Fabulous Graphic Art Flasks & Wallets Made With Duct Tape From JDuct

I know you've seen products made from duct tape, but chances are they are not as well crafted or as cute as the fabulous flasks [and wallets] made by Portland based jduct. Using colored duct tape as graphic art, jduct decorates 4" x 4" stainless steel flasks with iconic imagery of everything from toys and trends to skulls and witty sayings.









They make duct tape wallets too in many of the same designs plus more!



shop for the flasks and wallets here

Those Crazy Leaf Carvings; What, How & Where To Buy Or Create Custom Ones.

In the past year, several sites (Treehugger, Toxel and Neatorama to name a few) have shown images of the asian art of leaf carving and more recently the Gblog from Gessato via lost at e minor, posted about the leaves again which got me wondering if you could have custom images made (the answer is yes, as you will see later in this post).

The tacky artworks have their kitsch appeal especially when it comes to using them to showcase religious and celebrity imagery.



Whether it's the Virgin Mary, Obama, Marilyn Monroe, Victorian Silhouettes or a tourist leaf selling Amish Country, the carved leaves seem to elicit a certain fascination.

















Custom Carved Leaves
You can actually have custom ones made from a photo or purchase previously carved leaves for about $25.00 from several sites (links at the end of this post).




How Do They Do It?
The Sixty Step Process


above: Huang Taisheng, master leaf carver at work

Creating leaf art is a long and complex process. Leaves are put through a 60 step process such as, manually cutting and removing the outer surface of the leaf while leaving the leafs veins intact which add detail into the subject matter of the carving. Pressing, curing and dying are also just a few of the steps needed to prepare the leaf.





Talented artist using magnifying glass, then skillfully carve their masterpiece by hand. No painting or printing is involved. The most common leaf used in leaf carving is the leaf of a Chinar tree, which is native to India, Pakistan and China. Chinar leaves closely resemblance the leaf of a maple tree:



Where To Buy Them:
Several websites will make custom leaf carvings from your own photo or sell already carved leaves in various Western and Asian themes.

http://www.foliagesart.com/Products.asp

http://www.leafcarvingart.com/

http://www.longal-craft.com/leaf-carving-art.html

http://stores.far-eastgifts.com/-strse-Art-of-Leaf-Carving/Categories.bok

Thanks to the above links for images and information.

The Best Halloween Costume Ever! Banksy's Flower Thrower Comes To Life.

The Design Director of San Franscisco's Y Studios, Pittsburgh born George Schnakenberg III, gets my vote for the best Halloween costume I've seen in years. With ample design skills and impressive execution, George turned one of stencil street artist Banksy's most famous works, The Flower Thrower, into a full costume designed to emulate the 2D image.


above: George created the flat looking outfit by creating black and white shadows on his pants, hoodie, bandana and gloves.


The original artwork by Banksy:

Matching the prop:


Throughout the Halloween evening, George had photos of himself taken with various friends and in various environments (please note, I have cropped and adjusted the lighting and levels on some of these images for greater visibility):





George even made up his face to emulate the stencil art:

and managed to eat:


Nice work George!
You've set the bar really high and I can't wait to see what you do next Halloween.

all images courtesy of George Schnakenberg III