Posts Tagged sculpture

Ice-framed Moon

Ice sculpture and crescent moon

Credit: Sally J. Smith

This beautiful photograph is featured on SpaceWeather.com today — a crescent moon as seen through an ice sculpture by Sally J. Smith:

Yesterday, March 17th, nature artist Sally J. Smith of Wadhams, New York, created her last ice sculpture of the 2009-10 winter season. “I set it up before the sun went down and hoped it would be in good alignment to catch the crescent moon,” she says. Indeed it was [...] “The winds were warm and the sculpture melted faster than I anticipated, but in the end all was well. Even Venus made it into the scene. A few seconds later the top part of the sculpture fell off.” And so winter comes to an end…

Here’s how the sculpture started out:

Ice sculpture at sunset

Credit: Sally J. Smith

Such a creative idea! It reminds me of something in a book I picked up recently, 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School — “Frame a view, don’t merely exhibit it.” This is a perfect example of why framing matters. I’m not an architect, nor am I in architecture school — I just love architecture — but I found a surprising amount of tips in that little book, perfectly applicable to web and graphic design. I find it helpful to step outside my own “industry” and get inspiration from other sources. You never know what “unrelated” thing may help you solve a problem or prompt an idea!

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Miniature Apollo

Apollo 11 miniature of Buzz Aldrin, by Willard Wigan

This article on fantastically-talented miniaturist Willard Wigan is definitely worth a look, if only for the slideshow! Shown here is his miniature of Buzz Aldrin, which rests in the eye of a needle (and can fit on the head of a pin.)

Hat tip to doctorlinguist for the article!

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Aluna

Aluna Clock at night, image by Mark Glean

An idea not yet realized, but one which looks spectacular — hey, if it’s a translucent glass sculpture, with the added benefit of being a moon clock, I’m all for Aluna. According to the BBC, London plans to build it by 2012, in time for their Olympic Games.

Laura Williams… explained that the clock would be powered by the tides from the Thames.

“There are three giant concentric rings made from recycled glass,” she told me. “Light shines through from the glass in time with the Moon’s cycles so the largest ring shows the lunar phase. Gradually the light waxes on all the way around the ring and connects full circle when it’s full Moon.

“The second ring is like the big hand of the clock. It’s a marker of light that tracks the Moon around the globe so that’s the lunar day cycle.

“The third ring – the smallest – is the small hand that tracks the tide as it goes from high tide to low.”

(Hat tip to @glxp for the article!)

Aluna Clock during day, image by Mark Glean
Aluna Clock at night, image by Mark Glean

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