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.

Wednesday Wonder- next time

It is official- teething sucks.
Madi is now sick with a cold from lowered resistance from teething. At least that is what her doctor says.
She also bit her tongue really bad.
It is even suckier that I can not really do anything for her.
I get it. This is why they say two-year olds are so rotten.

She says she wants something to drink and I bring it to her and she tells me no! No she screams at me.
I have no time to leisurely browse the Internet to look for non traditional medium for Wednesday wonders.
I did make this last week though and it is now listed in my shop.

I love these hearts of stone. This is probably one of my most favorites and it is now listed in my Etsy store.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/79407297/hearts-of-stone-pendant-4-rock-steady?ref=sc_1
If you go look, thank you so much!!

I also made these. This is Frida and her friend. They are focal beads.
They are larger.

I love them.
They are also listed in my store.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/79272110/frida-and-her-friend-skull-beads-1-set
I may have to make more of these, depends on the response though.

I still find time to make things and work, even if I have to stay up till midnight.
I take naps when Madi does. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.
I am so lucky to be able to be with my grand-daughter and I am so lucky to be able to feed my creative soul.

But this week and last... I am wondering if a real job might be a better choice. ;-D
The weekend is almost here. I may have to leave town.
Have a great hump day you all.

Wednesday Wonder- time out

I am still taking a time out. I have been taking it easy and doing a lot of resting, just hanging out, and taking care of Madi.
At the end of the day I am all out. I have a hard time thinking of anything to say that is uplifting or happy.
I am working on clay though and playing.
I listed a new unzipped heart in a color instead of the ivory looking ones I do.

I think I like it. Soft and romantic, eh? I might try some more of these.
http://www.etsy.com/listing/78515796/unzipped-heart-48-purple-rose

I also did a light antiquing on the Seagull statue.
Let me know what you think of it. I am happy.

Brings that smirk on his face out.

I like the antiquing.

I do think he is just fine.
You can see it with out the antiquing here
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/07/happy-friday.html
Thanks for your help with this!
Have a great day.

Wednesday Wonder- Wheat Weaving

I had no idea that when I went to research this weeks Wednesday Wonder that I would be opening a window in to a wild world of wheat weavers and associations. Weally, I mean Weally??? ;-D

Osburn Butterfly, © 1998 Marje Shook, Photo by Marje Shook 

I found the picture above on the National Association of Wheat Weavers site, I did say National Association. This is a big deal, at least it appears to be. The are having 

The 2012 NAWW Convention
"DREAM OF WHEAT"
Portland, Oregon
April 11th - 15th

Their website is here: http://nawwstraw.org/

They have a gallery here: http://nawwstraw.org/index.php/gallery

It is kind of hard to believe this is wheat straw.

History

"Even for the earliest civilizations success of a harvest has always been critical to survival. In the ancient mythology of many cultures there are tales of harvest celebrations and by the 1500s in Great Britain there are accounts of sheaves being decorated to represent the spirit of the harvest. By the late 1800s the making of harvest tokens seems to have been quite widespread throughout Europe." From the history page at the National site History
http://nawwstraw.org/index.php/about-straw-art

These are buttons. Photo by Karen Bell and Nan Rohan

Colorful punched shapes of marquetry are appliqued onto wood in pleasing designs and then lacquered for protection. I love these.

Dale Scoot owns a little company called "Wheatweaving company" and will teach classes, sells kits, and has free projects up there and links for buying wheat too.

http://www.wheatweaving.com/

The gallery is on the home page. 

Here is a beginning project for weaving a heart called a Mordiford from Dale's site:

http://www.wheatweaving.com/project1.html 

"Wheat is the symbol of goodness, prosperity, and life itself, and wheat weaving is a fine craft that has been practiced throughout the world for centuries." from Rocky Rothschiller's site

Rocky Rothschiller is quite adept at Wheatweaving and also incorporates yucca, suede, and feathers.
Amazing and contemporary.

Rocky's Corazon with Feathers 21"x 18" from his site "Wheat Weavers"

http://www.wheatweavers.com/

Even Illinois has an Association of Wheat Weavers http://www.illinoiswheatweavers.org/index.html

Amazon even has a book on Wheatweaving and Strawcraft http://www.amazon.com/Book-Wheat-Weaving-Straw-Craft/dp/157990078X

There is so much more and I feel that this is a very good sampling to peruse of Wheat weaving.
I also found out that this is a very old traditional medium that has become a non-traditional medium.
I am thrilled that is being kept alive by the associations above that I have listed. It is beautiful, natural, and steeped with meaning.

Wednesday Wonder- Hair today

This is Kerry Howley, this is one of her human hair necklaces and it is amazing. Go see the others.

http://www.kerryhowley.co.uk/

You can read a nice blog post about her here:

http://www.odditycentral.com/news/art-student-creates-hair-raising-necklaces-from-human-hair.html

a wonderful place called OddityCentral, gotta know this place is going to be interesting.

A friend sent me this picture and that is what started this. This is a piece of work that blows my mind, really. I love it, it is beautiful, and it is amazing.


I guess I could say that this is a continuing edition of body part art that I did for Wednesday Wonder a while back. It elicited a strong response from my self and you too. You can read that stimulating ;-D piece of journalism here: http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/01/wednesday-wonder-body-part-art.html

This from Dooplicity on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/dooplicity

Human hair and other body parts, she also has some wonderful panels that you should really look at.

That is art, something that makes you think, respond, and react. Yes, even if it is a so-called bad reaction.
Most art is art to us because it makes us feel good. I prefer that kind, myself.

Some art though, makes you go, Damn... that is interesting. I like that kind too.

Even the Bone art Wednesday wonder here: http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/11/wednesday-wonder-bone-to-pick.html

This is about hair, I skipped that one. LOL!!

There is even a Society, it is called the Victorian Hairwork Society http://www.hairworksociety.org/
You have got to check this out, they even have embroidery done with human hair. Jenn's blog is here http://jennkristen.blogspot.com/

And we can not do a body part art with out our dear friend of belly button lint bears and fingernail sculpts, Betty Rae Case

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bettyraecase

So, I leave you again with another hair-raising thought to ponder. What is traditional art mediums and why do we have to use them?
We don't.
The artists make the art, not the medium. They bring their hearts, their minds, and their hands and they all come together to form ART!
Now go make some. Use anything you want!
;-D

Do not forget that I have a giveaway going on now for what I make and call my art.
You can find that here: http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/07/time-for-giveaway-this-is-20-071211.html

Wednesday Wonder- I love duct tape

In the early 80's we were driving to a how in Orange county and we saw a car that had duct tape all over it. Everything on this car was duct taped together. As we got closer there was a bumper sticker and it said "I love duct tape". I thought it was awesome. It was creatively done and even the bumper was taped on!

My youngest daughter, who has always been a trendsetter, duct taped her whole back pack, it look great.
It was amazing how many kids started doing stuff like that to their school supplies.
I loved it and her back pack was indestructible and almost waterproof, saved me money too!

Now there are all colors and prints in duct tape. I so want to buy them all every time I see them.
There are even How to books totally devoted to duct tape.
This my friend is a non-traditional art medium.

There are also all kinds art being made with duct tape

Duct Tape Art Winners: Melissa Walker (left) and Mariah Walton earned first prize in Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's first Duct Tape Art Contest with their beautiful replication of �The Scream� painting -- all from strands of colored duct tape.

This is a contest from the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

"Getting the creative juices flowing was a Duct Tape Art Contest in early January, organized by the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and sponsored by the 3-M Corporation"

The Duct Tape Guys even have a Duct Tape Gallery (this is great!)
You can even submit your own duct tape creations.



From the Duct tape guys Gallery. Tim fashioned this sportcoat for Red Green. He promptly said it was "the ugliest thing he had ever seen" and auctioned it off at a public television fund raiser. It brought $1000. (Heck, it was worth at least $2000!)



Also from the Duct Tape Guy's Gallery. I adore this. Duct Tape Art from students at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. Created for the Duct Tape Ball silent auction

 These guys have a wonderful page and there is even a duct tape Jesus and a Wedding Dress.
You have to check out their store http://www.octanecreative.com/ducttape/store/index.html
And visit their refrigerator http://www.ducttapeguys.com/index1.html that is the index page for all of this. There is trivia and info and free stuff. The art is amazing!!


Here is a whole page of duct tape crafts at About.com http://familycrafts.about.com/od/ducttapecrafts/Duct_Tape_Crafts.htm

You just have to go look at Mona Superhero and her duct tape creations, she is the queen of the tape!!
http://monasuperhero.com/


From Mona's website http://monasuperhero.com/

Here is Mona's Blog http://monasuperhero.com/blog/

Jeremy Tubbs is also a duct tape artist and he has a blog, he does some wonderful photographic images
http://ductart.blogspot.com/


From Jeremy's blog.

WOW!! Here is Jeremy's Website http://jeremytubbs.com/ another great place to visit!!

Here is a story about a freshman on his was to being a duct tape artist extraordinaire from the Winona Daily News.
His name is Ricky Becher http://www.winonadailynews.com/news/local/article_a71762dc-88dd-11e0-9cdb-001cc4c002e0.html
Go Ricky, go!!



Need a wallet? ;-D
Here is the Mother lode of Duct tape videos from "All stuff duct tape" on you tube
http://www.youtube.com/user/isThatAllDuctTape

And finally... but in no way the end of the pages and pages of duct tape fiends
http://www.ducttapefashion.com/useruses.htm
Duct tape Fashion pages.

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!!

 

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  

Wednesday Wonder- egg me on

I love bizarre art and to see something that works from waste makes my heart sing for some reason.
I think it gives us all permission to create some thing out of so-called waste.
Dutch Artist Enno de Kroon gets an A in my book! Go to Eggcubism on his site and click the links on the left. Eggciting!!!

Picture courtesy of Enno's site

The new canvases of the future.
I have always thought that someday we would have to make something beautiful out of our waste, cause we are running out of places to throw it.
Visit Enno's Flickr site for some new works and some eggstravagant pieces. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ennodekroon/

Visit the Amphora series on the right scroll down a little, one of my favorites!

Also if you want to see some other interesting works of Egg carton chic visit the site Best of Texas for a instructions on a set of eggsquisite fairy lights.
http://blog.bestoftexas.com/austin/recycled-design-%E2%80%93-can-egg-cartons-light-up-your-life/

Fave Crafts this week sent out their newsletter and it was all on waste art. You can sign up for this newsletter on their sight. They always have great tutorials and lots of ideas in them. You can subscribe here http://www.favecrafts.com/section/subctr
All the links below are live, have fun, and a wonderful Wednesday Wonder kind of day!!
Do not throw it away, make art out of it. That is eggsactly what I have been trying to tell my family for years!!


Hello Thrifty Crafters,

You've all heard the stats--throwing plastic away is detrimental to the environment in so many ways. So what's a thrifty crafter to do with all that plastic trash? Craft with it, of course! Save the planet and make something cute, before it's too late!

Crafting with Plastic Trash Basics

1. 14 Easy Water Bottle Crafts (shown)
2. How to Make Plarn
3. Uses for Plastic Coffee Creamer Cups
4. 8 Ways to Craft with Bottle Caps
5. 8 Ways to Craft with Plastic Trash

Gifts from Plastic Trash

1. Plastic Cup Vase (shown)
2. Plastic Bottle Lid Art
3. Cat Bottle Bank
4. Plastic Lid Photo Frame
5. CD Case Picture Frame

Plastic Trash Jewelry

1. Water Bottle and Straw Necklace (shown)
2. Bread Tag Jazzy Jewelry
3. Fused Plastic Jewelry
4. Water Bottle Paper Bracelet
5. Recycled Plastic Jewelry

Wednesday Wonder- Woodwife Wednesday

It is a wonder to me how many giving and talented people there are out there in Blogland.
How can it get any better than that?
I know all of them!!! ;-D
My friend the Woodwife is a multi faceted, talented woman.

I love this tutorial, here, http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/05/to-antique-or-not-to-antique-part-5.html simple, effective, and quick, 

and the Woodwife, Donna, took some of my pieces and included them in one of her works of spirit.

I love being able to be a piece of this love charged piece.

And this is what she did with them.

Cool huh?

Nice touch. Everyone can use a guardian angel.

I adore the colors on these.

Great Job Donna!!! Donna has a couple of Etsy stores too.
The Woodwife Wares http://www.etsy.com/shop/thewoodwife
Blue Otter Arts http://www.etsy.com/shop/blueotterarts

Wednesday Wonder- up, up, and away in my beautiful balloon

Ok, Wednesday Wonder is back and so am I a little. ;-D

I have always loved balloons and I think they are just yummy. Colorful, helium, clowns, birthday parties, and the absolutely radiant smile Madi gets when she gets a baooooon!
That my friends, is sunshine on a cloudy day.

I think that balloons still qualify as a non traditional medium, even after doing the WW on Jason Hackenwerth here http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2010/09/wednesday-wonder-lot-of-hot-air.html
I mean to tell you after Jason, it is kind of hard not to think of balloons being an art medium, period.

But this one I love because a non traditional art medium, Balloons, is being used in a very non- traditional way.
No air was involved, that for one is another reason.
And she get points for the greatest use too, it is one of those, "I never would have thunk it" things!
At least to me anyway. Maybe, just maybe you will agree.
With out any further ado,

I want to touch it, don't you???

Looks comfy, a mass of latex balloons.

It is a rug! WOW!

Another tactile texture trap,

 

I love Black and White, so this one makes me happy.

Doesn't that just make you smile?
These are from Alicia Beck's Esty store and you can see The Miranda Sue here,
http://www.etsy.com/shop/themirandasue
And you can see Alicia's great designs at her website here,
http://www.aliciabeck.com/ 
Well done Alicia!


Hey Alicia, how do you clean those rugs?

African Trade Beads- Part 9b the third giveaway

There are 8 parts to the African trade bead how to's, you can see all of the links below. I have more but I am going to take a little break right now.

These are large earrings, but whisper light. 3 13/16" long, 1 1/2" wide, and 2.5mm thick.
Hand formed wires and jump rings of copper.

So this is part 9b- the 3rd giveaway...

You can find the first and second giveaway here,

Here is the 1st give away,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/04/african-trade-beads-part-9-giveaway.html



Here is the 2nd giveaway,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/04/african-trade-beads-part-9a-second.html

1. It is open to anyone blogger or not.
2. Leave a comment on this post if you would like a chance at these earrrings.
3. This giveaway will close on the 17th at 6pm.
4. I will ship world wide.
5. Please tell your friends.
6. You can enter if you have entered the other giveaways listed above.

Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them.
-Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)


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

you can see part 3 here,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-3.html

you can see part 4 here,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-4.html

you can see part 5 here,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-5.html

you can see part 6 here,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-6.html

you can see part 7 here,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/03/african-trade-beads-part-7-continued.html

you can see part 8 here,
http://mariesegal.blogspot.com/2011/04/african-trade-beads-part-8.html