Hey.
You know who you are.
Custom Heart of Gold sparkle snowglobe, design and photographs copyright (c) Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, Colorado, 2013
Monthly Archives: November 2013
Oil and Water – or, Oil Well That Ends Well
Ooooh! It was a dark and stormy night. Mystery snow globe. A Black Snowstorm. A riddle: What’s thick and black and swirling with potential?
What? A steam-powered oil derrick? Isn’t that a contradiction, she asked, in a concerned voice. Or, maybe it’s deiselpunk, she offered helpfully.
It’s both, it’s neither, it’s not meant to be political commentary. It was just a passing thought — like asking a human to program a computer which will soon replace its job.
Was steam ever asked to help find the oil that would fuel combustible engines?
If you are looking for reality, you might have to look a little further down the road. Maybe even a different road. Steampunk is a fantasy bred of rethinking the past to create an alternate future; it’s not real life. And neither are steam-powered oil derricks. But I was enchanted with the idea of mixing it up, you know: Oil and Water.
From the land of pleasant contradictions and happy contrasts (with a sidetrip to the village of groan-able puns), I give you: Oil Well that Ends Well.
Oil Well That Ends Well, custom snow globe with miniature oil derrick “curious invention” in deep black sooty dust (when shaken) by Camryn Forrest Designs 2013. All designs and images copyright (c) 2013 Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, Colorado.
Waiting, Waiting for the Next Big Thing
If you’ve ever seen the amazing endless staircases drawn by M.C. Escher, you may have noted that just about everyone in them is busy going nowhere. Up the down staircase. Back where you started.
In this snow globe, it’s a different approach, but with a similar outcome. People with different perspectives waiting for The Next Big Thing. You know: That Thing that will make them special, or happy, or new and improved. Waiting for something to happen, or for someone to tell them what’s important.
Because sitting and waiting for something wonderful to happen isn’t all that different than running in place.
Patience may be a virtue, but it doesn’t make things happen.
“Waiting for the Next Big Thing” custom one of a kind snow globe with warped staircase and waiting people. All photos and designs copyright (c) 2013, Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, Colorado.
Citrus Sky (beaded water globe)
This juicy little snow globe is a departure from my curious inventions, vagabond airships, steampunk’d machines and endless Escher-esque staircases. It is simply a study in colors and shapes that I liked.
A friend invited me to attend a bead show with her some months ago, and I went because I love to see all the possibilities and how other people make things. The shapes, colors and textures were mesmerizing.
These particular pretty leaf or teardrop-shaped beads came in a multitude of colors, shades, details and delights.
I gathered handfuls from a container of mismatched beads (which I suspect fewer people wanted), letting loose beads spill back through my fingers. I filled a bag and sorted out the colors later to see what worked.
This piece reminds me of a citrus sky at dusk, with lime and moss and touches of aqua, and one bright blood-orange bead for a “pop of color” (as Stacy and Clinton used to say.)
I painted the wood base with a faux metal technique in the same greenish hues.
There’s no adventure to share, no story here, just an experiment in using different materials and introducing color into my water worlds. The brother and sister of “Citrus Sky” – respectively called “Fired Up” (reds and oranges) and “Remnants of the Glacier” (soft aquas, silvers and grays) found homes the first time they were displayed. These two sculptures were sold before photos were taken of the final pieces, but I still love looking at the rich colors of the unique beads as art rather than jewelry.
Custom beaded miniature sculptures and snow globes, designs and photos are copyright (c) Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, Colorado 2013.
Steampunk My Ride
Take one BIG-wheeled vintage bicycle and add a rider, gears, chains and mysterious mechanical modifications and you have a unique means of transportation, or as we like to call it: “Steampunk My Ride.”
Obviously, if BIG is good, then BIGGER is BETTER, so this Penny Farthing bike just kept getting modified until the rider seems nearly an afterthought. (This seems a bit like modern technology, where the Internet seems to think it can function without any human interference sometimes, we’re SUCH a bother to higher intelligence.)
One of a kind (ooak) water globe (or snow globe) featuring a modified “penny farthing” or old-fashioned big wheeled bicycle and tiny rider. When shaken, the interior sculpture shimmers with copper and metallic-colored micro-dust, which sparkles and slowly settles on the scene. The base is finished with a wrapped leather-look strip embellished with a swirl of brass rivets, mimicking the movement of the wheels and gears on the bike.
All designs and images are copyright (c) 2013 Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, Colorado.
Camryn Forrest Designs 