The Rubbery Mutants of Ji Yong Ho

Korean art Ji Yong Ho uses pieces of used tire to create rubbery artworks he refers to as mutants.

You’ve definitely seen tire sculptures before, and I posted some cool photos, a while back, but now, I can finally associate these recycled masterpieces with a name. And that name is Ji Yong Ho, a talented artists who likes to show the material’s possible mutations.

Ji Yong Ho wants to show tires, which are made from natural rubber liquids, pass through several stages, but can also be reborn as a whole new other form of life. His new creations are mutants of the original rubber. His works vary from an 11-inch-tall dog to a 10-foot long shark.

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Human Ivory Jewelry Is Pretty Original

Rachel Betty Case uses finger and toe nail clippings to create cool jewelry she refers to as Human Ivory.

The artist acknowledges nails are neither bones nor teeth, but that hasn’t stopped her from comparing them to precious ivory. She uses clipped nails, resin and amber to create bizarre unisex jewelry that make perfect gifts for offbeat people.

Rachel doesn’t claim her artworks are made of real ivory, she uses the term Human Ivory, because she gets her main material (nails) from humans, and her designs have an ivory color. You can check out the rest of her works by visiting her Etsy shop or by going t her appropriately named website, ThatWomanMakesCrazyArt.com. Keep in mind you can send her your own nails, if you want to.

via StreetAnatomy

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Best Food Cakes EVER

You’ve probably seen cool cakes before, but as far as cakes-shaped-like-other-foods go, these are by far the most awesome I’ve ever seen.

Debbie Goard has almost 20 years of decorating behind her, and it’s this vast experience that helps her design the most incredible cakes most of us have ever seen. She does all kinds of designs, but I was particularly impressed by her food cakes that look just like the dishes they’re trying to mimic.

The perfect steak you see below is just one of the sweet wonders Debbie has created over the years, but there are other jaw-dropping masterpieces, including that awesome slab of bacon. That thing should be framed and posted on a wall of fame, or something.

Check out more of Debbie’s cakes on her Flickr profile and feel free to read more about her work, and even order cakes and cupcakes from on delicious-looking website.

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Plastic Cutlery Sculptures by Sayaka Ganz

Things don’t get much boring than plastic cutlery items, but put them together like Sayaka Ganz, and you can call yourself a very talented artist. And for good reason, too.

33-year-old Sayaka Ganz, from Indiana, USA, collects most of her working material from dustbins and charity shops, and the rest is donated by friends and family. The young artist uses all sorts of plastic junk, from cutlery to sunglasses and baskets, and sorts them into 20 different color groups.

Then she meticulously ties every useless piece of plastic to a wire frame, until she achieves the shape she first envisioned. Sayaka Ganz’s works range from 18 inches to 8 feet long and the most complicated ones take up to a month to finish and contain 500 pieces. Still her efforts pay off, considering some of her plastic artworks have sold for as much as $12,000.

Photos via SayakaGanz.com

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‘Makeup Girl’ Is a Living, Breathing Painting

Looks like a real nice late 19th century painting, doesn’t it? But in reality, it’s a real girl wearing body-paint, and standing against a painted background.

Makeup Girl‘ is a very clever advertisement spotted, and photographed by Peter Kun Frary,  in front of a MAC cosmetics shop, in Hawaii. The girl is a really well painted model, posing against a painted background. Now, you might think she’s naked, but she is wearing strips of cloth in all the right places.

I must say the artist did a banged-up job on this one, and credit goes to the real-life ‘Makeup Girl‘ who kept a still pose and hardly ever blinked.

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Cheetos Portrait of Conan O’Brien

Apparently, this video has been on the internet since late last year, but for some reason I’ve never heard about it. Better late than never, I guess.

Colorado Springs-based artist Jaon Baalman used over 50 bags of Cheetos to create an ultra-realistic portrait of popular TV-show host Conan O’Brien. Young Jason used Regular, Flamin’ Hot and Natural Cheetos to complete his work, and in some places used two, three layers, to give it the needed depth.

The edible portrait, made out of over 2000 individual Cheetos was supposed to be presented to Conan O’Brien himself, in December of last year, but the artist and his work fell victim to the whole Late Night Show circus, at NBC.

Well, I know it’s not the same, but Jason Baalman gets two thumbs up from me. Make sure you watch the making-of video, at the bottom.

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The Mysterious Sculptures of William Ricketts Sanctuary

Hidden deep in an Australian rainforest, the clay sculptures of William Ricketts express the Aborigines’ deep connection with Mother Nature.

Born in 1898, William Ricketts was an Australian sculptor and potter who developed a spiritual bond with the Aboriginal people of Central Australia. The time he spent with them, between 1949 and 1960 inspired his works in Potter’s Sanctuary (now known as William Ricketts Sanctuary).

The 92 intricate ceramic sculptures placed along the passageways seem as they are merging with the surrounding plant-life, thus expressing the strong bond Aborigines have always had with nature. Designed as a place where man’s spirit becomes one with nature, William Ricketts Sanctuary inspires us all to protect Mother Nature instead of constantly exploiting her.

William Ricketts spent most of his life in this sanctuary, located on Mount Dandenong, near Olinda, and died here, in 1993, at the age of 94.

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Crochetdermy Beats Taxidermy Any Day

Why kill an animal and have it stuffed with straw and stuff, when you van have artist Shauna Richardson crochet you the best trophy head you could ever dream of?

Shauna Richardson is a true crochetdermy expert. What is crochetdermy, you ask? Well it’s kind of like taxidermy, only without the dead animals. The UK based artist uses coarse wools like mohair, and glass eyes to create animal models and hunting trophies. She uses a single color and only one type of stitch for an entire crochetdermy model, changing the direction of the stitches to highlight certain anatomical features. She works with a single 3mm hook.

Although it takes Shauna over a month to complete one of her crochetdermy masterpieces, the end result is definitely worth the effort.

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The Unique Chandeliers of Hans van Bentem

The chandeliers designed by Dutch artist Hans van Bentem are anything but ordinary, taking all kinds of weird shapes, like skulls, revolvers or airplanes. But that’s exactly what makes the special.

Everyone who has set eyes on van Bentem’s glittering masterpieces, from celebrities to members of royal families, have fallen in love with them. Madanna ordered a revolver-shaped crystal chandelier designed by Hans van Bentem, to be hung somewhere in her house.

The artist claims he finds inspiration for his work in everything around him, from culture, to history or the daily news. Thus he manages to take classic crystal chandeliers and, while maintaining their beauty, transforms them into something “contemporary and meaningful.”

The smallest of Hans van Bentem’s chandeliers costs around $23,500, but the larger custom models reach the hundreds-of-thousands level. Every one of them is hand-crafted by Czech chandelier-makers, from diamond-shaped crystal beads, according to van Bentem’s design.

Photos by HANS VAN BENTEM/CATERS NEWS

via Telegraph.co.uk

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The Salt Labyrinths of Motoi Yamamoto

A former dockyard worker, Motoi Yamamoto is now one of Japan’s most talented artists, known all over the world for his intricate artworks, made of salt.

His working with this unusual medium was caused by the death of his younger sister, back in 1994. Mr. Yamamoto says that by working with free-form salt he is able to touch precious memories from the time his sister was alive, something he just can’t do by simply looking at pictures or reading a diary.

Some of his most amazing works are the intricate salt labyrinths. When he’s creating them, Motoi Yamamoto feels like he is following a trace of his memory that he can only reach when the work is completed. He stands in a cross-leg position for hours-on0end carefully laying the lines of salt, until he reaches the essential point in his memories.

Salt plays an important role in many cultures Like Hinduism or Japanese Shinto. Motoi Yamamoto uses salt as a life-giving substance, so after his art installations are no longer exhibited, he insists the salt be thrown back into the ocean so it can continue its path.

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Joana Vasconcelos’ Stainless Steel Pot Shoes

One of the most original and well-executed artworks I’ve seen lately, Joana Vasconcelos “Marylin” will be auctioned off on Tuesday, at Christie’s, in London.

Made out of hundreds of stainless steel pans and covers, Marylin was inspired by the high-heel shoes worn by Marylin Monroe in the infamous clip from “The Seven Year Itch”, when the blond bombshell walks over an air-vent.

Through her stainless steel work of art, Joana Vasconcelos points out that modern-day women are expected to look beautiful in public, and do all the work around the house. Despite the seemingly feminist message, Ms. Vasconcelos is actually an advocate for equal human rights.

The 13ft by 9.8ft stainless steel pan Marylin is expected to sell for a sum between $155,000 and $233,550.

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The Detroit Ice House

Unless you live in Detroit, you might not have heard about the Ice House Project, but it has really been the talk of the town for the last couple of weeks.

Architect Matthew Radune and photographer Gregory Holm, both living in New York, decided it would be a great idea to create an ice-covered home as an art installation. The idea came to Matthew when he laid eyes on a photograph of a house wrapped in a frozen waterfall.

And what better place for their artistic endeavor than Detroit, a city full of abandoned and foreclosed houses. They managed to convince Michigan Land Bank to let them borrow the abandoned house at 3926 McClellan. The building was scheduled for demolition, but Radune and Holm got it into a program that deconstructs and recycles materials. They also agreed to pay back taxes on a foreclosed house, so a single mother and her family could have a home. This was their gift to Detroit for allowing them to go on with their project.

Day and night the two watched over the house, constantly and stubbornly fighting Mother Nature, who alternated cold days with sunny ones that almost melted their Ice House. The whole thing cost around $15,000, most of which was raised through a donations website. This included the project licenses, the city water and hiring the police to cordon off the street for a few hours. The rest was just watching water ice-up and making shore passers by didn’t injure themselves on the ice.

On Saturday, Gregory Holm finally got the photo he wanted from the Detroit Ice House project, and they’ve stopped spraying it with water. But you can still admire it for a few days, until the sun melts it.

via

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The Creepy Accessories of Undead Ed

If you’re a fan of horror, monster and gore, then you are about to become a big fan of Undead Ed’s work.

There is a lot of disturbing stuff in Ed’s grave of goodies, on Etsy, but if you want to show the world what a hardcore horror fan you are, these freakish rings and bracelets are just what you’re looking for. They’re bloody, creepy, scary, in one word: perfect!

And if you want your toddler to share this disturbing theme, take a look at the cyclops stroller.

via SuperPunch

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The Origami of Mui-Ling Teh – the True Story in Her Own Words

23-year-old Mui-Ling Teh enjoys folding miniature origami creations and talking up close photos of them to tell a story. More information about her work is available at her online gallery where she sells cards, calendars and more items of her work. She also sells additional items at her Zazzle Store.

In February 2010, she was featured in a number of UK publications. However much of the published information and images were not as Mui-Ling had supplied. You can read the true story in her words ‘here

Photos copyright of Mui-Ling Teh

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The Stone-Encased Pain of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736-1783) was German-Austrian painter and sculptor most known for his series of canonical grimaces sculptures.

Messerschmidt’s character heads were inspired by the mysterious condition that forced the artist to leave the Vienna Academy of Arts. The undiagnosed digestive illness that caused Messerschmidt so much pain is today believed to have been Crohn’s disease. At one point, he came up with a series of pinches he would apply to his right lower rib. in order to take his mind off the pain.

Looking in the mirror while he was applying his pinches, and seeing his facial expressions, Messerschmidt decided to immortalize his pain in a series of sculptures. Thus, in 1781 Franz Xaver Messerschmidt started working on his famous character heads, using himself as a model.

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