Art

Give Your Favorite Pop Icons the Finger... Puppet

Art | 22 August 2011

Looking for a little something to cheer you up? This ought to do the trick!

Abbey Hambright, or abbeychristine as she’s known to the crafting world, has created the cutest, coolest and most brilliant felt puppets to help you get your favorite pop culture icons wrapped around your finger. Starting in 2005, Abbey’s clever (and might I add, quite thoughtful) idea to make finger puppets for her nephew’s third birthday sparked a charming new project, and lucky for the rest of us, she decided to share it with the world!

Abbey’s finger puppets are inspired by big names from every platform of prominence, from music to TV to philosophy, and all the way to the White House. Some of you may also notice a particularly special affinity for Wes Anderson…

AND, not only are they adorable and entertaining, they’re also eco-friendly! Every little guy and gal is crafted from 100% recycled Eco-fi polyester felt created from discarded plastic bottles. See? Recycling can be good for the world and the soul!

Check out some of the famous faces who’ve made their felt debuts (I dare you not to smile):

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Bob Ross

Clockwise from top left: Harold & Maude, Frida Kahlo, Johnny Cash, Omar (The Wire), and Steve Martin

Lloyd Dobler (Say Anything)

Pee Wee Herman, Larry David, and The Royal Tenenbaums

All of the little fellows above can be purchased online from her Etsy shop or Renegade Handmade; though, if you’re lucky enough to live nearby these retailers, you can meet them in person. They tend to run around $17.00, give or take, so this is a totally realistic gift idea (even if it is a gift from you, to you…).

As if that first helping wasn’t enough, I found my way to her facebook page, where I found loads more of her adorable creations from times past. AND I learned that she does custom orders, which is how a lot of the little guys below were born. So, if you want to get really creative for your next present-giving occasion, Abbey suggests:

“What could be better than that special somebody made felty and 4″ tall with a neck-less bullet-shaped body?!”

Amen, sister.

Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie), John and Yoko, Raphie (A Christmas Story), Martha Stewart, Charles Darwin, Allen Ginsberg

The Breakfast Club, Flight of the Conchords, Harry Potter, NKOTB, Obama, and Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

(images courtesy of Etsy and facebook)

“There’s something magical about a still photograph – a captured moment in time – that can simultaneously exist outside the fraction of a second the shutter captures.”

Known as cinemagraphs, these incredible photographs are a blend of still images and video, bringing to life a single moment captured in time.

The first true cinemagraphs were created by New York fashion photographer Jamie Beck, who worked with motion graphics designer Kevin Burg to bring her images to life. She posted them on her tumblr, From Me To You, and since then artists all over the world have been creating cinemagraphs of their own.

Check out some in the amazing images below.

Want to see more? Check out even more cinemagraphs at Tripwire Magazine, diegoguevara.com, dailypicksandflicks.com, and flickr.com/groups/cinemagraphs.

For all you Photoshop techies out there, here’s a great tutorial on how to make your own cinemagraph!

(Info and quotes courtesy of tripwiremagazine.com and pouryourheart.com. Pics courtesy of above-listed sites.)

I’ve always loved the way a shelf full of books looks on a wall, but I’d never dreamt it could look this cool:

Los Angeles artist Mike Stilkey has been hitting the books… on the spine… with a combination of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer. SO cool! He describes his work as “melancholic and at times a whimsical cast of characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales.” It seems fitting that such fantastical inspiration should come to life on top of stacks of old books filled with stories of their own.

I love the third dimenson of this one!

In a press release for a recent exhibit at the Rice Gallery, Stilkey explained what drew him to the old books, and how they sparked this creative idea:

“… sometimes by the title, or more the look of it, the antiqueness of it, or the wear and tear of it. Sometimes there’s a weird illustration. I’ve got these books and I’ll never read them, but I want them for some reason and I’ve never known why. And then I started drawing on them.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

I am constantly looking for new art inspirations for myself, as well as my tumblr, and Niky Roehreke’s work is my favorite so far. I had seen her work before, I own a Japanese Nylon that she did the cover art for, but had never really looked into her illustrations until a couple weeks ago. She is a master of incorporating typography and symmetry into her amazing pencil and watercolor pieces, making every work more captivating then the next.

Recently she was hired by WILD magazine to do some illustrations for London Fashion Week A/w 2011 collections, which are by far some of my favorites of her work. Check ‘em out below.

Of all the films in all the film classes I’ve taken over the years, the first movie that, well, moved me to run home and click “buy now” was Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know. After a few hilarious, yet touching, clips (“Back and Forth Forever” is a delightfully inappropriate highlight-NSFW, just so you know), I was almost embarassed to laugh, but I knew I had to see the rest of this story unfold.

I was expecting a quirky comedy, and it definitely has a few laughs, but to be more accurate: it’s odd, a little bit uncomfortable, but it all feels so genuine and real. I kind of loved it. So when I saw her on the cover of The New York Times Magazine recently, I was thrilled to see her back on the scene, and toting her sophomore film debut, The Future. So far, it’s a hit among the critics, and it’s just recently had a limited release to theatres, so a lucky few of you may have a chance to see it on the big screen (and if you just so happen to be touring European film festivals, you’re in luck!).

The Future has been described in the New York Times as “more controlled”, “tighter than the
free-ranging Me and You but also more mature and tonally darker”, and the artist herself said she was “feeling older and less rainbow colored.” From the looks of the trailer, I just want to see it!

I was even more interested, and honestly, not horrible surprised, to find that Miranda July has almost as many haters as she does fans. To be fair, her art is something that not everybody “gets”, and I don’t always get it myself… A jack of many trades, she is also an accomplished performance artist, writer, and has made quite a few short films and art installations, as well as some web-based projects that I can’t even begin to describe.

Check out some of her work, and you’ll understand why the tagline for the aptly titled article, “Miranda July is Totally Not Kidding” says, “She is one of the most talented filmmakers of her generation. She is one of the most aggravating filmmakers of her generation. Could both of these statements be true?”

At the end of the day, I don’t pretend to “get” it all, but I do have immense respect for a woman with such a fearless attitude, who has to know that most people aren’t going to understand her vision, but would never let a silly thing like doubt stand in her way.

Did you see these?

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