If it says “Lalique” on the bottom…don’t toss it out

A woman who bought a plant and vase for £1 at a car boot sale has sold the glass container for £32,000. The owner, who has not been named, thought the vase was junk and was about to throw it away but decided to have it valued on the Antiques Roadshow.

Sunday’s programme from Dumfries House, East Ayrshire, will see the 1929 vase valued at £25,000 – the most expensive piece of glass seen on the show.

It was created by French designer Rene Lalique and is unique as the mould was broken in the production process.

via Ananova -

“The French art world is in a frenzy…” Is that unusual?

The French art world is in a frenzy of speculation today after the strange discovery of three almost invisible drawings on the back of a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci in the Louvre museum.

The mysterious sketches, which were found when the painting, Virgin and Child With Saint Anne, was taken down for experts to determine whether it could be restored, may be by the Renaissance artist himself, according to the museum in Paris.

Although the discovery is reminiscent of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, art experts said that the drawings would not have contained a hidden message from the painter.

They say that Da Vinci sketched out his ideas on whatever came to hand, and might have used the planks of poplar wood that formed the backing for the work, which dates from the 1500s.

via Times Online.

School desk nativity scene

A school handyman has carved a complete Nativity scene from old classroom desks.

Chris Reeves used a pile of 1960′s science desks destined for the tip to create amazing wooden figurines of Mary, Joseph, and Angel Gabriel.

The crib took two months to complete and will now be blessed by a priest.

via More at Ananova

Mountain Magic Originals

As anyone who reads Oldster’s View regularly knows, I only very rarely endorse anything but I was recently sent several images of art done by Richard Carpenter of Mountain Magic Originals and to say I was impressed would be an understatement. The pictures below are examples of Richard’s work.

This life size bear is made from thousands of pine needles and took eight months to complete.

Closeup of the pine needle bear

Moose antler carving

You’ll find lots more examples of Richard’s work, including many more carvings and jewelry at his web site, Mountain Magic Originals. Good stuff. Look it up.

Woo-woo rock

Link to COAST TO COAST AM

There was a lot of excitement recently in the “Woo-woo” community over a carved rock, found in the vicinity of Rozwell, New Mexico, that was deemed to be of extraterrestrial manufacture. According to one university geologist interviewed by Linda Howe, it would be impossible to carve it with any human tools. Why she chose a university geologist, and not a stone carver or artist, to ask that question is unclear. In any case there is an artist in the Pacific Northwest who begs to differ with the professor and has the rocks to prove his point.

Alien Carving? Nope.

I am an artist in the Pacific NW who works with glass and occasionally stone. These are some examples of carvings I’ve done since seeing photos of the Roswell Rock. People who I show them to often respond – “but do they spin under a magnet?” The answer is yes. Most of my latest pieces have been carefully chosen for that purpose. There has to be a correct ratio between the weight of the rock and the pull of the magnet. Clockwise and counterclockwise rotation is all about shape – the ones that are too symmetrical have no interest in spinning, they are better off somewhat lopsided.

–Ron Branch

Art from flotsam and beach garbage

The Japan Times Online

The studio of potter Shigeaki Higuchi faces the Pacific on the coast at Shirahama in Minami Boso City [Japan}. Between the shore and his modest atelier there’s only a local road and a line of bushes where deep-blue morning glories were already in full bloom when I visited last month. The sky was clear and the sea breeze there at the southern tip of the Boso Peninsula was a delight as the sun bore down on that early-summer day.

Peaceful as it is — and beautiful, with shirahama literally meaning “white beach” — this remote extremity of Chiba Prefecture is a well-known holiday destination located near Tateyama City.

But Higuchi, a Shirahama resident since 1979, knows another face of the popular beach: its garbage.

“One day about eight years ago,” he recalled, “I found piles of rubbish along the shore, and I was shocked. I thought that something had to be done.”

But instead of campaigning for the environment, Higuchi took an artistic approach to the problem and began collecting junk from the beach and turning it into works of art.

More of Mr Higuchi’s art is here.

If I had a hammer… I still couldn’t do this.

Lots more at stone age rock art | Mail Online

More than 100 elaborate carvings dating back thousands of years have been discovered on rocks and boulders in the North of England.

The Neolithic art – found at several sites across Durham and Northumberland – includes a series of intricate designs of concentric circles, interlocking rings and hollowed cups.