Toothpick Artist

One man, 100,000 toothpicks, and 35 years: An incredible kinetic sculpture of San Francisco

Thirty five years ago I had yet to be born, but artist Scott Weaver had already begun work on this insanely complex kinetic sculpture, Rolling through the Bay, that he continues to modify and expand even today. The elaborate sculpture is comprised of multiple “tours” that move pingpong balls through neighborhoods, historical locations, and iconic symbols of San Francisco, all recreated with a little glue, some toothpicks, and an incredible amount of ingenuity. He admits in the video that there are several toothpick sculptures even larger than his, but none has the unique kinetic components he’s constructed. Via his website Weaver estimates he’s spent over 3,000 hours on the project, and the toothpicks have been sourced from around the world:

I have used different brands of toothpicks depending on what I am building. I also have many friends and family members that collect toothpicks in their travels for me. For example, some of the trees in Golden Gate Park are made from toothpicks from Kenya, Morocco, Spain, West Germany and Italy. The heart inside the Palace of Fine Arts is made out of toothpicks people threw at our wedding.

See the sculpture for yourself at the Tinkering Studio through the end of June. Photos courtesy of their Flickr gallery.

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

World Burping Champion

Hearing the sound and looking at his technique, I wonder if lion roars are actually burps rather than "yells"

Juan Francisco Casas - Photorealistic BIC Pen Artist

Source

At a glimpse they may look like some pretty sharp photos, but actually all those pictures are hand drawn with a humbleBic ballpoint pen! Can you believe that?

Human eye can be fooled so easily!

Spanish artist Juan Francisco Casas, who’s probably 33 at the time of writing this, uses up to four 14p ballpoint pens to create his stunningly photorealistic drawings, measuring up to 10ft (3 meters) high.

The use of penballs makes his drawings even more peculiar, which certainly has played a big role in his way to success.

Juan’s source of inspiration comes from his own photographs of nights out with his friends, and his works are already a sell-out at exhibitions. You can only imagine how wild his parties is, as half of his drawings include girls that forgot to put on their clothes.

So, if you really want to feel bad about your pen doodles – have a look at these 25 Incredibly Photorealistic Drawingsdrawn with a humble BIC PEN.

Lil Buck and Yo-Yo Ma

The other day, I was lucky enough to be at an event to bring the arts back into schools and got to see an amazing collaboration between Yo-Yo Ma and a young dancer in LA, Lil Buck. Someone who knows Yo-Yo Ma had seen Lil Buck on YouTube and put them together. The dancing is Lil Buck's own creation and unlike anything I've seen. Hope you enjoy. --Spike Jonze