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Whaaaaat?! Oh my word, I want to push those big buttons and make tiny people float around in water! This is “Waterful : Wonder Rooms”, just one in a series of wonderful waterful-ness, by Tel Aviv based artist Liya Jacobi. Here’s her bio… which makes me wish I went to school to become a TOY MAKER!

Liya Jacobi is a Tel Aviv based artist, toy designer and a special needs advocate with experience in child therapy and graphic design. Jacobi combines traditional craftsmanship with modern intention, creating unique objects while unexpectedly merging form and function. By playing with preconceptions about art and design – the social, cultural and historical relations to objects we all share – she provides a new context. Presenting alternatives to contemporary appliances, she adds unforeseen functionality and a delicate execution to her work. Liya studied Visual Communication at Instituto Europeo di Design in Milan, Italy and Toy Design at Shenker College of Engineering and Design in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

I love everything about this. Happy Friday.

{thanks to @melaart for sharing this work with me!}

Oh! So … fun? These powerful pieces are from a series titled “Little Terrors” by Arizona based artist Nathaniel Lewis… and yes, I felt slightly nauseous when I saw them. Amazing that rainbow-hued wooden “toys” can cause such a reaction. Here’s to doing everything we can to ensure that playtime for our children – and our children’s children, and everyone else’s children – involves playing with wooden kitchen sets instead of primary-colored security checkpoints. Shudder.

What? A “Tell Truth Magic Rope” included too? Yeah, I’m going to need this in my collection. Ok, I don’t have an action figure collection, but if I did, this crazy little Wonder Woman would be the STAR! This is the fantastic and hilarious work of LA based artist/illustrator Mark Todd. All of these pieces, and many more, are in a new show that opens tomorrow night, September 2nd 8pm – 11pm, at  La Luz de Jesus in LA {4633 Hollywood Blvd}. The show is called “Covered” … here’s the gallery’s description:

“Todd reinterprets comics from his youth, as well as earlier, iconic ‘ultimate collectors items”. Most of the pieces in this show are based on these types of desirable comics, such as number ones in the series, or the first appearance of a character which were often unobtainable for a young, comic obsessed Todd and his small weekly allowance. In Covered he keeps his interpretations of these covers closer to the source than in previous shows, channeling a combination of confidence with playful naivety, injecting humor with purposeful “mistakes” such as misspelled text and truncated sentences.”

So awesome! If you can go, GO. The show will be up until October 2nd.

ps. I don’t have any Star Wars collectibles in my non-existent collection either, so clearly I’ll need to add a limited edition Mark Todd “CHEWBACK” to my list:

So. Good!

Ok, I’m a little behind the times with these hilariously awesome “Yoga Joes” by Dan Abramson. Apparently there was a kickstarter last year. Well, it must have worked because you can find these old school army men, who have given up their weapons in favor of warrior pose, on Dan’s site.  Ah, just imagine if the world was really like this? Namaste. 

Ok, this is exactly how I want to end this insanely busy week… with hilarious, weird, and ridiculously sweet artwork hanging from the ceiling! LA based artist Kim Baise creates these crazy mobiles with papier mache, paint and found sticks, which she then lovingly assembles with natural hemp twine. So awesome. ps. I’m gonna need that bike-riding-lollipop-licking unicorn, and a strawberry swirl ice cream ASAP.

{via Oh Happy Day}

I have a studio full of found objects. You know, stuff like old knitting needles, a small metal duck, and more ceramic doll limbs than I know what to do with… so, what am I going to do with them? I have no idea. If only I knew how to blow glass, then I’d be all set!  Perhaps I should dust off my weird little collection of knick-knacks, pop them in a box, and send them directly to Dutch artist Ellen Urselmann. I am absolutely positive that she’d know what to do with them!

{via junkculture}

{ps. come and see my dream bedroom over at sfgirlbybay today! ‘The House that Jealousy Built’ ~ Room No.3}

Awwww! Aren’t they sweet? Don’t you want to give them a good home? These poor little ceramic orphans were left all alone, badly painted and nameless, at charity shops all over South East England. Luckily, London based artist Emma Harding showed up on a rescue mission! She dusted them off, painted them in fabulously vibrant colours, and then lovingly named each one. Now they are shiny, beautiful and ready to find new homes. Yes, that’s right, all of these little thrift store orphans are up for adoption. You can take one home today if you like… but I call dibs on Pat & Una Thorpe!

{Thanks to the always inspiring and lovely frankie magazine for this find.}

He likes pets, hot chocolate muffins, and techno music.

I like his art.

Super sculpy, a  hot oven, and London native Wilfrid Wood are responsible for these fantastic sculptural portraits. First he draws, then sculpts & bakes, and finally sands & paints these unique characters. I want one… and I also want one of those hot chocolate muffins please.

Weird, hilarious and kinda cute… the triple threat that gets me every time.

These strange little creatures are called ‘mooks’. I found one of them on Pikaland, and then followed the trail back to an etsy shop called My Grey Sky, run by an artist who uses the name I love grey skies. Well you know what Ms. Grey Skies, I love your mooks! Especially the ones wearing knitted hats. I’ve had a thing for knitted head gear lately… must be the cool September weather. Brr.

What?!

Josh McKible came up with this very cool project while living in Japan. ‘Nani’ means ‘what’ in Japanese and apparently he asked that a lot while living there, so much so that he did 100 paintings of little birds asking that question. So, here’s where the nanibirds come in… he created this paper bird template and put it out there to see how other artists would answer ‘what?’, in birdese of course.  I’ve posted three of them here but there are lots more at nanibird.com

The artists shown above are {1} Josh McKible {2} Anna Antoniades {3} Azbeen