Hirotoshi Ito creates creepy, yet enchanting stone sculptures

When I found Hirotoshi Ito's flickr stream about four years ago, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I've come across some amazing sculptures before, but Hirotoshi's work is one of the most memorable I've seen.

The Japanese artist, also known as Jiyuseki, takes ordinary rocks found in a river bank near his home and adds his own bit of weird and funny alterations. He usually spends up to a month carving and decorating each of his stone pieces. As he chisels, Hirotoshi retains the original shape of the rock, then he adds accessories such as zippers, dentures, coins and other materials to complete the illusion. His creations are somewhat creepy, but they also bring laughs and smiles to the people who see them.

You can learn more about Hirotoshi and his work on his website.

Comments

The Joy of Logarithms

Toby 'Tibees' Hendy is an Australia-based educator who uses social media to spark young people's interest in science and math. This year, her YouTube subscribers surpassed 250,000, and her videos have been viewed almost 25 million times. In this clip, Toby gives a lesson about logarithms in the style of legendary artist and TV host Bob Ross.

On knockoff toys, bootleg action figures, and nostalgia

LEGO and Transformers action figures are some of the toys I really wanted as a kid, but never got. Boy or girl, every child wanted a LEGO. My older cousin had a couple of LEGO sets, but didn't really let me play with them. So, I desperately asked my rich Japayuki ninang for one. Instead, she gave me a knockoff—like the ones sold at sari-sari stores near public elementary schools. Every year, I looked forward to birthdays and holidays with great anticipation, but I never got the real thing. During the height of their popularity in the 80s, many people were convinced that their Autobots and Decepticons were actually smart investments, and that the shape-shifting alien robots would one day be worth thousands. More than 30 years after the original Transformers TV series first aired, its toy franchise remains one of the most popular in history. My mother gave me one when I was 7. Unfortunately, what I got was a funny counterfeit Starscream from Divisoria that looked like a malnouris...

Katy Ann Gilmore is my new favorite on Instagram

Katy Ann Gilmore is a Los Angeles-based visual artist who specializes in making extraordinary illustrations on paper and large scale murals using micron and gel pens. Her elaborate line work is painstakingly methodical, layering strokes of the pen in varying directions to create amazing shapes and topography that look like they are covered with intricate mesh netting. I was wondering how many pen strokes does it take to complete just one of these drawings, so I did some research and found out that her small 5 in. by 7 in. illustrations typically take a few hours, while an 11 in. by 14 in. picture can take anywhere from 10-25 hours. "My hand does hurt a bit after marathon sessions, but never anything too crazy," she told Lisa Congdon. "I try to rest my eyes/hands/brain every once in awhile by looking away from the drawing, dropping the pen, and taking a breather." Katy received a BA in Mathematics, Art, and Spanish from Greenville College in Il...

finding cain

Search This Blog