Missed – The Empty Chair snow globe

Missed - Empty Chair Snow Globe, Camryn Forrest Designs, 2012

When people write a blog, sometimes they pour out their hearts to strangers, and tell you everything about how they think and feel.

For this snow globe, I can’t do that. You don’t get to know who inspired this, or why it moved me so. I can only say that I walked into a room once and saw an empty chair and thought, “You are missed.”

There is an emptiness and an ache when someone you love is no longer there, whether separated by miles, misunderstanding, or another type of finality. My heart grieves for those who are not  here with me, but whom I can still see when I close my eyes.

“You are missed.”

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Dances with Clouds – Balloonship snow globe

Where would you go, and how would you travel?

Dances With Clouds snow globe

Dances with Clouds … a battered airship carried by a hot air balloon, drifting high among the tatters and wisps of clouds. Sometimes you write a story and create artwork which illustrates the tale, enhancing the details.

And sometimes, as with “Dances with Clouds,” the artwork writes its own story without a word needed.

Sailing from one adventure and toward another, what story does it tell you?

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The Bomb (Hide in Plain Sight) snow globe

The Bomb snow globe

This snow globe is da bomb.

When I’m digging through a bin of costume jewelry at a thrift shop or yard sale, I don’t expect to find a tiny bomb among the rubble of rhinestones, silvertone seagulls and tarnished beads. But just like in real life, you never really know what’s around the corner, or lurking under those authentic “made in China” pukka shells. We don’t suspect a “bombshell” before it’s dropped in casual conversation. We don’t expect to go from digging for diamonds to dealing with destruction in a flash.

So this bomb is front and center in a snow globe, touched with a shimmer of dark dust, and surrounded by what may be harmless shapes: towers and cones and flying saucers, planets and satellites. The shape of the bomb is seductive, its pose is alert but inert. For now.

Do you prefer danger to be out of sight and out of mind, or to be hidden in plain view?

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Knight Moves — black snowstorm waterglobe

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  May we present to you, the elusive double snow globe. Inside the glass globe, with a curious tower of metal and glass, a tiny chess piece waits, wearing blinders made of watch gears. Rising in the globe is a second clear tube, filled with shimmering crushed crystals which are black as coal. When the waterglobe is shaken, a storm of black dust swirls in the liquid, but a second storm occurs inside the clear tube as the denser black pieces come to life within.

On the exterior of the tube, a knowing face smiles serenely, never betraying the secrets inside.

Knight Moves snow globe

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.