May the Force Be On Your French Cuffs. A Whole New Slew of Star Wars Cuff Links.

Tons of new Star Wars cuff links have just been introduced from Cufflinks, Inc. and are available for pre-order now. With styles for any Star Wars geek, they range from flat enamel versions to three dimensional sculpted versions. The cuff links feature Classic characters, Blueprints, 3D versions, Vintage Movie Posters, Propaganda Posters and more.

Star Wars 3D cuff links:



Star Wars Blueprint Cuff links:


Star Wars Character cuff links:






Star Wars Symbol cuff Links:




Star Wars Propaganda Poster cuff links:



Star Wars Movie Poster cuff links:





Pre-order them here now (prices range from $59.99 to $124.99, products ship in June).

Director Dannah Nayblat Could Use A Little Help To Heat Things Up.

Director Dannah Nayblat could use your help and support to finish her labor of love, a stop-motion animated music video. It's true, I get many submissions about projects on kickstarter, but it was her explanatory video asking for help, and the goodies with which she rewards her backers, that got my attention. Of course her personal note to me, gushing with praise about my blog and my readers, didn't hurt.



Some Like it Hot is the song title of an animation music video that she's been working on in her spare time (and sleep time :) for the last couple of years, for a band named Club Des Belugas. The technique she's using is stop motion, but rather than taking a series of still photos and editing them in a sequence, which is traditional stop motion - she takes photos of the actors and place them in virtual sets that she designs on her computer.



There are several stages to the process - first she selects the photos she'll be using and edits a sketch of the scene (they shot hundreds of photos for each little scene). Then she does the artwork. Aside from creating the backgrounds, she may need to place items in the actor's hands, change the color of their shirt, re-style their hair or change their whole head... There are also many adjustments that need to be made in terms of scale and color correction so that all the components work together. Finally, she exports the final frames and place them in the video.

The whole thing is EXTREMELY time consuming (as many creatives know)!

You can see part of her work process, in the video below, to better understand what takes so long... and hopefully you'll think that the results are worth it and help fund her on kickstarter.



"Visually striking, imaginative & funny stop-motion animation video for a great song!" is the description of her kickstarter project that launched a couple of days ago and instantly became a STAFF PICK.



The band - Club Des Belugas - is based in Germany, the singer, Brenda Boykin, with her unique (award winning) deep voice, is American, and the band members are from different countries. Danna is based in Israel, but the leading male, Starskee Suave and Gilad Koriski, the photographer who captured him, both live in Los Angeles (she directed those sessions in the middle of the night, via skype...)



The israeli team includes photographer Shiran Carmel and the lovely Ester Rada, who is the female lead. Ester is a known Israeli actress, and though she isn't the performer of this song, she's a great singer in her own right (her single Save a Little Love for Me from the new Club Des Belugas album, is one of the rewards offered for your pledges). The hair and makeup artist is Zion Ashkenazi and the wardrobe was contributed by Hila Aharon.


above: Director Dannah Nayblat

Learn more about her project here, and help her turn her dream into a reality, on kickstarter.

Sterling Silver Space Invaders Rings In Three Styles For Men and Women by Tjep.

Artist and Designer Frank Tjepkema (aka Tjep.), has a fun series of solid sterling silver rings based on the pixelated alien invaders in Taito's classic arcade game, Space Invaders.

Invader Aiko ring:


Invader Hoshi Ring:


Invader Yuki ring:





Shop for them and other Tjep products here.

To learn about tons of other products inspired by the aliens, check out one of my favorite fellow blogger's sites, Technabob

Packing Foam Fashions Emulate 16th and 17th Dutch and Flemish Masters' Paintings.

In this ongoing series of quietly elegant photographs by Suzanne Jongmans, she explores textures of both the past and present. Using the foam materials from packaging and insulation, she has fashioned them into the collars, shawls and clothes commonly seen in the 16th and 17th century Dutch, Flemish and French portraits by the likes of Golden Age and Dutch Renaissance painters Vermeer, Franz Hals, and Francois Clouet.

Below are the photographs and foam sculptures by Suzanne Jongmans interspersed with paintings from The Golden Age so you can see the inspiration for her work.

Suzanne Jongmans:

Franz Hals, Portrait of a Woman, 1635:

Suzanne Jongmans:

Johannes Vermeer, Woman Holding a balance, 1664:

Suzanne Jongmans:

Franz Hals, Portrait of a woman, 1630-1635:

Suzanne Jongmans:


Although Suzanne does not reference Spanish painter Diego Velazsquez in her explanation of the series, she clearly was inspired by his famous 1656 painting, Las Meninas, for this one:

detail from Velazquez' Las Meninas:


Some of these photographic prints are available for purchase through Saatchi Online here

Inspired by this post on Beautiful Decay

See more of Suzanne Jongmans work here.

The Disco Queen's Reign Has Ended. Donna Summer Has Danced Her Last Dance.

The Queen of Disco, Donna Summer, has died at the age of 63 after a battle with lung cancer. Known for such pulsing anthems as "Last Dance," ''Love to Love You Baby" and "Bad Girls," Donna's songs became the soundtrack for a glittery age of sex, drugs, dance and flashy clothes.

Her family released a statement saying Summer died Thursday morning and that they "are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy."





Donna Summer Downloads, Albums and CDs

You will be missed. We loved to love you, baby.

Famous Faces and Frames Made With Sticks And Sunglasses.

A couple of months ago photographer Philip Karlberg came up with the idea of pin or stick art, a concept he'd had in mind for years. Only he didn't know exactly what it could be used for. However, after a test with sunglasses, that turned out to his liking, he sent the image to Plaza Magazine, and a week later he started shooting an editorial for them.



Karlberg says it was a real challenge to ”sculpture” the faces of these six well-known classic wearers of sunglasses (all shown in this post). It took him six days to shoot the six faces, and around 1,200 sticks were used.

Karl Lagerfeld:

Johnny Depp:

Lady Gaga:

John Belushi:

Jackie O (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis):

Steve McQueen:


Some images from the photoshoot:



all images courtesy of Philip Karlberg
Philip Karlberg

The Coolest Swimming Pool Slide Ever. The Carbon Fiber Silver Leafed Shoot Slide.

SplinterWorks, formed in 2009 by Miles Hartwell and Matt Withington, is a custom furniture company whose designs are more like functional art than traditional pieces of furniture. Their self described mission is to create functional sculpture that unites conceptual, visual and practical fundamentals to create engaging and inspiring pieces.

One of their pieces that stands out is Shoot, a slide for an indoor or outdoor swimming pool that puts all those hideous fiberglass ones to shame.




Starting as a thin burst and shooting up vertically from the ground, the large shining arc emulates the trajectory of water itself.



Made of carbon fiber coated with silver leaf, the sculptural piece curves inwards at the edges forming handrails and the steps are like artful pedestals that form the footholds for climbing to the top.



While it's beautiful to look at and undoubtedly fun to experience, I do not know how the slide keeps from getting too hot. Although I know that Carbon Fibre (or Carbon Fiber for us Americans) has a very high heat tolerance.

The piece, measuring 1800 mm high by 3800 mm long by 900 mm wide was created in an edition of three.

Based thirty minutes south of London in Guildford, SplinterWorks portfolio consists of pieces crafted from exceptional materials such as marble, concrete, jesomite, mirror polished stainless steel, laquers and exotic woods.

See more of SplinterWorks beautiful pieces here.