Craft

Section

Amazing Craft

A Camera Mounted to a Potter’s Wheel Puts Ceramics in a Dizzying New Perspective

Watching a ceramist work at a potter’s wheel is a mesmerizing and nearly meditative process as the wet clay slowly morphs into shape, spinning so quickly it loses definition almost completely. Eric Landon from Tortus Copenhagen was curious to see what things might look like from the clay’s perspective and mounted a camera to the edge of a potter’s wheel as he worked on a vase. It’s fascinating to see the world become a blur while the clay and wheel remains in sharp focus. If you liked this, also watch this video of Mikhail Sadovnikov as he draws unusual designs with leftover slip (clay sludge). (via The Kid Should See This)

Craft Design

Miniature DIY Paper Skeleton Kits by Tinysaur

The folks over at Brooklyn-based Tinysaurs build DIY paper model kits of the world’s smallest dinosaurs and other skeletons, both real and fictional. Each tiny kit stands about 2 inches tall when finished and takes about 20-30 minutes to assemble with a pair of tweezers. Kits are available as a standalone paper model, or as a deluxe kit with included borosilicate glass display dome. See more in their Etsy shop.

Craft Design

Engineer Builds a Functional Miniature V8 Engine Using Only Paper

In a series of videos posted to YouTube, engineer Aliaksei Zholner demonstrates a minuscule V8 engine he designed that is built completely from paper (with minor bits of scotch tape to prevent friction). The engine is so tiny it fits inside the plastic container found inside a Kinder egg. In the the videos Zholner demonstrates the progress of the engine coming together over several months, and the latest clip posted this weekend incorporates a paper throttle that effectively controls the speed of the little whirring device using compressed air. You can also see his wildly popular model v6 engine from last year.

Art Craft

Flowers Embroidered on the Strings of Vintage Rackets and Other Thread Artworks by Danielle Clough

Cape Town-based designer and embroidery artist Danielle Clough uses thick, bright thread to create stunning images of flowers, portraits of people, and other images including fast food, emojis, and birds. Some of her most unusual pieces are different flowers hung on the strings of vintage badminton and tennis rackets. You can explore more of her work in this gallery and over on Instagram.

Art Craft

A Carved Graphite Train on Tracks Emerges from Inside a Carpenter’s Pencil

All photos courtesy Cindy Chinn

We’ve seen a number of artists working with pencil leads over the last few years, where the narrow dimensions of graphite are carved into minuscule objects. This recent piece by Nebraska-based artist Cindy Chinn is particularly ingenious, an entire carpenter’s pencil is turned into a tiny train, trestle, and bridge. “This piece was designed using straight lead pieces for the rails, with the tiny carved train placed and securely glued on top of the rails,” Chinn shares. “The train engine is only 3/16″ of an inch tall. The pencil is 5-5/8″ long and mounted in a wood shadowbox frame as shown in the photos.”

You can see more of Chinn’s pencil carving work on her website and on Etsy. See more pencil carving fun from Salavat Fidai, Diem Chau, and Dalton Ghetti. (via Laughing Squid)

Craft

Welded Insects Produced From Salvaged Metal Scraps by John Brown

Gathering spare pieces of metal, John Brown assembles his findings into sculptures of colorful butterflies, insects, and birds. Although the assemblages are formed from salvaged materials like nails and bicycle chains, the pieces somehow remain delicate, wings appearing just as thin as a butterfly’s own. After welding each piece together, Brown finishes the sculpture by painting the wings with oil paint, accurately copying the markings of specific species such as the Holly Blue and Red Admiral butterflies.

The Wales-based sculptor has lived in the rural west of his country for the past eight years, inspired by the fauna-rich valleys that compose the region. You can see more of his metal insects and other welded figures on his Facebook and Etsy page. (via Lustik)