Fabulous Friday Finds for June 25 (they're back!)

I missed a few Fridays, but now I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things, so I've gathered up a big new batch of Fabulous Friday Finds for you this week. Even though I wasn't keeping up with blog posts, I was still keeping track of goodies I came across as I prowled the internet.

First up is something I came across on Facebook. I don't remember how I came across it, but this is one of the coolest things I've seen.

The beautiful pendant you see here is the creation of an artist named Matt Cole. Pretty, isn't it?

Guess what it's made from.

Go ahead. Guess.

Natural stone? Polymer clay?

Nope! It's made from a bowling ball!!! Can you believe it??? I used to bowl (not very well), and I never would have imagined my ball could have been turned into something like this. Wow.

Be sure to click on his name up there and look at the rest of his art. You'll be amazed.

I don't know about you, but I really like ravens. I have no idea why, other than that I was enthralled by Edgar Allen Poe's poem when I was in junior high school and have had a fascination for those big black birds ever since. In fact, back when I was making stationery, my Quoth the Raven captioned critters cards were some of my first paper creations (and some of my best sellers).

They're popular subject matter for a lot of artists, and you've probably seen lots of them even if you weren't looking for them.

I came across Lauren Gray's raven when I went to browse through her shop when I saw one of her unusual trees. Lauren's Etsy shop is called TheHauntedHollowTree, and in it is a variety of works including this raven, her very stylized trees, and a lot of other pieces which live up to the shop's name. The interesting part for me is that she uses pyrography to create some of her amazing art.

If you've read any of my previous Fabulous Friday Finds, you know I also like little tiny houses... and Lauren has another Etsy shop, saysthetree, that has tiny miniature wooden houses!

Woot!


My third Fabulous Friday Find is a spoon rest. For those of you who like cooking, it's a spoon rest. For me, it's a cool little ceramic saucer. I'd really prefer never having to cook, but that's a whole other story. I can still like the saucer.

Anyway, this spoon rest is just NEAT! It's in an Etsy shop called LennyMud. When I first came across the shop, I figured it was curated by an artist named Lenny... but it turns out that Lenny is the name of the artist's studio cat.

I like this. And lots of other stuff from LennyMud. I think I'm going to have to do some shopping here after we get our house built... And not necessarily just for my kitchen (despite my aversion to cooking, I realize that most people expect there to be a kitchen in a house - hmph).

This next piece is something for steampunk lovers. Lovers of the weird and the wonderful. Cuz it's weird, and it's wonderful.

This Unzipped Heart is the creation of Marie Segal, and you can find it in her Etsy shop.

Marie's polymer clay creations are diverse and amazing. I didn't even know she had these steampunk pieces until I went back to visit her shop earlier today to do this post. I was originally attracted to a completely different creation, one which has found a new home, her Laughing Woodland Creature pendant. I just love that face!


My next Fabulous Friday Find is another polymer clay creation, this one by Janice Abarbanel. Janice is a fellow member of Bead Art Originals, and I've long admired her work, frequently visiting her Etsy shop (Naftali).

Janice created a turquoise and brown urchin for one of the recent BAO color mosaics, and I really liked the texture of it. As much as I like turquoise and brown together, I forgot all about that one when I spotted this charcoal gray and silver urchin sitting in Janice's shop.

And then it was mine.

It arrived in today's mail, and it's GORGEOUS. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with it, but I love it. The colors. The texture. Gorgeous.

And mine. :-)
Never fear. She has more. In other colors, too.

Lest you think I spend all my time prowling around the halls of Etsy and Facebook, I also spend time prowling around Flickr. I honestly have no idea what I was searching for when I came across the work of photographer Kelsey B.

Kelsey is a photographer, and although the picture you see here is really cool, the ones I want you to check out are the ones in the set called My Face is a Canvas. Once you're there, you'll understand why. (I chose to link to the For the Love of Cherries photo in order to respect Kelsey's copyright - she has disabled downloading of her face pictures.)

Okay, I know I said I hang out in other places besides Etsy and Facebook, but I really do find fabulous things there! Jt look at this piece!!

My last Fabulous Friday Find for this week is a site one of my beady friends shared on Facebook. This amazing necklace/pendant was created by Joan Babcock in a technique called micro-macrame.

Remember macrame? Did you EVER think it could look this incredible?!?!

Seeing Joans creations makes me want to sign up for one of her classes (my friend Linda took one at Bead and Button, and I am envious). I'm planning to attend B&B next year, so I might just have to see if her classes are offered again...











Well, that's it for the Fabulous Friday Finds for this week. Thanks to those of you who commented that you missed my finds. Thanks to everyone who reads these and follows the links -- I'm sure the artists I show off here (most of whom I've never met) appreciate it. Enjoy!