Teeny Stuff

Structures and sculptures that are tiny in scale are engaging: dioramas, miniatures, dollhouses, models, snow globes, terrariums ... I think it's because of the range of responses they can create in the observer: on one hand, they can draw you in to a new miniature parallel world ... on the other, they can make you feel like an outside entity: completely removed and all-perceiving.

Take the miniature dramatic art of Lori Nix,



Jonah Samson's (Dark and Dirty) Dioramas,



and the amazing works of Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz. They include tiny islands:



... and snow globes:



When the sculptures / structures also have a tactile component, there is an added bonus of being able to engage both your senses of sight and touch. For example, it's hard to see a snow globe without wanting to pick it up and shake it, or look at this "Room Box" of a bake shop and candy store and not want to hold one of the tiny cakes:



A closer look:





In a lot of ways, the miniature arts are limited only by the imagination.

Make the world's smallest orange,


a terrarium in a mini Tabasco bottle,


a castle inside a lightbulb diorama,


... or decorate your ceiling with a parallel world, like artist Ji Lee: "People decorate their walls and floors, but most of them overlook their ceilings. It's such a waste of vast space. So I started to install miniature parallel worlds on the ceilings."

The Interactive World of Pop-ups

I love pop-up books. There are so many things to love: whether it be the childhood nostalgia, their hacking of space through manipulation of scale and perception, an ability to transport you to another world, or their simple interactivity. Pop-ups encompass a realm of creativity and tactile awareness that is irresistible.

Take this Alice and Wonderland pop-up for example. Looking at this, I can't help but be transported to both a different time and a different world.

Something seemingly simple, like reciting the alphabet or a light can become wonderfully complex, like with the book ABC3D or Ken Ishiguro's pop-up light.

They can be a fantastic creative outlet, like this band tapped into for its music video. Or, they can increase your depth of understanding, as with these pop-ups about habitat and space or classic and modern architecture.

You can also use them to safely explore your fears (whether common phobias ... or specific to zombies, perhaps?). Or you can learn more about human anatomy, the facts of life, or sexuality.

There seem to be endless possibilities. For more examples, just check out The Fellowship of Pop-up Books, the Pop-Up Book of Celebrity Meltdowns, and the fun they had with a pop-up Photoshop contest over at Something Awful.