Coming Soon: Combat Garden Gnome Officer with Pistol!

Dawn. The morning sun peeks over the top of the distant, gently rolling hills to the East. The dew glistens in the golden light of early day. In the growing light, the silence is only broken by the occasional chirping bird.

The ball goes up. A shrill whistle. The distant thump of a field gun. The dogs of war unleashed, gnomes charge across the plain, shouting their ferocious battle cry amidst the din of staccato machine gun fire punctuated by mortar explosions and the massive "CRUMP" of an artillery shell. As the cacophony of combat reaches it's crescendo, one voice can be heard above it all, bellowing, "FOLLOW ME!"

Until now, my combat garden gnomes have been warriors without a leader. Gnome officer candidate school takes time, but I've finally come up with this guy:

A fearless leader at the forefront of any fight, I've sculpted him looking back over his shoulder and urging his troops forward.  I'm especially proud of the facial expression:

I'll be starting on the molds for this guy today and then I'll be offering up painted and unpainted copies in my etsy shop: http://etsy.com/shop/thorssoli

Stay tuned...

Gnomes Gnomes Gnomes!

A while back I posted a few of my Combat Garden Gnomes to sell on my Etsy shop:


It took quite a while to finally unload the dozen or so that I painted, but since the lase one sold I've gotten a steady stream of inquiries from folks asking for them.


I've listed a few more unpainted gnomes for sale, but I've also gone ahead and sculpted out a kneeling version:



I like him because he's much angrier than the standing version:



I've cast a few of these kneeling gnome riflemen, but on the last two days of the summer cruise with the sea scouts I also decided to go ahead and sculpt out a prone gnome rifleman as well.  Here's what the original sculpt looks like:








I'm about halfway done with the mold for the prone gnome and I've been stocking up on the other gnomes in my lineup so far:


As I've been getting them painted, I'm listing more gnomes on Etsy.  You can see what I've got available right now by clicking here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/thorssoli

The mold for the standing gnome has finally failed, so I'm re-sculpting one of the castings.  I'll be making changes to his facial expression and replacing his rope belt with a flat leather one.  If you're especially in love with the original version, the seven pictured above are the last seven from that mold.

While that's going on, I'll also be sculpting yet another combat garden gnome in a whole new pose.

Stay tuned...

Bliss at Night

Saturday night I was staying with my cousin Desmond and his family out on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay.  After dinner we stopped to check out the statue titled "Bliss Dance" which was created for Burning Man last year.  The statue was fabricated in an artist workshop on Treasure Island and, after her appearance at the Burning Man festival, was installed on one of the open fields on the island back in late May.


The installation is impressive.  Here's a wide angle shot to give you an idea of the scale:



The installation includes an impressive lighting array which shifts colors throughout the night.  In white light, you can see her stainless steel mesh skin:


But as the external and internal lights change colors, she changes as well:


I don't know how long they plan on keeping her in place, so if you get a chance to stop by the island you should check her out before it's too late.

Book Review: Pop Sculpture

Over Thanksgiving weekend I read through a book titled Pop Sculpture: How to Create Action Figures and Collectible Statues.  I've been sculpting and casting all manner of things for a few years now and was still amazed at the wealth of knowledge contained in this book.

If you're thinking of making your own action figures and the like, this book is a must read.  Not only was it thoroughly informative, but it was also highly entertaining from beginning to end.

New Favorite Artist: Brett Dickens, Mechanical Sculptor

Earlier today I stumbled across this video showcasing some of this Austrialian's amazing work:


You can see more on his Youtube channel.

More Gnomes!

Garden Gnome Update

I'm not sure why I've been procrastinating on this for so long, but I finally had Lopez (the carving machine) whittle me out these two gems:
They're just what I've been needing so I can finally get back to arming the gnomes:


Now all I need to do is sculpt out a few more gnomes in different poses and go into production.

More on that some other time.

HEAT: A Fire Cabaret

Back in May I attended the Bay Area Maker Faire in San Mateo. There were plenty of fascinating displays of artwork and projects and I spent all day wandering around without getting to see even half of it.

Somewhere in the middle of it all was a series of booths where volunteers from the Crucible were demonstrating a variety of fire arts ranging from glassblowing to blacksmithing. The Crucible is a non-profit training center that offers classes in fine and industrial arts. So if you're interested in learning how to work with metal and glass, you really ought to check it out.

Among the many things they had on display at the Maker Faire there was also a scattering of flyers for one of their fundraising events entitled "HEAT: a Fire Cabaret." The flyer was pretty eye-catching:

So, a couple of months later, finding myself with a free Saturday night, I decided to grab my friend Trevor and make the trip down to Oakland. I'll admit that I had no idea what to expect, but once we had our tickets and walked inside, I knew it was going to be an interesting night.

The first thing to notice inside was that everywhere you looked there was something on fire or an dancing girl or (more often than not) both:


They even had women dangling from the ceiling:


And the ceiling was not low:


It took a while to get our bearings after the first few minutes of unabashed gawking:




Among the various fire acts, was a very talented girl twirling a flaming hula hoop:


I can't make a normal hula hoop work, so I can only imagine the carnage if I tried one of these:


Spread throughout the facility were a variety of artists and artisans demonstrating various industrial arts. I spent quite a while watching this character bending glass:


The blacksmith shop was pretty fascinating, but I was a bit overdressed for the heat:


There were also various artists creations on display:







With the mass of the crowd pressed up to the main stage, I didn't get any pictures of the jazz vocalist, the band, or the burlesque show on the main stage. I did manage to get plenty of pictures of the side shows though:



These two girls were doing a variation of a fan dance, but their fans were made of steel frames with flame pots on the tips:

At some point I spent a few minutes chatting with one of the performers:


She turned out to be a very talented belly dancer. You can see more of her at her website: www.dancingeve.com or by scrolling down:




According to her website, she's also a classically-trained violinist. I snapped a pic of her doing a duet with the glassworking guy (with the neon violin mock-up):


Towards the end of the evening I was finally able to see part of one of the main stage acts, Scarlett & Axelrod:




Still, every time I turned a corner there was more hot stuff:


So after a thoroughly entertaining evening with an intriguing crowd, it was time to head for the exit:


The rest of the night is another story...

New Favorite Artist: Jud Turner

Today I stumbled across this very talented sculptor who combines found items and custom fabrications into some phenomenal works of art. Being a maker of sorts, I'm especially attracted to the craftsmanship apparent in the finishes he chooses that really bring out the mechanical elements he includes.

Here's one of his pieces that really grabbed me:


And another:


See more in his online gallery at judturner.com.

The Most Fuel-Efficient Hummer Ever. Period.

Created by artist Jeremy Dean. This is his vision for a post-financial-apocalypse status symbol for a future when the US can no longer afford oil. Read more at Jalopnik.com if you're interested.



Here are the best bits you need to know:

• The horse's names are Deisel and Duke.


• Electric trailer brakes are installed to prevent the horses from running out of control.


• The modified Hummer H2 weighs just a couple hundred pounds more than the single-horse carts that ply the paths of Central Park on any given day in New York.


• The vehicle retains it's original GPS navigation system and DVD player.
  

Interesting concept. I want one.

Interesting Things From the Internets

I've been away from the internets for a while, so it's taken a few minutes to catch up on all of the coolness I've missed. Here's a few notables in no particular order...

First up, in case you've didn't know, there's a remake of Nightmare on Elm Street about to hit theaters. Here's a shot of the teaser poster:

In a reboot-happy hollywood, it's not a huge surprise that this is being made. The huge surprise is that somehow they've managed to make Freddy Kruger uglier than ever and actually frightening. I grew up with Robert Englund as Freddy, but this time around they've cast Jackie Earle Haley for the reboot. If you saw his performance as Rorschach in "the Watchmen," or the pedophile in "Little Children" you know he can do creepy better than anyone else.

Click here to watch the trailer on Myspace

There's also an upcoming sequel to TRON.

While I've been poking around looking for project ideas, I stumbled across Flickr user DROP HPC-ANC who does some really impressive street art. My favorite is his LEGO Grim Reaper:


Whenever I move ashore again, I want this guy to paint my house.

Elsewhere online, I've found yet another reason to finish my tank project:

Cool.

On the subject of random videos, I've also stumbled across this really great music video by OK Go, starring an impressive Rube Goldberg machine:

Suddenly I'd really like to set one of these things up.

Finally, I stumbled across some really amazing iPhone cases made out of billet aluminum or brass. The aluminum ones come in a variety of anodized finishes, but the brass ones really impressed me quite a bit more. The best of the best was brass with a wooden insert and an elaborate engraved design. I ordered one for Ana and she's been getting nothing but compliments on it wherever she goes:

If you want one for yourself, go to www.exovault.com.

There's plenty of other amazing stuff I've stumbled across. These are the ones I most felt like sharing.