I Crave Carvings

For some reason that I’m not really aware of, I really dig mini carvings, especially when they’re carved out of an unconventional material. Dont’ get me wrong, I like wood carvings a lot, too. There are a few to be found around my house. But I love, love, love quirky carvings like these:

Chinese Zodiac Crayon Carvings by artist Diem Chau

A closer look at Diem Chau's snake carving. You can see more close ups here.

I came across these carvings a couple of years ago on NOTCOT. If I remember correctly, they’re carved out of beech nuts. I think they’re amazing — so intricate and so beautifully done. I couldn’t locate the artist’s name or where to find them, but I’ve saved the images because I love looking at them.

Ant

Octopus

Another snake!

And I feel a little silly admitting to this next one, but I also like Thai fruit and vegetable carvings. I saw a competition on the Food Network once and I was fascinated. Sometimes the designs can get a bit hokey, but it’s interesting to see all the different ideas that emerge. 

The art of Thai fruit and vegetable carving is called Kae-Sa-Luk. It dates back to the 1300s and was considered an art performed for the royal court.

Watermelons are my favorites.

Deep-Fried Question

Hello fellow Deep-Fryers!

I have an idea that I’m really excited about and would love to hear your feedback. A couple of posts ago hashbrowncasserole posted a link, www.arthousecoop.com, cool website with lots of projects that anyone can participate in. They used to have a weekly project that you could sign up for, great idea but I think they gave up on it.

Anyway, I want to start our own Deep-Fried Creative weekly project. The projects could be anything… an example of a project that arthousecoop did was create a monster out of the objects on your desk. Something fun that doesn’t take a whole lot of time.

I haven’t figured out all of the logistics yet, I just wanted to see if others were interested and go from there.

Let me know.

Thanks,
rhodeislandredchick

Design Makes All the Difference

I ran across these on I Believe In Advertising. I thought they were very clever and told a good story so I thought I’d share. Enjoy!

A new passion: crochet

 

My favorite baby in her crocheted sweater

 

My good friend CJ showed up at the office one day, telling us how she found some supplies, taught herself how and crocheted a scarf that past weekend. She gave me a short tutorial, and I thought… I can do this!

Well, it’s about 6 weeks later, and I am really enjoying my new hobby.

Some goofball in a hat

 

I wanted to share some tools I have found useful. Lion Brand Yarn has a website that is wonderful. They have a database of free patterns that you can save to your profile. Then when you are ready to start your project, all the info is right there. Bonus: they have a mobile version of the website, so you can sit and crochet on the couch, without bothering to print out the instructions or pattern. That, paired with the user reviews has been very helpful. Some of the photos seem kind of dated, but you just have to imagine your creation in your choice of yarn and individual flare.

My friend applefritter sent me a link to the site CraftBits. They have all kinds of instructions for all types of crafts, but their crochet section is full of different ideas. I incorporated a poppy on this hat I made for my mother-in-law.

I will keep you posted on any other new projects I complete.

A Plethora of Pantone Products

Saw these two conceptual product ideas by Brazil-based artist Sao Paulo over on The Dieline:

I’ve seen other Pantone-inspired products before. I actually considered getting the Pantone cufflinks for Adam as a wedding gift. But he’s not really a cufflink kinda guy. But these got me wondering about what other Pantone-inspired  products are out there. So I hit up Google. The answer: PLENTY. Some are for real, some aren’t.  But I, for one, found them fun so I’m compiling ’em here for your viewing pleasure.

Pantone notepads

 

Pantone coffee cups

 

Pantone cufflinks

 

Pantone perch

 

Pantone folding chair

 

Pantone chair

 

Pantone paint job

 

Pantone spray paint

 

Pantone Rubix cube

 

Pantone Legos?

 

Pantone kicks

 

Pantone tote

 

Pantone aprons

 

Pantone plates and bowls

 

Pantone salt and pepper mills

 

Pantone kitchen canisters

 

Pantone chips

 

And there’s Pantone wall paint, Pantone oven mitts, Pantone cell phones… and, coming soon, Pantone purses! All this from a brand that started out selling color cards. Talk about a line extension.