Instructables.com is a great resource with lots of costume and cosplay advice. They have how-tos for articulated human-sized wings and feathered, articulated wings.

Art of Wings claims to have the most unusual fairy wings on the internet, and they might be right. There are lots of varieties to choose from, so take a peek.

And here is a whole page full of instructions and links for various types of wings.

Enjoy!

There are people in this world who collect plants, the way you or I might collect dolls or, let’s face it, fabric. I am a gardener myself, of the plop-and-plant variety, but I do not have the patience to raise delicate things like African violets or exotic orchids.

Obviously, Mikael Karlbom does. A resident of Stockholm, Sweden, and collector of tiny orchid species (called nanoplants, apparently), Mikael had a brilliant idea a few years ago to use discarded terra cotta pipes to grow his minute flora. He seals one end of the pipe, fills it with water, and grows the orchids and moss on the outside. Enough water seeps through the clay to keep the plants healthy without extra watering. Then he puts them in a terrarium with lights on a timer and a fan to keep the temperature just right.

The results are stunning little worlds of miniature plant life. I find them fascinating, like little fairy tale planets. They remind me of Amy Gross’ sculptures come to life. I just want to stare at them until I can finally see the little fairies who must live there and tend their tiny gardens. Visit Mikael’s Flickr to see all the photos, and let me know if you find any fairies.

Danita seems to be a painter who makes dolls to complement her paintings, instead of the other way around. I love her style, which is folk-artsy and modern at the same time. The design is simple but the colors are strong and texture is paramount.

Her subjects range from angels and mermaids to Alice and Frida Kahlo. Check out her velvety paintings and delightfully stylized dolls at her etsy shop, her Flickr, and her blog.

Spend some time reading these tutes, and you’ll learn a lot. These guys are professionals.

Sculptor’s Corner.

I found this artist in an article about hyperrealism, but his work stood out for a number of reasons. Adam Beane’s skills in portrait sculpting are amazing, and unlike other hyperrealist artists, who tend to work life-sized or larger, he works mainly in 1/6 scale or smaller. He works for high-end collectible toy companies and has developed his own sculpting material, CX5, a heat-sensitive plastic medium.

Check out his work on his own site, and in this gallery at Sculptors’ Corner.

Patricia Buzo makes tiny terrariums out of live moss and itty bitty handmade accessories. Don’t you just want to stare at them and imagine the tiny little people who might keep these gardens?

See more at her etsy shop, Doodlebirdie.

via Folklore and Fairy

I love the raven with forks for legs. How awesome is that?

Every so often, I come across an artist who just takes my breath away. Amy Gross is the latest culprit, and not only does her work speak to me on a very emotional level, it turns out she’s a pretty friendly person, too. Today I’m going to feature some pictures of her work and talk about why I love it so much, and next week I’ll share some of her own words about her process and her inspiration.

I was bitten by the gardening bug a year or two after I moved to Missouri from South Texas. I think it was a survival reflex — I often felt like studying flowers and plants was the only way I could survive January. But the style of garden I love is the kind where different types of plants tumble over each other in a riot of contrasting colors and shapes. Amy Gross’ biotopes are like the dreamland version of this garden, where nothing you see is what it appears to be at first glance.

When I first saw the biotopes, I was sure they were made of cleverly-arranged silk flower stems and leaves, or possibly some kind of cast media like latex or fiberglass. I was stunned to find that her materials list includes things like thread, yarn, paper, fabric. No found objects or silk leaves. (And by the way, thank you very much, Amy, for including a materials list instead of just saying, “mixed media.”) Upon closer examination, I realized that the grass and mosses in each little biotope are made of embroidery stitches. The mushrooms are paper or fabric with trompe l’oil textures printed on them, and underneath it all are more layers, including little lizards and birds and tendrils that might be reptiles or might be tree roots. I could stare at all that detail for hours.

Amy writes that the biotopes evolved from similar pieces which were encased in glass. I love that she decided to set them free. I saw an anime once about a world made of tiny bits of land that hovered around each other in the air, like islands in a three-dimensional archipelago. That’s what her biotopes remind me of. They’re powerful, almost dangerous expressions of untamed life. I often discuss my garden in terms of aggression (I have this militant groundcover that has imperialistic plans involving an invasion of the front lawn, if it could only get across the sidewalk…), and that’s how I see these pieces, as savage bits of beautiful wilderness that might try to take over their surroundings.

Via Daily Art Muse.

Visit her on Flickr or her web site.

Modern, simple, reserved. Except the monkeys.