The Fire Breather

I saw this young artist, Sam Wolfe Connelly, on one of my favorite websites and wanted to bring his many talents to your attention. A graduate of my favorite local art college, SCAD, I think he is going somewhere. Sam's edgy illustrative style reflects both talent and a need to express himself through his art. I'm looking forward to seeing where he goes with it.

And if you're thinking what I'm thinking...I'd love for him to add this piece to his Tee shirt line. There are a lot of flameworkers who would enjoy it.

Fire Breathing Art

There's just never enough fire breathing art in my opinion. You know, people who use torches have an affinity for flames. Especially 20' tall fire spewing robots with baby faces.

This is the "Giant Torayan" robot by Japanese artist, Kenji Yanobe. I love it.

This art piece moves in multiple places and has a ship's horn attached for loud blasts, which can be heard miles away. His chest compartment opens up and you can see little doll-like heads lined up inside.

Master craftsman Yanobe, who calls himself a welder, is known for his innovative and futuristic vision of art.

One of the online articles that I read about Yanobe, discussed that his work was part of the "Otaku Culture". Being inherently curious, I looked up that term and this is part of what the wiki said-
"In modern Japanese, the term "otaku" refers to any particular theme, topic or hobby. Common uses are anime otaku, cosplay otaku and manga otaku." Apparently the term sometimes has a bit of a negative connotation in Japan, so don't sling the word around, unless you are sure of yourself.

If you'd like to see more of Yanobe's far out, very cool art, just click here.

As for me, I'll be thinking about large fire breathing beads and how we can make them on the miniature scale. Wouldn't that be a trip?

See you tomorrow.

Glass Fire Breather Perfect for Valentines Day

This year, I wanted to design some different Valentines Day glass beads and sculptures. Yes, I'm sure the traditional hearts, flowers and chocolates will be good sellers, but as usual, I wanted to also offer something a little different.

Here is my first design. It's a Valentine Dragon. I'm going to make a variety of my little animals and creatures each with a heart. This one is sold already, but I've got another new dragon to list later today. She's periwinkle blue with green accents and a red heart. Rather cute, if I do say so myself. Look for other styles in the upcoming days. Nothing says "I love you" like a fire breather.

I saw these chocolate food charms with hearts on
another blog. (I wish I could remember where.) They didn't say who made them or where you could buy them, but they also seemed like a good inspiration for bead makers. They combine hearts and chocolates which has to be a good bet. It gives the holiday a little sweeter and they'd be cute year 'round too.

What are you offering for Valentines Day? I'd love to hear about it and feel free to add a link in your comment too.

Tomorrow, I should have some of my Key West photos downloaded and I'll tell you about my trip and some of the inspiration I found while there. It will be a chatty post, I'm sure. I'm still missing the warm, balmy weather since we returned to chilly Atlanta.