Grow Old With Me (sparkle water globe)

April 18, 2014 by camryn forrest

A wisp of a lyric, written on the wind, “Grow old with me, the best is yet to be.”

– John Lennon and Robert Browning had the same idea.

Along those simple lines, a snow globe holds a couple of indeterminate age, holding each other as the world swirls round them.

Shake the globe and the liquid fills with glittering sparkles of gold; each tiny star a memory, each memory a brick in the life that’s built together.

Grow Old With Me, snow globe by Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, CO

detail: Grow Old With Me, snow globe by Camryn Forrest Designs, Denver, CO

Below the Storm – Submarine Snow Globe

April 14, 2014 by camryn forrest

What if someone was diving who did not know that all kinds of storm was raging above? Swimming, as it were, Below the Storm.

This piece is just that: the quiet calm place below the storm, where we explore and delve into mysteries of the deep.

One of a kind snow globe, with leather-wrapped base showcasing brass porthole windows backed with real mica leaves.

Below the Storm snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs 2014

detail Below the Storm snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs 2014

Random Thoughts — snow globe

January 20, 2014 by camryn forrest

Yeah, it’s like that.
Random. Thoughts. People say, how do you come up with these ideas, and I have to make up an answer. Are they saying I’m a little “out there?” or is that a compliment? The truth is, I don’t “come up” with thoughts, so much as I feel bombarded with thoughts. Rapid fire ideas zipping in and out of my head. Bing! Bang! Boom! Zip!

I sit at my workbench and I have a sketchy list in mind. To do. List. What was I going to work on? Yeah, “Tesla Mends a Broken Heart” … I started that piece. Special request. It’s been months, hasn’t it? Where is it? And that lady dancing. Nah, I don’t like the guy in the tuxedo with her, I want her dancing with a bear. Black bear, not grizzly. Black bears are omnivores, meaning they are mostly vegetarian but they’ll dine on roadkill if it’s convenient. Didn’t I have a bear around here somewhere, ready to go? Oh, wow, look! The Nautilus, that’s right. I was making another steampunk submarine. That nose cone looks like it needs whittling, the proportion is off. And this space is getting crowded. What’s this? Right, Da Vinci’s prairie dog. He’s got spunk. I have to get working on those wings, that is going to be so … wait … Okay. Stop it. Now pay attention. Armoured heart. You were going to finish the support on Armoured Heart. It looked a little heavy last time, and you were going to add support. Hmmm, maybe should call it, “Protect this Heart” … is that too obvious? An armoured heart is a strong heart, a warrior heart … oooh! Warrior Heart, now THERE’s an idea. I should make a Warrior Heart … what was that song? Love is a Battlefield? who was that, Pat Benatar? Some eighties warbler. It wasn’t Debbie Harry, not Stevie Nicks. Probably … Should my dancing lady and her bear be atop a heart? Is that cliche or out of the box?

And that poem I was working on, “I live in a cave that is under the sea …” that would make such a neat globe … “Locked in a Room that Has no Key…” Hmmm, a lot going one, hard to get inside a small space, “Hidden in Darkness you Cannot See“ … darkness, really hard to show … “if you Really Loved Me, you’d Find Me.“ Can I even fit that on an engraved plate? I mean, it’s a LOT of words … and cave, sea, room, lock … that’s a lot. Why does that remind me of that dragonfly globe from last spring? You didn’t know if the show director meant dragons who fly, or the insect dragonfly. It was a 50/50 call. It — the insect – came out pretty good — maybe you could do a better one now, filigree wings and … wings, yeah, back to Da Vinci’s prairie dog. He needs wings. Mechanical wings. Some kind of harness. Da Vinci used a leather ball joint on his wings, what would work in 1/144 scale, more or less? Size of a pinhead? Remember that saying about angels dancing on the head of a pin? That would be cool, angels dancing … where IS that dancing lady I was going to put with the bear? Is it under my journal? What was that idea that woke me up last night because I had to write it down, anyway. So middle-of-the-night important! I hope I can read it.

Here it is: Last entry. Gray Minds Think Alike… No, that was last week, skim a few more pages. All Roads Lead Home? Nope, keep going. Right Heart, Wrong Time. That’s an interesting thought. Wonder what I was going for there? Hmmmm, Friction Makes Sparks, and then, in lower case: the road less oiled, A call to Arms. A blank page. The Apology. The Button Pusher. Dancing on Clouds. Another blank page. Then a sketch: Safety Hat. Safety Hat? What was that about? There are tiny men holding a top hat like a fireman’s net. Oh, okay. Middle of the night random thought.

Yeah, it’s like that.

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I made this snowglobe just for fun: it’s what I imagine it looks like inside my brain some days. The entire sculpture is less than 3 inches tall – and even though I made it, I still find things there I’d forgotten. The Where’s Waldo of snow globes. Hey, Where’s Waldo? that’s a thought …

Random Thoughts Snowglobe Detail, Camryn Forrest Designs 2014

Random Thoughts Snowglobe, Camryn Forrest Designs 2014

Citrus Sky (beaded water globe)

November 5, 2013 by camryn forrest

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.

Citrus Sky custom snow globe, Camryn Forrest Designs, 2013

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.

Too Big for his Bridges – snow globe

August 25, 2013 by camryn forrest

There once was a man too big for his bridges … Yes, yes, I know that’s not how the story goes, but it’s how this one is told.

When I first heard this phrase — or thought I’d mis-heard it, actually — I stopped the teller and said, “don’t you mean, too big for his britches?”

And the storyteller looked at me sadly as one does with an ignorant guest and said firmly “bridges.”

I persisted, of course. “It’s britches, like pants, you know? He was too big for his pants. He got so big, he couldn’t get his britches on right.”

A sigh and a sad little smile were directed toward me with barely contained exasperation, “No, it’s bridges. When you are too big for your bridges, you start thinking yourself superior to everybody and you lose your bridges: your connections. You have no friends, no family, no relationships all because you are too big for your bridges. You can’t get from here to there without bridges, and bridges are all the people who can help you when there’s a challenge ahead.”

Well, I’m here to tell you, that started to make sense. And just because I heard a phrase one way up until this conversation, and then heard it another way for the first time, I suppose it doesn’t automatically make me right.

But it did make an interesting little waterball sculpture.

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“Too Big for His Bridges” one of a kind snow globe/waterglobe, (c) Camryn Forrest Designs, 2013

Waiting for Instructions (Don’t Wait!)

August 23, 2013 by camryn forrest

Guilty.

Sometimes I just sit around waiting for someone to tell me what to do. Waiting for a deadline to approach, or for the next big thing to hover over me like Godzilla before I’m forced to jump into action.

Worse, I see people who appear to be waiting their whole lives for a sign. Going through the motions, exerting the least effort possible to get by.

I don’t want to just “get by.” This is our opportunity to seize the moment, relish the experience, taste the chocolate, breathe deeply and live.

Hey, you out there waiting for instructions: it’s time to SHAKE THINGS UP! Make something happen. Don’t be a bystander in your own story. Take a chance, make a change.

Or as my brother said once, “Life. Be there.“

Camryn Forrest Designs

Waterglobes and Curious Inventions

Tag Archives: miniature sculpture