poker face

I generally don't make "parts" for people but this was a Christmas present for my baby brother.  He likes skulls and squids.  Yeah, NOBODY has one like this.  It was so crazy hard to make 8 tiny legs in a one color design squished up like that.  Oh yeah, and I did it carving with a dremmel.  Come on!  Seriously check out those suction cups.  I worked so hard at getting the 8 legs in that the one guy has nine legs, HA!  Now I need a casino to commission me, yo!

presto!

WHAT!  Two posts in two days.  Yup.  It happened. I finished this baby yesterday, and was issued a perfect overcast sky to photograph it outdoors this morning.  36 x 20 inches of tasty goodness in glass. Well, the commission was obviously about magic.  How lucky did I get right there?  Originally, the whole thing was going to go in a Houdini direction.  So while I am thinking all these Houdini thoughts, I meet a friend that is all about Houdini trivia.  He told me a story about the word believe and that stuck.  I linked it HERE if you're interested. But that is what those tiny "crystal balls" are and the large one is actually a humongous marble sawed in half.  The word beneath is tiny and is so distorted that it looks huge and you cannot tell if it is convex or concave as it appears to move beneath the glass as you change your perspective.  Really, it is flat.

 

So here are some other things incorporated in this mosaic: The red background of the bird is a REFERENCE to the heavy red velvet drapes that I think of in magic.  The recycled bottle rings are a nod to that trick with the three cups.  I was talking with my brother about this trick and he said to make sure I only put ONE red ball in... I am embarrassed that I didn't think of that simple idea myself.  There is a lot of greys and silver in different forms, my way to illustrate "smoke and mirrors."  The tiny black and white strips are a little extension of the tuxedoed arm. And the signature tile?  This cracks me up.  Bicycle cards are the cards we always used.  While I was working on it, taking ideas from various card backs, I had a small open section that I was deciding on.  I asked Shaundi what I could fit in there and she instantly spits out, "a gecko!"  In my former life as a mailman, my nickname was gecko or geck... so there you go. 

 

I WISH everyone could see this in person.  There is so much movement and sparkle in this.  The "magic" from the wand is layered inside and on top of the half inch grey glass.  This is the deepest mosaic I have done and also the most prominent relief.  This makes the mosaic the heaviest I have done per square inch, weighing in at 32 lb.  The entire time I was working on it, a substantial amount of chronological life, I was thinking that this is an amazing world that I get to do this.  I have my daughter and daughter-in-law saying my favorite prayer and it SO fits here.  I pinch my eyes shut and say, "More like this."

super legit

OK, how much fun is this?!!??  In high school, my son was in a band, the singer was Kailynn West.  I wanted to contribute to her kickstarter program and had no idea it came with a song.  I answered a few questions and told her she could take whatever photos from my blog or site.  What a great Christmas idea for someone, right?  I don't know if she would have time yet but Valentine's Day?  She's a doll and I am happy to have this self affirming song stuck in my head.  Click the here to see her adorable video.  Yeah.