Nelly Alvarez Aranda

This is some of the enchanting work of Nelly Alvarez Aranda. Here work combines materials and techniques, and much of it is on the theme of the interaction of humans and the natural world. If you would like to see more of her surprising and delightful work, her blog is dibujos en el agua 

Couve do Mar

Here is the piece "Mademoiselle L joue au Baccarat" on the Couve do Mar blog. This constitutes a chapter in the story of Mademoiselle L - she is also recorded in in other pieces as having played at other games of chance and having been on Safari. Other characters and places are introduced in other necklaces, or "droplets", as their maker calls them (there is one titled "London Subway revisited"). 

Beth Hahn

Beth Hahn knits small scale sweaters, in part as a way to figure out the physics of sweaters for humans. She also does lovely, sensitive watercolor illustrations. 

You can download the pattern for the sweater on the little creature above at Ravelry, linked from her blog, Willow Rosa Knits.

The Lazy Bird catches the worm

For details, see video on the feltbug blog.

The Fabric of Meditation

This fable in cloth is by Sara Lechner at Fabric of Meditation. Many of her pieces seem to have narrative and (very dear) characters involved in journeys or in contemplation. Her work is inspirational and the components seem to flow together to make a whole. This piece, which Sara says is about both the process of maturation and about how we make our own prisons, reminds me of William Blake's

A robin redbreast in a cage

Puts all Heaven in a rage

     

and also of  Yeats' Holy Thursday

'Twas on Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,

Came children walking two and two, in red, and blue, and green...

Dog Daisy Chains

Here are are two joyfully dancing protozoans which also suggests illuminated capitals from the book of Kells (with a little Miro thrown in), the top is a brooch and the one at bottom is for display on canvas - seen on Dog Daisy Chains. I love their organic lively quality. Her wonderfully witty creations are available in her Etsy Store, and she has tutorials  in Machine embroidery and silk paper making on her site.

Tiny Trees

Here is an image from Lakewood Daily Snap of a mosaic tree in Dentist Dr. Cliffel's office, by his wife or daughter Martha. It's not so tiny, but its inhabitants are quite small. I suppose it could be a sort of family tree. If you'd like to see some more tiny trees, here are some bonsai. Also vaguely related, a link to Monty Python's "I like Chinese", a reduction of a culture thousands of years old to a short list of clichés by an amiably clueless berk, which contains the line "I like their tiny little trees".

Furnishing the mouse house

Tushtush has  cheerful mice for sale in her etsy shop.
She also has a very small canvas (about the size of a hand) for sale there. I have heard that historically Chinese and Indian people had less back/osteoporosis issues than Westerners, and this  handsome painting seems to make a case for floor-sitting (I just straightened up at my computer). 

       If you must have a chair to go with this lovely painting, here is one that is just for looking, not sitting, in jocelyn gayle's shop on etsy

Playmobil at O Mighty Crisis

Isn't this delightful?  There are more on the O Mighty Crisis blog, there is nothing, apparently, that toys gone bad don't get into. Beware the Tiny!

Power Word Fold

This amazing origami figure is from the Power Word Fold blog - Blog proprietor Wolf has included a diagram for making the figure, as well as other origami designs. The diagrams themselves are beautiful abstract designs in themselves, and he  has many links to other Origami sites. On his other blog, Wolf's Junkyard, he has inventive things to do with LEDs, Including a miniature Starship Enterprise.

Ginga Squid

Isn't this wonderful? It is the diamond bud ring made by ginga squid , it looks to me like a fertility goddess but also like a small life form you'd see in a tide pool.  And that is a real airplant in the crown chakra area of the little creature!

This is her triffid ring - a sort of miniature cosmos of diverse elements that you would not think would ever be combined into a whole.

 Check out her wonderfully witty and sensuous wearable small sculptures - it will make your day.

Bent Objects

This is from the extraordinary Bent Objects blog , which I found out about through the Superpunch blog. The About me paragraph on Bent Objects states: "when you stop caring whether people think you're crazy or not, you can get a lot done". This blog makes theatre out of ordinarily inanimate objects with a a little wire and lighting, and has an extraodinary emotional range - some are silly and some are quite touching. some have fairly eleaborate sets and some are put together on the fly (you'll have to go to the site if you want to see the firebug, one of my favorites). He has a book of these wonderful works coming out soon, available for pre-order on Amazon.

Ann Wood Theatre

This is Ann Wood's theatre diorama. It repays close examination, in the way that small things do. She makes wonderful birds which are available in her shop, and ships that one can only dream of sailing away on.