Category Archives: Uncategorized

Skating the Issue – custom snow globe

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Skating the Issue custom snow globeSkating the Issue custom snow globeA tiny Ferris wheel contraption with four antique brass roller skates instead of seating is enclosed in a glass globe with shimmering liquid, for those who like endlessly “skating the issue,” steampunk-style. It may have wheels, but this curious invention is going nowhere on purpose.

Now I know that “skirting the issue” reminds me of when someone wraps around a banquet table, ostensibly to cover up anything the guests don’t need to see, a place to tuck your problems, wires, empty dishes, etc. behind the curtain.

But what is “skating the issue?” I imagine it’s when the issue is like a spot of cracked, thin ice, and one skates around it, but tries ever so hard to avoid it. That of course, would involve ice skates, and these are old-fashioned four-wheeled roller skates, so the analogy doesn’t work at all. This waterglobe (or snow globe or waterball, if you must) does exactly what it is supposed to do.

Skirting, skating. You choose.

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Airship Voyager Water Globe

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Voyager Airship Snow Globe

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The funny thing about this snow globe is … I was trying to remake a particular favorite globe. It didn’t seem like such a big request, after all, I’d done it once before.

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So here is the globe I MEANT to re-make:

Airship Snow Globe

… and here is the globe I made instead. (I admit it: Not even close.)

On the other hand, sometimes the sequel IS better than the original. The biggest and most interesting difference (to me) is the attempt to weather the ship to show it had been places, seen things, survived adventures and come home to tell the tale. Paint and stain was used to indicate wear and tear, repairs and how the elements might affect an old airship through the years.

The original sculpture is tiny, as evidenced here before it was inserted into the glass globe and liquid. Yes, just over 2 inches.

Voyager Airship insert sculpture

When shaken, the snowglobe fills with glittering swirls of metallic (mainly gold) dust, which shimmers and floats very slowly to the base, creating an illusion of perhaps sailing in the clouds near sunset, or a world with industrial smoke and residue.

Detail of the waterglobe (snowglobe), showing the propellers on the nose of ship, followed by the tail view, as the ship sails off to a new adventure.

Rain Gear Water Globe

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It’s not a snow globe, it’s a rain globe.

I love the jaunty little step inside this globe, an example of the materials leading me to the design and not the other way around.

It started with the desire for a parasol. A real one, Victorian and lacy, which proved difficult to find except for bridal designs with floral lace, which wasn’t the edgy direction I wanted. So I started thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to get an umbrella, and then cut circles in the fabric, and fill them in with another pattern? Maybe I could crochet gears and make it more steampunk? (Wait, are crocheted gears even legal?) Never mind that I haven’t crocheted in years, and never crocheted with much success (although that yellow yarn halter was pretty cute until it shrunk after I ran through the sprinkler.) I could see this perfect parasol, with gear shapes instead of lace roses, it was going to be a stunner. That is, of course, once I acquired the parasol, cut it up, taught myself to crochet gears and affixed them perfectly. (Note to self: don’t use real metal gears on an umbrella skeleton, way too heavy.)

And then I got what can only be described as a hankering. More than a whim. Greater than an inspiration. It rumbled up from somewhere unexpected. A deep desire to make an umbrella of watch gears. To have real gears create the lace effect I wanted in real life. I got right to work, making the tiny skeleton of the parasol with six crossed pieces of gold wire. Then I began to fill the empty spaces between the ribs with tiny watch parts, watching as the illusion of lace appeared in the tiny frame. I loved it.

Then I stalled.  Completely. I loved the arching lacy gear top, but when I added a proper umbrella handle, it was just boring. Oh, hey, here’s a tiny umbrella.  Meh.

I set it aside and kept coming back to it every week or so, picking up the perfect lacy hemisphere and trying different parasol handles. I carved them out of wood, I twisted bits of metal, I adapted cocktail stirrers. Nothing looked right. I went on to other work, notably a sculpture with the working title of “I Love Shoe” … which was a haphazard and amusing (to me) piece made entirely of miniature shoes. And boots. Wait. Boots.

Bingo. I dug around for the tiniest pair of metal galoshes, rain boots that were looking for a purpose in life. Waiting patiently for their turn to shine and determined to make the most of it. The boots reminded me of a rainy afternoon decades before, I recalled taking my niece out once, splashing happily in the gutters during a rainstorm. Her joyous face at being allowed, no encouraged, to splash in the puddles. And in a happy inspiration, the Rain Gear sculpture took shape, with dangling robotic legs that reminded me of a Star Wars All Terrain Scout (the two-legged walker), and no torso or body whatsoever, just a happy pair of galoshes stomping in the rain with a lacy gear parasol overseeing the parade.

Yes, yes, I know. Technical purists note this is not a working robot: I didn’t add the guts, there’s no machine to make it walk, no artificially intelligent brain to tell the  crazy legs to do. There’s no basis in science, no mechanical reality. What can it do? I tell you, it’s pretty cool: every time I look at that brainless, carefree happy step, it makes me smile.

There’s no snow in this one,

it has iridescent dust,

silver sparkles and a

sprinkle of iridescent dots,

to catch the light

like a clean fresh rain.

It’s a Tesla Thing – waterglobe

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I don’t know why I feel guilty, but I do: I had never heard of Nikola Tesla until years after I graduated college. How can that be? How does one learn that Ben Franklin invented electricity, Marconi invented the radio, and Thomas Edison invented the electric lightbulb and apparently everything else? Not a word about anyone else’s contributions.

Until one day, I asked someone to give me ideas for a gift and he wanted an out of print Tesla book. A what? Who?

And so my education began. Once upon a time, there was a brilliant man named Nikola Tesla …

Not only have I read up a bit (not everything of course, and I don’t understand all that I HAVE read) on this fascinating, under-appreciated and important man, but I have also begun to appreciate Tesla’s scientific work for its artistic quality as well as his contributions to our life today and for the future. There is so much balance and excitement and energy (no pun intended) in the devices he created and used.

So I have created several snowglobes with Tesla themes, often using the Tesla coil as a starting point to develop a tiny sculpture. This is one of the waterglobes with a Tesla coil – liberties taken – enclosed inside.

Recently, someone asked me what I was working on in my studio these days, and I said casually, “Oh, it’s a Tesla thing.” And my friend said “what? who?” and I realized it was my turn to tell someone else what we had missed in school.  And so, this globe was named.

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If you’d like to comment, please use the box below. If you’d like to tell me that Ben Franklin didn’t invent electricity, that’s cool, too.

Point of View (snowglobe)

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Point of View  is a one of a kind custom snow globe with a nod to the drawings of M.C. Escher — only it’s in 3-D.

While Escher used carefully drawn angles and tricks with perspective to create impossible structures in which people marched endlessly — defying gravity — in a snow globe, I realized an artist has no limitations imposed by the laws of physics. The impossible becomes reality. When you make art, you can make your own rules.

On a tiny custom staircase, determined human figures march upward, downward, sideways and in their own plane and space; if you turn the globe upside down, or on its side, you’ll see the tiny world from a different “Point of View.” One lone gentleman sits atop his staircase, perhaps pondering which way to go.

The one-of-a-kind snow globe is finished with an engraved plate (black over brass) and the title, affixed to the black base. When shaken, a light shimmer of gold dust changes the scene, and settles again, outlining the planes and edges of each stair.

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Leave a comment and let us know your perspective on “Point of View.”

That’s just so … cool!

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Tesla Coil model in snowglobe

It’s been a crazy May and starting out to be a crazy/fun June. I am starting to see signs that July could be off the charts.

Time to take a moment and thank a few folks for recent mentions in columns and blogs, or for otherwise assisting Camryn Forrest Designs in getting the snowglobe artwork out to be seen by people who might enjoy it.

Here are some recent mentions and features on the snowglobes I enjoy making:

If It’s Hip, It’s Here  http://ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com/2012/06/steampunk-snow-globes-by-camryn-forrest.html

I heard from many readers of this site, who discovered my artwork through “If it’s hip, it’s here …”   Very fun!

Illuminati Watcher   http://illuminatiwatcher.com/?p=2575

Note: You called my steampunk snowglobes “badass” and I thought it was great!

The Trend Hunter (trendhunter.com)   http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/camryn-forest-designs-steampunk-snowglobe

Thanks for the feature article and all the great photos!

Clockwork Alchemy (www.clockworkalchemy.com) part of Fanime (www.fanimecon.com)

http://www.clockworkalchemy.com/artists_bazaar_list.html

Thanks to all the jury members who agreed that snow globes were art, and invited me into the Clockwork Alchemy show. Special shout-out to Sandra Forrer, who ran the artists bazaar and was absolutely incredible about communicating with all of us. Bravo! (And she has the most amazing steampunk wardrobe, as well. Color me jealous: a new outfit every day for four days, including steampunk belly dancer.)

Epbot (www.epbot.com) Geekery, Girliness and Goofing Off   http://www.epbot.com/2012/05/saturday-steam-52612.html

Many thanks for including Camryn Forrest Designs in your Saturday Steam section. As a fan of Epbot, it was a huge thrill to see my work on your site!  Double thanks for the unrelated “how to create a patina” tutorial that I found useful for a particular project. Your timing was impeccable.

Tampa Steampunk  http://tampasteampunk.tumblr.com/post/23868973419/check-out-these-amazing-steampunk-sculptures-built

I’m just awed that you found my globes! Hope I can get out to a Tampa-area con in the future.

In the meantime, all of you ROCK!  Keep on shaking!

 

Tell us what you think in the comment section below.