Curiomira

Common Swedish Mole-Gnome

2011-12-22T07:01:00.000-08:00

The Common Swedish Mole-Gnome is most often found on the island of Gotland in sothern Sweden, where the islanders commonly know them as "Di sma undir jordi" or "the little ones under the earth" In difference to the House gnome, the Mole-gnome shun all humans and live in complex underground tunnels. Carl Linnaeus notes in his "Om Svearikes oknytt och småfolk" that a ancient rivalry exists between the two types of gnome.

This was little guy was fun to do, I thought it was about time to try and make something that wasn't mummified or dead in any other form.
I used what material i had at hand. the flesh parts where sculpted in i Super Sculpey and painted with several thin layers of paint.
Nails and teeth where where made of plastic and the clothing was made from some leather scraps and an old sock. His boots partly consist of paper from an old prayer book. and is cap is an old brass lamp fitting. He was mounted in a glassed box but it proved impossible to get a good photo of it with reflections and bad lightning.
He was given as a Christmas present and from what i heard he was appreciated.

The Girl And The Siren

2011-11-23T06:39:00.001-08:00

After almost a year of hard work we are almost finished with our stopmotion film, just a few post-production tweeks left. We hope to have the premier at Gothenburg filmfestival in Febuary. A big thanks goes out to the awesome people who took part in the making of this 17minute saga!

Jakob Arevärn- http://www.arevarn.se
Ludvig Orvegård- http://orvegaard.blogspot.com/
Anneli Larsson- http://annelimvlarsson.blogspot.com
Audio Alliance- http://www.audioalliance.se/

Follow us on our Facebook page!- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Flickan-Sirenen/140845226022738?sk=wall

Se Teaser trailer below!

Flickan & Sirenen Teaser ( The Girl & the Siren Teaser) from Jakob Arevärn on Vimeo.

Been busy...

2011-07-21T02:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not updating this blog for such a long time, but making a stop-motion movie is quite an undertaking, we're about half way trough now so I think it would be in order to show some stills.

I'm very pleased with the overall design and feel we managed to capture. The hard thing is to keep motivation up when you're working 10-15 hour a day 7 days of the week...

I also have some vampire hunting accessories in the making, but more on that later...

Heavy- Music video

2011-03-05T17:17:00.001-08:00

Before Christmas I made the props for Lauri Ylönen's (known from The Rasmus) newly released music video.

The props included a crazy one-man-band rig, a periscope, a hand puppet, a cage, a window, puppet hatching form an egg... I hope for more crazy work like this in the future.

The shoot was great fun too, despite having the occasional cockroach crawling up my arm.

I even did a bit of puppeteering.

Thanks to director Owe Lingvall and good luck to Lauri with his solo career!

Stop-motion time!

2011-02-10T05:06:00.000-08:00

I have just started my examination project at school. Together with production Design student Cristoffer Ålund I will be making a one-of-a-kind stopmotion film. It's gonna be a lot of work and a lot of fun, as per usual... follow the process on this blog http://focus.gscept.com/seebreeze/

Metropolis firefighter helmet

2011-01-14T12:25:00.000-08:00

A school project done over a year ago now, finally come around to post some pics...

I wanted to do a non military helmet in an Art Deco, Metropolis style. the base of it is made from a heat-and-shape sheet material called Airex. The helmet was used in this music vid too- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFEMmsdLteY Hope you like!

Théâtre Mécanique

2010-10-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while. It's some sort of mechanical theatre, or Kinetoscope. or at least, that's what it's suppose be.

it was made as a prop for a music video for the Norwegian band Tristania. Many thanks to director Jakob Arevärn for giving me creative freedom with this.

It's so rewarding to see things you made with the right set and light, even if the music could be better...

Anatomy and clay

2010-08-18T07:17:00.000-07:00

Spent the whole summer sculpting, I took a two part course of anatomical sculpting. first we made an écorché, a 75cm tall anatomical figure featuring every single bone and muscle in the body. the second half was to make a sculpture from your own mind. this is the result.

Many thanks to our talented teacher Jim Vikström who boosted my anatomical knowlege by several hundred percent.

In other news...

2010-06-27T06:22:00.000-07:00

I've done my first commercial job, I made the props for a music video to the Finnish metal band Circle of Contempt. I only had about three weeks to make this crazy "board game" thing.

I pretty much had free hands with the design, and did what i could with scrap, old dolls and anything else fit for recycling.

It's a bit of a nod to the surreal animations of the Brothers Quay.

There were a ton of mechanical effects controlled with magnets, wires, rods and stop-motion.

It's not really my kind of music but you can watch the finished video below-

Do you believe in fairies?

2010-03-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

Specimen found by Mrs. Rosalyde Wright, Cottingley. April 1874.

This is the latest commission I've made, and the second "fairy in jar" I'm very pleased with the result, and the way the design of the jar and the fairy work well together. hope you like it aswell.

Props n' stuff

2010-02-28T12:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the recent lack of posts, Iv'e been quite busy. As I have mentioned before I'm studying to become a prop-maker and I don't have much time for private projects these days, I have one commission in the workings though, but more about that later.

Anyway, I thought I share some of the stuff I've been making at school, not much of it is actually finished but it's better than nothing I guess...

This is a 17th century mechanical womb, made for breeding evil gnomes (of curse) It's huge and was great fun to make.

Anteater head, sculpted in clay and later casted in latex and now in the excruciating process of being "furred" .

Helmet, still unfinished, made of Air-x and plaster. Kinda Art-deco/metropolis inspired.

I also took part in the making of this most wickedly overcomplicated toilet paper dispenser.

I have also made a post-apocolyptic tommy-gun, a Art nouveau lamp, a medivial table, a bookshelf, the characters in this stopmotion film - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufxrb9B3-rM and some other whatnots.

The Redcap

2009-12-08T15:15:00.000-08:00

Robin Redcap, goblin fiend. Captured at Hermitage castle, Scotland.

This was a commissioned work, Newest in the line of tiny dead creatures. a Redcap goblin.

as usual I wanted to create a sense of realism, a feral, dirty, ragged goblin who lived by eating rats and insects in the cellar of old Scottish castle. Caught and enshrined century's ago.

I tried to go as far from fantasy as I could and more towards folklore and old forgotten fairytales, partly inspired by Hieronymus Bosch paintings and Inca mummy's.

Sneak Peek

2009-11-01T09:08:00.000-08:00

The finger Hook

2009-10-11T08:03:00.000-07:00

There is a number of ways to recycle the human for practical purposes, this is one of them, the Finger Hook, coat, hat, or umbrella hanger.... with character!

This was only a little fun piece done to pass time (and because I needed somewhere to hang my umbrella). Stay tuned, I have a big project in the workings, I might post some Work In Progress pics, sooner or later.

Dracula, Strindberg and WW1

2009-09-05T07:10:00.000-07:00

Ok, here comes some random stuff I made, It's a bit different from my usual works but I hope you find it interesting nonetheless.

The three first items was made as admission tests (not sure if that's the right word) for school.

A sculpted portrait of the vampire Dracula, and two of his belongings.

I based my Dracula design on how he is portrayed in Stokers book, with the rarely seen mustache.

This is a memorial altar to Draculas wife, containing a treasured hearlock, and a portrait.

And these are the sun-goggles of the Vampire lord, should he be forced to move around at daytime.

A Sculpted portrait of the famous Swedish writer August Strindberg, (just for fun!)

And last but not least a character for a WW1 Stop-Motion move I once planed to realise. Maybe some day...

The Preacher

2009-08-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

(gaah! I just realised I forgot to paint eyelashes on that eye!)

This is the most resent thing I've done, It was kind of a experiment. I wanted to try and make something a bit different and more abstract. I was thinking about making a whole series of these, each based around an old photograph and the unknown person depicted, each very different. But I'm not sure... will see.

As I said, this is the last of my completed projects, and tomorrow I'm moving to the other side of the country to study, and hopefully become a professional prop-maker. I'm not sure how much time I'll have for my personal projects and I won't be able to bring all of my tools and materials so the things I make probably won't be as complicated as some of my other stuff, but ensure you I have lots of interesting ideas I want to realise- Hubertus deer relic, the Swedenborgian Eye and many other yet-to-be-named projects.

Anyway, just so you know, It's probably gonna be a while before I post again.

Memento Mori Music box

2009-08-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

The tune is Charles Gounod's "Funeral march for a marionette"

This is one of my latest projects, It's actually a combination of many different ideas i had, I wanted to make something that was slightly paradoxical, macabre and beautiful at the same time, surreal and realistic. A blind dance of death and dreams. And the classical Memento Mori theme.

The Idea of making a music box really appealed to me, to speak to the ears and not only the eyes.

It's made up of all kinds of materials, wood, plaster, cardboard and clay, to mention a few. The feet are real skeleton from a row-deer and the skull is from a small bird. the style borrows both from rococo, art nouveau and a lot from my own mind of course.

Von Richt's mechanical glove

2009-08-09T02:46:00.000-07:00

Dr. Hugo Von Richt's mechanical glove for experimental Phrenoscalpoteraputic treatment - Von Richt Institution, 1860's.

And a video to show how it works...

This is probably the most complicated project I've done, I started it over a year ago, inspiered by 19th century finger exercisers, then it was put on the shelf until I finally decided to give It a go again.

It's made mostly of leather and brass. It has endless hours of grinding, filing, and sanding put into it, the hardest thing was to actually make it fit my hand, and be functional,this was achieved mostly by trial and error (and a lot pain for my fingers!) It still need some minor adjustments. But I really like how it turned out, and I hope you do too.

And I also got a flickr site now at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiomira You are welcome to visit.

Deus ex Arca

2009-08-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

Salesman's box for genetically engineered pets, Rigor Weertman & Sons, The Cristogonus Corperation.

This one is a bit special, not only because it took very long to make and is the biggest thing I've made, but it's also the only piece that isn't based on history, but rather on a future to come, or an alternative reality..

It's made to both be serious and have a dark sense of humor. The box includes - Two taxidermy specimens, A fetus in the making (for demonstration purposes), a small lamp that folds up, ordering forms, eye and fur samples etc.

Swedish Hustomte

2009-07-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

The Naturally mummified body of a swedish "Hustomte" or housegnome. dated 1866.

Yes, it's another tiny dead man! Hustomten comes from scandinavian folklore and is a gnome that is said help the farmer and cares for the lifestock, he has a fierce temperament and is very traditional. If he gets upset he will bring misery to the household.

It's been some time since i made this, but I still like it alot, It was fun to make something based on the folklore from my own country. the whole box measures - 27cm/10.6 inches.

The label reads- "This litte housegnome was found by my father, Jan Peter Peterson, in the winter of 1866 inside the old barn wall. He was already lifeless."

Shrunken Head

2009-07-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

Tsatsa, or shrunken head, Ecuador-ca 1870. With stand.

This is my associate Ed, He's actually made mostly of clay and a dolls wig. then painted and given an aged, leathery skin finish. (but don't tell him that) The stand is wood and brass.

The smallest man

2009-07-10T12:34:00.001-07:00

The embalmed body of the smallest man who ever lived, enshrined in a decorative case of painted wood, walnut and glass. Merrick & Hertz freakshow USA - 1912

Sorry for the delay but I've been very busy. This one was great fun to make, and took many turns and twists during the process, I particularity enjoyed using some colours for a change and do some decorative painting, sewing a tiny, tiny suit was less amusing.... But the end result is one of my favourites so far.
the whole shrine measures 13,5x16 Inches (34x41cm)

soon...

2009-06-24T07:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the resent lack of posts, i still have a whole bunch of stuff waiting to be uploaded.
But unfortunately my computer crashed a few days ago. Plus the fact I'm very busy preparing for a small exhibition starting in a few days.
But i promise i will soon be back on track.

(Och ett stort tack till alla trevliga människor som besökt min lilla utställning, hoppas vi ses igen.)

Faunus

2009-06-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

The taxidermy head of a small faun killed by a Spanish shoemaker in 1772.

Dr Lyall's Fairy

2009-06-06T04:55:00.000-07:00

Unidentified specimen collected by David Lyall 4/10. 1842. Glenshee, Scotland

Sorry for the delay, but I had to update this one before posting it here, This is now the third (and hopefully last) fairy to go in the jar, all improvements have been made and I'm very pleased with the result. For me It illustrates mans brutal relationship with nature and occupies the paradoxal (and utterly fascinating) line between science and magic.

The Laughing Devil

2009-05-24T03:17:00.000-07:00

This is the first and so far only commission I've done. It's based on a hyena, the features are slightly exaggerated to make it look more fearsome and not too much like a dog. the client wanted It to look both dangerous and a bit cute at the same time.

It was fun to make, quite tiresome to glue on all that fur, but still...

The Faustian cross

2009-05-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

The physical manifestation of a lesser daemon, bound in a wooden cross.

Whatever you do, don't break the glass!

Loup Garou

2009-05-21T06:14:00.000-07:00

The head of the dreaded beast of Gévaudan, along with the silverbullet that slayed it.

This one was a lot of work mainly because it's size and the fact that i had two glue on hundreds of tiny hairs. The bullet is a bit hard to see, but it's encased behind glass in the middle of the cross. It's tricky to make stuffed things, you have to make it look real, but not too alive. Since this I have made a couple more hunting trophies, they will come later.

Sorry for the bad photos...

The Kosmos Brenner

2009-05-20T03:35:00.000-07:00

The 1878 Ebenhard Kosmos Brenner - optical raygun prototype

This is the first more serious project i embarked upon about two years ago . A Steampunk raygun. Complete with Battery and protective glasses. It's made of brass, glass, and walnut for the handle, the box is dark stained oak with velvet lining.

I made it when I first found out about the steampunk genre. I love the combination of Victorian aesthetic and futuristic technology, and it was fun to design a gun. It's also made entirely of recycled materials, found in my dads workshop, old scrap piles or even dug out of the ground.

Although I'm a bit feed up with the Steam theme nowadays, I have one or two more older works that could fall under the genre.

Hello!

2009-05-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

First of all excuse my English, I'm Swedish, but will try to keep this international. This blog is meant to serve as a stand-in until I (some day, hopefully) get myself a proper homepage. Here I will post pictures of my ”art”... or whatever you like to call it.

All of my creations you see here are built from scratch, including woodwork, sculpting, painting, metalwork...ect. There are very few, if any. pre-finished parts. Each piece has many weeks, or even months of blood, sweat, and hard thinking put into it. It's my ambition to make the unreal as realistic as possible and the fantastic believable.

Every creation is meant to tell a story to the viewer, or act as the ignition spark to your own imagination.

It's worth noting that Im not the worlds best photographer, and these things can be quite hard to photograph, they are many times better in the real world. But I will do my best

Well, Well, more to come...