even having worse back problems than I already have.
I do, though, love the design aspect of these and the ideas that bloom in my head from just looking at them.
Now those google eyes ones I would wear, I will have to use my glue gun and payless shoes though.
Have a wonderful Wednesday.

Finally Friday- whew

I have been trying to get ready for our guilds yearly retreat, Sandy Camp.
It is challenging with a bouncing 2 1/2 year old that has no idea why I am ignoring her. Like I would. She has finally lain down for a nap, thus my frivolous time writing a little blog. ;-D
That is why I haven't been posting in the morning, I usually schedule posts the night before. I finally get to work after dinner and that is what I am doing when I should be writing my blog.

I always get a slew of ideas when I am writing a how-to, preparing for a show, getting ready for a class, packing for a trip, or anytime I am trying to focus on the impending job at hand that I am running out of time for.
So what I wanted to show you is a piece that came out of that time.


I have a few sculpts that I did years ago and I was making molds from them to sell in the Sandy Camp store. This one has always been a favorite of mine.

A happily content Green Man in the Cernit Nature color Basalt (502 in our Clay Factory store) smiles happily.

This was taken from an architectural influence and  replicates a piece of a building for you to wear.

The piece is medium size.

It is stained or antiqued with black Ne-opaque acrylic paint.

And then it is blushed with Super Bronze Lumiere. I have made a few in different stone and metal colors.
This one is in my Etsy store now
http://www.etsy.com/listing/82858271/greenman-brooch-1

A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit. Commonly used as a decorative architectural ornament, Green Men are frequently found on carvings in churches and other buildings.

The Green Man motif has many variations. Found in many cultures around the world, the Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities springing up in different cultures throughout the ages. Primarily it is interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, or "renaissance," representing the cycle of growth each spring. From Wikipedia.com 

I didn't get the whole blog written either had to put it away and start again later.
So friday is almost over now.
Have a wonderful weekend.

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

Stan Munro's Toothpick city- http://toothpickcity.com/ a whole world of tiny wood sticks

DIY- http://big3.com.tw/003-1.htm lots of pics of houses, cd holders, helicopters, bookends, ships, tape dispensers,trains, clocks, lights, coasters, and a bunch of other amazing constructions. Worth the look see.

Tim Fort- http://youtu.be/jiWxU3jXOFc  Exploding sticks, made out of tongue depressors, this is wonderful to watch.

Bob Shamey- http://www.shamey.com/tooth/tooth.htm incredible little carvings in tooth picks, unbelievable!!

 

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!
Part 4 http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-4.html

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- 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

words for the people

This is probably the last day you can see this, but I wanted to show you. I have been working on digital collages with my art. This is one that got published on D. K. Brainards page. I was very excited! Thank you D.K.
Sorry not to post this sooner but I was at Sandy camp, more later...
http://www.wordsforthepeople.com/