Leaf carver in China uses special tools to carefully remove leaf surface without cutting or removing the veins to create these amazing works of art.
Creating leaf art is a long and complex process. The first step is to select mature leaves in the Autumn. Make sure they are in a good condition. Keep the leaves in a dry and shady place for at least 10 months.
Before the carving work, the leaves have to be boiled in high tempreture water for more than 5 hours to make sure the bacterias and small worms died. The boiling also reduces fragility during the carving process. When the surface of the leaves are removed, the carving part seems crystal and the veins are very clear to see.
After the carving work is finished, the leaves need to be dried carefully. This step is very difficult to control. 60% of the leaves will be broken in this process.
After the leaves carving artwork is dried, they need to be waxed to make sure they can be kept for very long time.
The finished product is thin like a cicada wing, and as soft as silk. An anti-aging treatment helps the leaves exceed the durability of thick paper.
Amazing Leaf Carving Artwork
Cardboard Cities by Andy Rudak
London-based still life advertising photographer Andy Rudak constructs these realistic city scenes completely out of cardboard and other fabricated materials for his personal project.
With the help of master set-builder Luke Aan de Wiel,and almost a full year of research, planning, design, and building, Andy recreated a full series of cardboard city views of London, New York, Mumbai, Paris and Tokyo.
"I knew I wanted the shots to portray a scene of serenity."
"I had decided I wanted these scenarios to be void of any obvious human presence so I used an animal for each shot as the main focal point. From this I was drawn to the idea of the taxidermy animals. I felt they were crucial to achieving the feeling of serenity I was after."
Each city is only about 4-5 feet high, but the sets appear almost realistic through the amazing cityscape details.
All images are © Copyright of Andy Rudak
Check his website: andyrudak.com and andyrudak.tumblr.com
With the help of master set-builder Luke Aan de Wiel,and almost a full year of research, planning, design, and building, Andy recreated a full series of cardboard city views of London, New York, Mumbai, Paris and Tokyo.
"I knew I wanted the shots to portray a scene of serenity."
"I had decided I wanted these scenarios to be void of any obvious human presence so I used an animal for each shot as the main focal point. From this I was drawn to the idea of the taxidermy animals. I felt they were crucial to achieving the feeling of serenity I was after."
Each city is only about 4-5 feet high, but the sets appear almost realistic through the amazing cityscape details.
All images are © Copyright of Andy Rudak
Check his website: andyrudak.com and andyrudak.tumblr.com
Cork Sculpture by Ciro Califano
Italian sculptor Ciro Califano creates incredible miniatures made of corks.
His latest masterpiece is a miniature replica of the Colosseum, made from 10,000 corks, which took him around two years to finish.
“My task is to revive the antiquity, the flavor of times long passed, the importance of a culture that threatens to disappear”.
All images are © Copyright of Luigi Pepe/ANSA
The Folded Book Art by Isaac G. Salazar
New Mexico book artist Isaac G. Salazar folding the pages of books to create new words out of old books.
The designs are made up of folded pages with minor cuts.
His inspiration comes from multiple things and places like browsing the used book section for titles that stand out to him.
"If the title of a book represents a positive and inspiring message that also meshes with the word or design I fold into the book, I can't help but feel that what I am creating is meant to be."
He likes to take a book that would otherwise end up in a landfill and turn it into art.
He rarely uses new books, unless commissioned to. This way, he gets a sense of satisfaction that his hobby can contribute to reducing waste.
"The reason I chose books as my medium is really because in this day and age of growing technology tablets, the book is slowly becoming a dying breed. There are so many books circulating in this world that it would be a true shame to see such "blank canvas's" being discarded."
"They may have out lived their life of providing someone with a wonderful story but their story doesn't have to end there. By turning these books into works of art and displaying inspiring words or symbols I feel that I provide a new life and purpose for the books and more importantly give people a reason to once again take a look at books in a new light."
"Each book has it's own set of difficulties, the more detailed the word or design the more complex the preparation. I have however had a few pieces that surprised me in how quickly I was able to complete them. The hardest book took me two weeks to complete, and the easiest was two days - though keep in mind I only work on these books in the evening and weekends, as I have a full time job."
Isaac Salazar's book art has appeared in magazines (like these following ad campaign for the Filigranes Librarie) across the globe, but it all started with the simple search for a hobby.
"I never imagined that my work would have generated such a positive impact."
"It gives me a great deal of pride knowing that my hobby provides inspiration, art and in a small way also helps the environment."
All images are © Copyright of Isaac G. Salazar
Check his website: http://www.isaacgsalazar.com/, http://www.etsy.com/shop/bookofart and http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookofart/
Source: website, huffingtonpost, reader's digest
The designs are made up of folded pages with minor cuts.
His inspiration comes from multiple things and places like browsing the used book section for titles that stand out to him.
"If the title of a book represents a positive and inspiring message that also meshes with the word or design I fold into the book, I can't help but feel that what I am creating is meant to be."
He likes to take a book that would otherwise end up in a landfill and turn it into art.
He rarely uses new books, unless commissioned to. This way, he gets a sense of satisfaction that his hobby can contribute to reducing waste.
"The reason I chose books as my medium is really because in this day and age of growing technology tablets, the book is slowly becoming a dying breed. There are so many books circulating in this world that it would be a true shame to see such "blank canvas's" being discarded."
"They may have out lived their life of providing someone with a wonderful story but their story doesn't have to end there. By turning these books into works of art and displaying inspiring words or symbols I feel that I provide a new life and purpose for the books and more importantly give people a reason to once again take a look at books in a new light."
"Each book has it's own set of difficulties, the more detailed the word or design the more complex the preparation. I have however had a few pieces that surprised me in how quickly I was able to complete them. The hardest book took me two weeks to complete, and the easiest was two days - though keep in mind I only work on these books in the evening and weekends, as I have a full time job."
Isaac Salazar's book art has appeared in magazines (like these following ad campaign for the Filigranes Librarie) across the globe, but it all started with the simple search for a hobby.
"I never imagined that my work would have generated such a positive impact."
"It gives me a great deal of pride knowing that my hobby provides inspiration, art and in a small way also helps the environment."
All images are © Copyright of Isaac G. Salazar
Check his website: http://www.isaacgsalazar.com/, http://www.etsy.com/shop/bookofart and http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookofart/
Source: website, huffingtonpost, reader's digest
Intricate Currency Collages by C.K. Wilde
Christopher (or C.K.) Wilde is a collagist who creates with currency.
Wilde painstakingly cuts various shapes out of paper money from around the world to form collages and then sealed it with wax.
Paper Tiger
Chickens today, feathers tomorrow
Pork
Cash Cow/ Sacred Chao
Behold!
Money Bee
Grasshopper
Ant
This is what you were born for (After Goya)
Strange fruit/ This is worse (After Goya)
Peasant with rice
Easily Parted
Drawing on water - The Hillenbrand Atlas
Worthless
Satyagraha-Portrait of Gandhi
Saturn Eating his children
Money on my mind on my money/Mental Wealth
Mesmeric Spiral
King Korn/ Amaizeing
Hirst's Castle 
Captivated -or- The only unicorn in the whole, wide, world 
Nothing - - - 
Nothing - 0 -
Nothing - 1 -
Images taken from here
