How An Oscar Statuette Is Made & Other Facts About The Academy Award

In honor of tonight's 82nd Annual Academy Awards, here's a look at how the coveted statuette is actually made, from start to finish.


The exterior of R.S. Owens in Chicago:

Casting, Buffing and polishing:



The metal is heated to 960 degrees before pouring into the cast.

The Oscar, removed from the cast, and ready to be polished and buffed:

The rough seams are sanded:

And the statue is polished:


Electroplating:


being dipped into the nickel (the second step, it's first dipped into copper):

Dipped into the 24k plate, the fourth step (the third step is dipped into silver):



Engraving and Mounting:


Affixing the engraved plate to the base:

a close up look at base:

Placing the felt pad on the base:



Oscar Fun Facts:

• The official name of the statuette is the Academy Award® of Merit

• Oscar is 13½ inches tall and weighs 8½ pounds

• The First Recipient was Emil Jannings, named Best Actor for his performances in “The Last Command” and “The Way of All Flesh” in 1929

• Number of Awards Presented to date as of 2010: 2,701 statuettes



• It was designed by Cedric Gibbons, chief art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and sculpted by Los Angeles artist George Stanley.

• The Oscar statuette depicts a knight holding a crusader's sword, standing on a reel of film. The film reel features five spokes, signifying the five original branches of the Academy (actors, directors, producers, technicians and writers.)

• How Oscar received his nickname is not exactly clear.
The most popular story is that Margaret Herrick, an Academy librarian and eventual executive director, remarked that the statuette resembled her Uncle Oscar, and the Academy staff began to refer to it as Oscar. Although the nickname was used with increasing frequency during the late 1930s, the Academy didn't officially use the name Oscar until 1939.

• The Oscar statuette hasn't been altered since his molten birth, except when the design of the pedestal was made taller in 1945.


Official Oscar site.

images and info courtesy of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Pieces Of You. Tasteful Custom Mosaic Portraits by Sicis.

Okay, so having a giant portrait created of yourself is a bit narcissistic. It is, however, a tradition that goes back centuries. Now, there's another way to immortalize yourself or a loved one in lieu of the traditional Sargent-like oil painting or the scary Sears Portrait Studio-style, shown below.



The Sicis Art Mosaic Factory, with showrooms all over the world, create stunning mosaic 'everything' from high-heeled bathtubs to lighting, mannequins and wall art. And now they offer tasteful custom mosaic portraits made from photographs.




The portraits comes in four standard sizes, and custom sizes are available. Two frame types are offered and you can choose a monochromatic or black and white portrait against a variety of colored backgrounds.



Several different colors and finishes are available for the backgrounds, as you can see from the options below:



The pieces are wonderful likenesses and are not garish as so many mosaics can be.









All images courtesy of SICIS.

The Sicis custom mosaic portraits are offered in New York, Paris and Milan.

Where to find SICIS Portrait:

Sicis Showroom a New York

Sicis Showroom a Paris

Sicis Showroom a Milan


See their mosaic Pin-up girls, rugs, and furniture here.

See their high heeled mosaic bathtbs and lighting here.

A More Expensive Option-Gemstone Portraits
If you'd like another unusual custom portrait option, albeit a very expensive one, check out these mosaic portraits made with real gemstones, like the diamond one of Jay-Z shown below.

Great Media Buy? Or Poor Taste? Mad Hatter takes Over L.A. Times

The Los Angeles Times broke new ground yesterday, translating the "homepage" take-over concept from the Web to print and delivering Disney's Mad Hatter to readers' doorsteps, driveways and city street corners.

Timed to coincide with the release of the highly-anticipated "Alice in Wonderland," starring Johnny Depp, The Times is the only major newspaper in the country to carry the innovative ad unit, conceived to launch the film in the most creative and unexpected manner to Southern California's key movie-going audiences and creative community. The cover-wrap art successfully coveys Depp's Mad Hatter visage as a 3D image in a 2D format and creates a powerful opening day impression.



But not everyone thinks this was a good idea.

(Reuters) - The Los Angeles Times' critic may have panned the film, but that didn't stop Disney from paying top dollar to turn the newspaper's front page into a special advertisement on Friday for the new movie, "Alice in Wonderland."

The ad, believed to be the first of its kind among America's leading big-city dailies, dismayed some readers and was lamented by media scholars as the latest troubling sign of difficult times at the newspaper and for journalism generally.

The ad features a full-color photo of actor Johnny Depp in gaudy makeup, wig and costume as the film's Mad Hatter character, superimposed across an authentic-looking front page mock-up, topped by the Times' traditional masthead.

Depp's image -- emblazoned with the phrase, "Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter" -- overlaps an old weather photo and two columns of reprinted stories about healthcare and Afghanistan, minus bylines and other names. The word "Advertisement" appears in smaller type just below the masthead.

To get to Friday's real news, readers had to open the so-called cover wrap, which was folded around the Times' entire A section as a two-page, front-to-back promotional spread.

A Times spokesman, John Conroy, declined to discuss the cost of the ad, but said, "The Times' front section is our most valuable real estate, so the ad unit was priced accordingly."

Hollywood blogger Sharon Waxman cited one "media buyer insider" as saying the Walt Disney Co, the studio behind the film, paid $700,000 for the space.

"That's a low price to sell your soul," said Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, who expressed sympathy for the paper and discomfort at the blurring of commercial and editorial interests.

SAD DAY FOR GREAT PAPER?

"I want the Los Angeles Times to make a lot of money, and I want them to do use that money to do some of the best journalism they've ever done," he said. "But I think that this strategy is deceptive, and that my old school ulcer is starting to burn a little a bit."

Others were more blunt.

"It's a sad day in the history of a great newspaper, and my impression is they have received a lot of calls from people who are incensed by it, loyal readers," said Bryce Nelson, a former Times correspondent who teaches journalism at the University of Southern California.

The Times promotion apparently held little or no sway for the newspaper's main film critic, Kenneth Turan, whose review on Thursday called Tim Burton's take on the Lewis Carroll classic "middling" and "surprisingly inert." The film has drawn mixed reviews overall.

Conroy disputed the notion that the ad undermines the paper's editorial integrity.

"We made it clear that this was a depiction of the front page, rather than a real front page of the newspaper," he said. "We had an unusual opportunity here to stretch the traditional boundaries and deliver an innovative ad unit that was designed to create buzz."

But Nelson said the ad would prove a turnoff to many subscribers, some of whom he knows had called him to protest.

"What this demonstrates is the newspaper's seeming willingness to put revenues over news coverage," he said.

Conroy said the editorial staff was informed in advance of the Depp ad, but he did not know if it elicited the kind of grumbling that occurred when the paper ran a cover-wrap in June promoting the new HBO television series "True Blood." That wrap was not presented as a faux front page.

The Times, which began selling display ads on its front page in 2007, also raised eyebrows last year when it ran a front-page TV advertisement that resembled a news story.

The nationally circulated USA Today drew criticism for a pseudo edition of its newspaper distributed at an AIDS conference in Geneva as a promotion for a pharmaceutical company. The Wall Street Journal and other dailies have run partial wrap sleeves around the outsides of their papers.

Like many newspapers, the Times has been hit hard by declining circulation and shrinking ad revenues, forcing the paper to scale back coverage and lay off hundreds of employees in recent years. The paper's corporate parent, the Tribune Co, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2008.

"Low Ink" Pillows By Thomas Dabner, Another Geeky Great.

Graphic Designer Thomas Dabner from Sheffield has created these fun and attractive "low ink" pillow covers. A cotton pillow cover designed specifically for those designers out there who share his frustration with low running ink and you know you have no new cartridges left.

Prices:
15.7" is $27.42
19.7" is $31.54
23.6" is $34.28

Each pillow cover is printed on 100% 230gr/m² cotton. Washable at 80°C without fading.
Pillows are available in yellow, magenta, cyan and black (of course).


detail and back of pillows:


Sold at the online store Envelop, a Belgium based showcase for upcoming and independent textile designers. And yes, they ship worldwide.
Buy any of these four, plus other designs by Thomas Dabner here.

Bruxe X Uranium Tiny Little Chairs Pendants Now Available!

There was much brouhaha a few months back when the news first broke that Bruxe Design of Montreal would be pairing up with Uranium to create modern chair classic pendants. Now, the first five charming three dimensional casts of mid-century modern chairs are finally available for purchase online.

I must confess, I was disappointed to see that the gold was only 10k (however, you can order custom versions in 14k, 18k, 24k and even platinum). They cost a little more than I was hoping they would, but they are still incredibly lust worthy. And finally available.



Tiny Little Chairs is a series of collectible pendants celebrating mid century design. Each pendant represents a vintage chair which revolutionized furniture production and the design process (however, you'll notice, they couldn't use the actual names of the original chair designs by Eames, Saarinen, and Mies van der Rohe).




The designers of this era have forever changed the way we interact with design objects and their harmony within of our home, office and environment. These miniatures allow you to wear your love and appreciation for these pioneering designers and their iconic objects which continue to be benchmarks for today's designers.

The first series consists of five chairs (all shown below), The Scoop Chair, The Dining Chair, The Work Chair, The Bent Chair and The Pavilion Chair, each offered in solid gold, silver or bronze.


The Scoop Chair (modeled after the Eames Fiberglass Shell Chair):

SCOOP CHAIR - 10K GOLD $700.00
SCOOP CHAIR - BRONZE $180.00
SCOOP CHAIR - STERLING SILVER $230.00

The Dining Chair (modeled after the Eero Saarinen Tulip chair)

DINING CHAIR - 10K GOLD $500.00
DINING CHAIR - BRONZE $140.00
DINING CHAIR - STERLING SILVER $180.00

The Work Chair (modeled after the Eames Time Life Chair)

WORK CHAIR - 10K GOLD $1,250.00
WORK CHAIR - BRONZE $270.00
WORK CHAIR - STERLING SILVER $350.00

The Bent Chair (modeled after Eames LCW Chair)

BENT CHAIR - 10K GOLD $600.00
BENT CHAIR - 925 STERLING $200.00
BENT CHAIR - BRONZE $160.00

The Pavilion Chair (modeled after Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Chair)

PAVILION CHAIR - 10K GOLD $1,600.00
PAVILION CHAIR - BRONZE $340.00
PAVILION CHAIR - STERLING SILVER $500.00

Buy them here.

Whoopi Pees In Her Pants As Famous Women In New Campaign For Poise

If you haven't yet seen it, there's a new ad campaign starring Whoopi Goldberg, pitching for Poise as famous women throughout history - who happen to suffer from bladder leakage.

Named the One In Three Like Me campaign, the effort, Poises' largest ever, consists of print, tv and webisodes. The webisodes, unscripted and created spontaneously by Whoopi, were largely improvised, said Andrew Meurer, VP-feminine, adult, and senior products at Kimberly-Clark.

According to AdAge, the sixty second stories - all shown here- will not be appearing on tv, but are produced as webisodes, available to view on their microsite as well as on other social media sites. (However, rumor has it one of these will be appearing on Sunday's telecast of the Oscars).



There are 8 separate webisodes, one montage and several print ads, shot by talented photographer/ director Timothy White.

According to Stockland Martel, who reps Timothy White, he not only directed the commercials, but oversaw every aspect of them, including the costumes and wigs. I'm sure the creative team at WPP's JWT, the ad agency behind the campaign, had plenty to do with that as well.

The spots humorously approach a delicate subject matter, in a way that only Whoopi can, and are intended to take way the stigma as well as introduce the taboo subject to a younger audience.

As Eve:


As Lady Godiva:


As The Mona Lisa:


As Cleopatra:


As The Statue of Liberty:


As the Princess and The Pea:


As Joan Of Arc:


As Helen Of Troy:


The Montage:


The accompanying print ads:



The microsite:



Poise has also created a micro site hosted by Whoopi to discuss and explain the problems of LBL (light bladder leakage). The aim is to encourage readers to sign up for free samples, in addition to increasing awareness about the condition.

Visit the One In Three Like Me site here.

Special thanks to Stockland Martel, Ad Age and Kimberly Clark for info and images.