Tag Archives: custom snowglobe

Not a Level Playing Field – football meets Escher waterglobe

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Not a Level Playing Field snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, Colorado

Ever heard the saying “it’s not a level playing field?”  I’m a football fan — don’t laugh, I swear it! And in recent years, the teams I’ve been following struggled. More than a little.

There’s not a lot of ways to put this nicely, but sometimes it just looks like we aren’t on the same page, or in the same book, or even in the same library. And boom goes the dynamite! What captures this season for me is how everyone is doing their job, doing what they should do and still … still … apparently not able to play the game as a team, as a unit. The quarterback throws on one plane, the wide receiver runs on another, linemen are upside down and sideways. Yep, looks familiar.

Why is it that some teams take a deep breath and think and act as a single entity, and others, full of heart and life and talent, can’t seem to find their way? Heck, if I knew that, I’d be coaching. For real.

I figure mixing M.C. Escher’s warped staircases and American football in a snow globe makes just about as much sense as our season.

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All images and designs copyright (c) Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, Colorado.

Radio Silence – vacuum tube waterglobe

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Radio Silence Snow Globe - Camryn Forrest Designs 2012A simple machine, or a curious invention, with a repurposed real radio vacuum tube as the focal point.

This tiny sculpture features a battered barrel of fuel, copper coils, measuring devices and assorted gears, bathed in a glittering shower of sooty dark dust when the globe is shaken. The custom base is wrapped with a canvas belt and rows of brass and metal details, and finished with a twine-tied corset closure.

As the title implies, it remains silent, but oh, the stories it could tell.

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Heart of Darkness waterglobe

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A dark heart emerges from the smoke and glitter, held firmly in the grasp of golden fingers. With heavy glittering dust in shades of charcoal and black, this globe becomes nearly opaque when shaken, and the hand and heart appear to rise slowly from the ashes as the smoky dust settles.

The sculpture moves between glimpses of hope, strength and darkness, as the solid hand and heart emerge triumphant from the swirling ashes.

Heart of Darkness snow globe, detail of hand

One of a kind, shakeable waterball (snow globe) with metal hand and support, grasping a glass heart with flecks of gold and black foil detail inside glass. Exterior base is wood, with aged paint detailing and hammered antique brass filigree embelleshments on each of 8 corners.

The artist, who is prone to terrible puns which only she finds amusing, respectfully requests silent acknowledgement for NOT calling this snow globe “50 Shakes of Gray.”

Time Warp distorted clockface water globe

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As Einstein said once, time is relative. He may have been talking about the physics of moving objects, but I think it applies to ripping open an envelope you’ve been waiting for with excitement, pacing the doctor’s waiting room, and to waiting in lines at an amusement park. It goes fast when you are having fun and slows down when you are waiting for something wonderful (or painful) to happen. Sometimes it seems minutes and hours just whiz by, and you don’t know where the time went. Anticipation, and fear, can make time feel warped and twisted.

“Time Warp” is a handmade liquid-filled snow globe with two clockfaces, back to back, and a few extra timepieces, including an hourglass thrown in for good measure. On the largest clockface, in front, tiny people figures ride the arms, count the minutes and wait. Time has warped and no longer has a point of reference for how much as passed. Instead of traditional snow, the liquid fills with a mixture of iridescent dust and silver numerals that have become separated from the clock, setting their own pace as they swirl and fall.

Perhaps one of these quotes applies to you:
“Time you enjoy wasting, is not wasted time.” – Marthe Troly-Curtin.
“Let’s do the Time Warp again.” – Rocky Horror Picture Show.

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.