3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

The Bottled Smoke Artworks of Jim Dingilian
Canadian Company Invents Scratch-and-Sniff Jeans for Men
Man Spends 25 Years, $10,000 Making Himself an Egyptian-Style Coffin
Sweden’s Classroom-Free School – The Future of Education?

The Bottled Smoke Artworks of Jim Dingilian

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 03:21 AM PST

Jim Dingilian is one of those rare artists who stretch the limits of creativity with their amazing creations. He uses candle smoke to paint picture-perfect images on the inside of empty bottles.

"The miniature scenes I depict are of locations on the edge of suburbia which seem mysterious or even slightly menacing despite their commonplace nature. The bottles add to the implied narratives of transgression. When found by the sides of roads or in the weeds near the edges of parking lots, empty liquor bottles are artifacts of consumption, delight, or dread. As art objects, they become hourglasses of sorts, their drained interiors now inhabited by dim memories" Jim Dingilian says bout his art. How he manages to create such detailed images inside the bottle remains a mystery, but I’m thinking he uses some sort of slim tool to scratch at the candle smoke. Still, how he manages to keep a steady hand and work through that narrow bottle hand is beyond me.

The Bottled Smoke Artworks of Jim Dingilian was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Canadian Company Invents Scratch-and-Sniff Jeans for Men

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 02:19 AM PST

When I was a kid, scratch-and-sniff stickers were the rage. We had all kinds of flavors and odors back then. While I have no idea if kids these days are still into such things, it does seem the in-thing for grown men, not with stickers, but jeans! Last week, a Canadian company launched a brand new line of scratch-and-sniff jeans.

Naked & Famous Denim, a company based in Montreal, has introduced the jeans at a price of $150. What's special about them is that they smell like raspberry candy, when scratched. Unfortunately, the smell does fade over time, and you'll be left with just a regular pair of denim pants. According to designer and company founder Brandon Svarc, the scent will last through at least five washings. But he says it shouldn't be much of a problem since many of their male customers don't wash their jeans very often, and some never wash them at all.

If you think scratch-and-sniff jeans are crazy, wait till you hear some of the other wacky products Naked & Famous Denim have come up with. They have strange names for pant sizes, like SkinnyGuy, WeirdGuy and SlimGuy. Their most interesting product till date is glow-in-the-dark jeans. Svarc says that they just like to make fun and special products that make customers smile. Next season, they plan to introduce the scented jeans for women too. I'm buying!

Canadian Company Invents Scratch-and-Sniff Jeans for Men was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Man Spends 25 Years, $10,000 Making Himself an Egyptian-Style Coffin

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 02:08 AM PST

People making their own coffin isn’t new to us here at OC. But the story of Fred Guentert sure is. Because he's been building himself a coffin that's fit for an Egyptian pharaoh – for the past 25 years.

Guentert, who is now 89 years old, has kept himself occupied for about a quarter of a century with his unusual hobby. And he sure does have something to show for it. The coffin he is to be buried in someday is 7 feet long and weighs 300 pounds. It is made of cedar and hand-painted in royal colors like gold, red, green and black. A hand-carved image of the Egyptian god Osiris adorns the lid. Near the base, you can see a colorful image of Isis. The interior has been decorated with a full-size painting of Nut – the sky goddess. On one side of the box is the Eye of Horus, looking on intently.

Photo © Orlando Sentinel

Needless to say, Guentert has harbored a lifelong passion for all things Egyptian. The year of his birth, 1922, coincides with the year that King Tutankhamen's tomb was discovered. Guentert has a huge collection of Egyptian memorabilia which are all displayed in a back room of his house. 10 years ago, he even visited Egypt, and his collection includes several books on the history and culture of ancient Egypt. So it's only natural that Guentert wanted the passion that started with his birth, to be remembered after his death as well. Having had no previous experience with woodwork, he taught himself the basics of the craft. After a great deal of meticulous planning, he created the masterpiece coffin using chisels, sandpaper and files. The box is held together by dowels and glue. To make sure the coffin fits, he has been crazy enough to actually lie down in it a few times. But he makes sure his wife isn’t around when he does that, because that would just freak her out.

Photo © Orlando Sentinel

Joyce, Guentert's 73-year-old wife, doesn’t share his passion for Egypt. But the coffin doesn’t bother her one bit. In fact, she likes that it keeps him busy and out of her way at times. She actually asks him to go work on the box when she feels he's being too difficult.

Gunetert has laid out other plans for his funeral as well, apart from just the elaborate coffin. His wish is that his body be wrapped in a shroud and embalmed, before being placed in the box he built. His face is to be covered with a fiberglass mask of the god of afterlife, Osiris. He doesn't want a viewing or a traditional funeral, so the coffin will be locked tight with wooden dowels once the body goes in. Guentert has just one last condition – "Make sure I'm dead."

Visit the Orlando Sentinel for the original story and a video

Man Spends 25 Years, $10,000 Making Himself an Egyptian-Style Coffin was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Sweden’s Classroom-Free School – The Future of Education?

Posted: 09 Feb 2012 01:41 AM PST

It's news like this that makes me wish I could become a kid and go back to school again. I mean, just look at the pictures. If school was like this, who wouldn't want to go? To me, the school looks like it's come out of the future, or from a sci-fi movie. It's definitely surreal. But a closer look shows that it isn't very different from, say, a Google office. Kids seem to be working independently on their laptops, in a place that's comfortable and convenient for them. I do wonder if all that lounging around is good for their posture, though.

The school you're looking at is the brainchild of Swedish Free School Organization, Vittra. They operate 30 schools around Sweden, with an aim to ensure that learning takes place everywhere on campus. So, they've eliminated classrooms all together. This particular school is the latest, called Telefonplan, and it was opened last August. It was designed and built by the architecture firm Rosan Bosch. At Vittra, students are free to work independently, and if they find the need to collaborate with peers on a project, they have a few options for that too. The 'village' is a tiny house meant for group work, and 'organic conversation furniture' allows the kids to interact with each other as well. Each student receives a computer from the school too, which is used as a major tool for learning.

At Vittra Telefonplan, they believe that by breaking down physical class divisions, children can be taught to live with intellectual curiosity, self-confidence and communally responsible behavior. According to the principal of the school, Jannie Jeppesen, the design is intended to allow 'curiosity and creativity' to flower in the children. Needless to say, grades are not awarded at Vittra either. You can find out more about this fascinating school on their website, here.