Tag Archives: custom snow globe

Where Love Grows

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Roots and branches, leaves and seeds.

In this leafless tree, a golden heart is held aloft by gentle arms and a sturdy trunk. Love grows where stories are told, and where people share laughter, where they hold each other and promise the pain will go away. And it will.

Wrapped along the base, a series of spaced brass rivets marches, teased by random, unmeasured leaves.

Where does love grow? Everywhere, anywhere … spring comes again.

“Where Love Grows” one of a kind snow globe (water globe) by Camryn Forrest Designs. All images copyright (c) 2013 Camryn Forrest Designs.

Work in Progress (Heart) snow globe

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“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

–          The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupéry

“The Heart wants what it wants – or else it does not care.”

–          Emily Dickinson

 Work in Progress Heart snow globe

The workings of the heart remain a mystery. It dips and swims with swirling emotion, it aches for what it cannot have, and grieves for what is lost. The heart dreams of better days. The heart is selfish, and can be self-less. We want for ourselves, and wish even more for those we love.

Unseen by all but those who know us best, the heart carries scars and patches from battles, the repairs, the mending, the work-arounds. It is resilient.

The mythical source of love, emotion, kindness and desire, the heart is always a work in progress.

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Launch Party – A Rocket Snow Globe

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Imagine this: a small crowd gathers to see a rocket launch. Dressed in their travel finest, they prepare to be amazed, and perhaps to applaud politely as the rocket lifts off into a grand adventure.

Is it a manned ship, or just a test? Will the soft breeze of a lady’s fan protect her from the afterburn? Or is this launch party just for show?

Three, two, one … we’ll soon find out.

Launch Party snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs 2013

Inspired by Nikola Tesla – Fate Magazine 1949

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Tesla Article 1949 In the fall of 2012, I was fortunate to find a copy of a 1949 issue of Fate magazine, which began publishing in 1948 as a magazine chronicling the paranormal as well as scientific discoveries.

While the 1949 issue is no longer in print (and I was lucky to find a copy), Fate magazine still exists and is published as an online publication which can be found here: http://www.fatemag.com/

For those of us fascinated by Nikola Tesla, this particular issue included an article which begins like this:       “Contemporary with Edison was another inventor, not so well known, but of the two, the more spectacular. This was Nikola Tesla … ”

As Tesla died in 1943, it intrigued me that he was not well-known at the time of his death, despite his contributions to technology (more than 300 patents, some suspected to be still languishing untested in patent archives). My original copy of Fate magazine was given as a gift (to the person who first introduced Tesla to me), but as many people asked to read it, I scanned the article before gifting. I hope you enjoy it.

And for anyone who expected this blog post to be about my curious snow globes, as is typical, scroll to the very bottom of the page for a small gallery of sculptures inspired by Tesla’s inventions. And to the most recent email inquiry: No, these are NOT working miniature Tesla coils. Nice try. I don’t know what Nikola would think of building an electromagnetic coil inside a 4-inch tall liquid-filled glass orb, but I am pretty sure it’s beyond my technical abilities.

Tesla Article 1949

Tesla Article 1949

Tesla Article 1949

Tesla Article 1949

Tesla Article 1949

While Tesla has been credited with the invention of a machine that harnessed a mechanism for generating tremendous electrical force, known either as the peace ray or the death ray, depending on your point of view, he also designed and demonstrated a number of inventions typically called “Tesla Coils.” Tesla coils were used to conduct innovative experiments in electrical lighting, high frequency alternating current and transmission of energy without wires. The design of these coils has inspired several of my one-of-a-kind snow globes, which — when shaken — vaguely suggest the power of electrical force through reflective glitter and metal pieces shimmering in liquid.

Tesla Snow Globe

Tesla’s Workshop, one of a kind snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs, 2012

Tesla Thing snow globe

It’s a Tesla Thing, one of a kind snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs, 2012

Tesla Mends a Broken Heart

Tesla Mends a Broken Heart, snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs, 2012

Tesla Copper Coil snow globe

Tesla Copper Coil sculpture snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs, 2012

Tesla Chained snow globe

Tesla Chained snow globe sculpture, Camryn Forrest Designs 2012

Listen … (Heart of Gold) snow globe

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Listen Snow Globe, Camryn Forrest Designs 2012

   Listen …

Such a simple idea and yet so hard to focus on just one voice,
especially when it’s your own.

This piece took shape under its own power …
I wanted to combine the gramophone horn and the fragile glass heart.
Originally I had the idea of this piece whispering,
“My Heart Calls to You … Listen.”

But as I put the pieces together and looked at it from various angles, it seemed less and less about one person calling to another.  I thought, I waited and I listened, and I quietly edited “My Heart Calls To You.”

Finally, there was little was left from the original phrase, just one word: Listen.

Sometimes it’s the quietest voice that is most important.

Tesla’s Workshop, Snow Globe Style

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Tesla Snow Globe, Camryn Forrest Designs 2012I was looking for  a particular photo to explain how this snow globe, “Tesla’s Workshop,” came to be.  When I was introduced to Mr. Tesla, far too late in my life for any reasonable explanation, I was fascinated with the Tesla coil and alternating current and how Tesla generated energy. Or managed it, directed it, whatever it is he did.

And I found this blog that summed up a lot of stuff:

Nikola Tesla is Better Than You
Here’s Why

If you’ve never heard of Tesla, that will give you a taste. Not the deep down scientific awesomeness that is so significant my head hurts just trying to grasp his genius, but enough to make you think: how come I don’t know more about this guy? I mean, he was BFFs with Mark Twain and all that.

I am hoping this blogger comes forward (unless I’m totally dense, I could not find his/her name on the piece), but you never know. The last entry was in fall of 2011. Makes me wonder. Will someone find THIS blog someday and be saying: Why did she quit writing? But for now, I write when it strikes me and the rest of the time I am either making snow globes — or making money to buy supplies. It’s a life.

But when I discovered Tesla, this image below intrigued me. I loved that at the turn of the century (the last one, in the early 1900’s) this man built these outrageous machines, spewing sparks and currents and man-made lightening, and pretty much cooking the bacon on your BLT before you could say How d’ ya do?  People must have been mystified and shocked to see such a thing, when they were still using candles and oil lamps half the time. But Tesla, he’s not impressed. He’s the honey-badger of science, just sitting in his workshop, reading the funny papers and not even noticing that the ceiling is a glittering outpost of electicity over his head. This is one calm dude.

Tesla in workshop

While I usually just make tiny “curious inventions” in my snow globes, I was struck by his focus and calmness (under fire), and I thought a fitting tribute was to add a tiny Tesla to my snow globe for perspective. Shake this globe and watch the sparks fly!