The Alphabet & Northwest Native Flora and Fauna Carved Into Crayons by Diem Chau.

In honor of her gallery showing at the G. Gibson Gallery in Seattle, artist Diem Chau has carved yet another amazing set of crayons. This time, it's the complete alphabet along with flora and fauna (and a person or two) corresponding to each of the 26 letters and all related to the Great Northwest.


above: N for Northern Spotted Owl, from all angles

An incredible amount of work went into these carvings and Diem says she had a lot of fun learning about her native species, some are which were favorites and others were completely new to her.


above: D for Dogwood, from all angles

Letters A-G:

A is for Aquilegia (Columbine)
B is for Bald Eagle
C is for Cougar
D is for Dogwood
E is for Elk
F is for Fox
G is for Grizzly Bear


above: B is for Bald Eagle, from all angles

Letters H-M:

H is for Heron
I is for Iris
J is for Juniper
K is for Killer Whale
L is for Lynx
M is for Mountain Goat

Letters N-T:

N is for Northern Spotted Owl
O is for Otter
P is for Painted Turtle
Q is for Quinault Tribe
R is for Rhododendron
S is for Salmon
T is for Timberwolf


above: O is for Otter, from all angles

Letters U-Z:

U is for Urchin
V is for Viola
W is for Wolf Eel
X is for Xanthogrammica (Giant Green Anemone)
Y is for Yuma myotis (Vesper Bat)
Z is for Zapus princeps (Western Jumping Mouse)


above: V is for Vesper Bat, from all angles

The entire set will be on view at an upcoming show in Seattle.


Diem Chau
A-Z: Northwest Natives
August 30th - October 12th, 2013
Artist Reception: Thursday, Sept. 5th, 6-8pm
G. Gibson Gallery
300 S. Washington Street
Seattle, WA 98104
(206) 587-4033

Dollar Store Animals. A Series by Artist and Art Director Doug Pederson.

Minneapolis based artist and art director Doug Pederson, whose futureglyphs recently graced the cover of this year’s Communication Arts Typography Annual, dabbles in other mediums as well. One of his projects, Dollar Store Animals, combines miniature plastic animals with melted crayons for a surprisingly beautiful result.









Signed and numbered prints of these Dollar Store Animals are available for purchase. Just contact Doug here.

Be sure to see all of Doug Pederson's work at his website

Star Wars Carved Crayons; Darth, Chewbacca, C3PO and StormTrooper

above: photo by Mark Merlot.

Although these carved crayons were not made by Diem Chau, whose many crayola sculptures I've shared with you in the past, the Star Wars Crayolas were made by Steve Thompson and have been featured on many a geek and sci-fi blog. If you haven't seen them, here's a good look:






But where's the green Yoda??

Human Crayons, Plaster Heads & Lip Jewelry By Designer Heli Hietala

I have already shared with you the fabulous carved crayola crayons by Diem Chau. Now, here's another artist/designer who has crafted human-shaped colored crayons.



COLOURS by designer Heli Kristina Hietala are crayons shaped as the human figure. The intent was to show the results of involvement between characters and how communication can range from soft, stimulating, balancing or dirtying (the designers words), depending upon the character which is chosen.

For the 2005 project, she created about 100 crayons, packed in 10 boxes which contain 10 pieces each.





Heli uses the human form, head and facial characteristics in several of her other unusual works as well. Her 2009 "Spirits of Medicine" consist of 30 plaster cast heads, each placed in medical prescription bottles.




And some of her jewelry designs incorporate castings of full feminine lips like the bracelet and tin rings shown below:



See more of her work here.

Nike World Cup Players Carved In Crayons By Diem Chau

Our favorite crayon carver and artist, Diem Chau, about whose unusual art I have blogged before here and here, just had a super cool assignment from ad agency Wieden + Kennedy.

She was commissioned by them to carve 66 crayons for this year's Nike World Cup press kits. "This project was a welcomed challenge" says Chau, "I definitely pushed my physical limits. I had 18 days to make around 70 crayons! There was a week I slept 3 hours a night."

Using metallic crayons and white for the first time, Chau immortalized six footballers in Crayola for 11 Nike press kits. Here are the results.

The design team at Wieden Kennedy made the box, base and contents, while Diem Chau made the crayons for the press kits from Nike for World Cup 2010. W+K also chose the colors, a metallic/stone theme. Diem had never worked with metallics or white before and now is a big fan of the silver and white crayons.

The Nike Press Kit

The press kit contains each of the six carved figures, a wooden box that also serves as a display stand, a colored brochure and all are in a clamshell presentation box.





The 6 figures that are in each kit.


In the final version Robinho (far left in Silver) sticks his tongue out slightly and Rooney (Grey) has his arm folded instead of raised above his head. Diem says she wishes she could have captured Rooney's signature pose, but it was impossible considering the form of a crayon.

Fabio Cannavaro in Antique Brass from Crayola. This color was introduced in 1998 in the 120 box set:



Didier Drogba in Copper from Crayola. This color was introduced in 1957 and is Charles Schulz's favorite color from Crayola:



Franck Ribery in Gold from Crayola. The color was introduced in 1949 in the 48 box set:



Robinho in Silver from Crayola. This color was introduced with Gold in 1949 in the 48 box set:



Cristiano Ronaldo in White from Crayola. Introduced in the Studio & School 12 box in 1903:



Wanye Rooney in Timberwolf from Crayola. Introduced in 1993 in the Big Box of 96:


Press kit photos courtesy of Wieden + Kennedy, individual crayon carvings courtesy of Diem Chau.

Now, if you haven't seen the Nike Ballman for the 2010 World Cup, learn about him here.