Have you ever seen one of these?

This is a 1915 Gibson Style U Harp Guitar, coming up for auction in New York City this month. Here's your chance to get a conversation piece for the next family holiday.



Other gems from the auction:

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I know its a long way to December , but still....

I bought this on Ebay and wanted to post it. I remember getting one each Christmas at my after school religion class in Queens, New York. Looking at the ones below, it looks like mine was the entry level model. The others are more deluxe, with more figures. In once case there are palm trees instead of winter firs, which seems appropriate for Bethlehem, except for the snow flakes on the roof. Makes a lot of sense.

Good Books

  Here is the incredible work of Sue Blackwell. I first learned of her work when I attended the exhibition Otherworldly at the Museum of Arts and Design.

London (Uber) Calling. What would Fezziwig think?

Pretty damn cool tattoo.  I love London cabs, especially the classic Austin FX4s

.  This London taxi driver put his allegiance on his arm to protest the entry of Uber into the London market. I like tradition and wish London black cabs and red double decker buses and classic phone booths would never go away, but I also appreciate progress and know that the old must give way to the new, even though I'm not often very happy about it.

It reminds me of what Fezziwig (Ebenezer Scrooge's boss in "A Christmas Carol") had to say to Mr. Jorkin about progress:

Jorkin: "Mr. Fezziwig, we’re good friends besides good men of business. We’re men of vision and progress. Why don’t you sell out while the going’s good? You’ll never get a better offer. It’s the age of the machine, and the factory, and the vested interests. We small traders are ancient history, Mr. Fezziwig.”

Fezziwig: “It’s not just for money alone that one spends a lifetime building up a business…. It’s to preserve a way of life that one knew and loved. No, I can’t see my way to selling out to the new vested interests, Mr. Jorkin. I’ll have to be loyal to the old ways and die out with them if needs must.

Austin FX4 scale model from Welly.

John and Yoko in a Box

  

Just finished a great little stop motion film of one of my flip- box  models.  It was a few years in the making!  It shows the exact moment John and Yoko recorded "Give Peace A Chance" from their bed in Montreal in 1969.  My flip boxes are little boxes that look ordinary, but pop open to reveal surprise dioramas. more to come

Some production shots:

Used Funtak to help with the animation

Matt Barone working the camera

Sara, Chief Editor working hard at Grounded Cafe

Russian Artist Creates Stunningly Realistic Doll Faces That’ll Make Your Skin Crawl

Reprinted from Bored Panda:

Sometimes, a craftsman is too good, like when he makes dolls so realistic it’s creepy. Michael Zajkov is one such man. The faces of his art dolls are so realistic, it’s disturbing to see him hold their heads in his hands. When you watch his work in motion, there’s only so much you can do not to mutter “please don’t blink, please don’t blink, please don’t blink…”

Zajkov graduated from Kuban State University of Russia in 2009. From 2010 to 2013 he worked at a puppet theater while also attending a graduate school. He was propelled to fame after the 2013 “Art Dolls” expo in Moscow. Zajkov’s creations have multiple joints. He uses polymer clay for the dolls, hand painted glass eyes from Germany, and French mohair for hair.

Martin and Munoz: NIGHT FALLS

NIGHT FALLS