3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Button Crazy – London’s Pearly Kings and Queens
Hananuma Masakichi – The Artist Who Recreated Himself from Wood
Artist Traps Bolts of Electricity Inside Clear Acrylic Blocks to Create “Captured Lightnings”

Button Crazy – London’s Pearly Kings and Queens

Posted: 18 Oct 2012 02:49 AM PDT

The Pearly Kings and Queens of London, commonly referred to as “pearlies”, are an organised charitable tradition of working class culture in London, England. They raise funds to provide a better way of living for those less fortunate, but they’re best known for their flashy outfits decorated with thousands of pearl buttons.

Pearlies can be traced back to the year 1875, when the organisation was founded by Henry Croft, a 13-year-old street sweeper and rat catcher who dedicated his life to raising money to help children raised in orphanages. Henry himself was an orphan, and after he left the orphanage, at age 13 he became fascinated by London’s costermongers, a guild of colorful street traders who always helped one of their own when he was in trouble. They would organize a “whip round”, collecting money to help fellow costermongers get back on their feet. Traditionally, costers elected Kings’ to lead them against bullies seeking to drive them from their’place of business. They all wore clothes decorated with pearl buttons so they could easily be identified. The buttons were sewn down the outside leg seam of their pants, from the knee down to the ankle, on the pockets of their waistcoats and the front of their caps. Henry was fascinated both by their lifestyle and their dress code and decided to take their fashion style to a new level by decorating a whole suit with pearly buttons, while at the same time raising money for various causes. He became an attraction wherever he went, and one point he was so popular that Hospitals and other charities started asking him to collect money for their causes. But he needed help in his quest to help the sick and poor, and it help from his costermonger friends, who later became known as the Pearly Kings and Queens of London.

Photo credits: London Connection

As London grew, so did the pearly Monarchy and their work spread to many new charities that needed help. Henry Croft died in 1930, and at the time of his death he had reportedly raised and donated over £5,000. That’s over £220,000 ($360,000) in today’s money. His funeral was attended by all pearlies (around 400) and it was so spectacular that it was filmed by Pathe News.

Photo credits: Pearly Society

Today, there are around 40 families of Pearly Kings and Queens still carrying on the 137-year-old tradition in London, helping out different charities around the city’s boroughs. Sadly, the two World Wars took a heavy toll on the pearly society, with many families being lost in the conflict. In order to survive, they were forced to recruit new members. With their flashy costumes., decorated with pearl buttons, Pearly Kings and Queens attend festivals and event raising money for worthy causes. Each outfit features up to 30,000 pearl buttons and weighs up to 30 kilograms. They are sewn with mystic symbols, stars, moons, suns, flowers, diamonds, Trees of Life, Eyes of God and fertility designs.

Photo credits: The Pearlies

Photo credits: Felix Cohen

Photo credits: honto

Photo credits: Swamibu

Sources: The Pearlies, City Noise

Button Crazy – London’s Pearly Kings and Queens was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Hananuma Masakichi – The Artist Who Recreated Himself from Wood

Posted: 18 Oct 2012 01:14 AM PDT

Hananuma Masakichi is one of those extraordinary artist who never really got the recognition they deserved. This Japanese sculptor created a life size statue of himself that is almost 100% identical in appearance to its maker. Although created over a century ago, the Masakichi sculpture still baffles artists and scientists alike.

Masakichi started working on his greatest masterpiece after he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. He believed he was going to dies soon, and decided to create a life-size statue of himself as a gift for the woman he loved. In 1885, when his artwork was finally completed, it was so life-like and realistic-looking that people couldn’t tell which was the fake even when the real Masakichi stood next to it. Working with adjustable mirrors, the Japanese artist made each of his body-parts separately, using strips of dark wood. The number of strips he used differs between 2,000 and 5,000, depending on which source you believe. No nails were used during the building process, the wooden strips were all assembled using dovetail joints, glue and wooden pegs. They are joined so perfectly that no seams can be seen on the wooden statue, even with a magnifying glass. The level of detail achieved by Masakichi is so mind-blowing that it reflects every tendon, muscle, vein, bone, wrinkle, down to the pores on his body. The anatomically-correct eyeballs he created for his statue still have opticians wondering how he made them.

But how does one make such a detailed replica of the human body? I’d say the right answer to that question is “with great sacrifice”. In order to create a perfect replica of himself, Masakichi painted and lacquered the statue to match his skin tone and used his own hair and nails to make it more realistic. The talented sculptor bore tiny holes for every pore on his body, then plucked the hairs from the respective pores on his body and inserted them in the exact same place on the statue. He covered the head, back of the hands, legs, eyebrows, eyelashes and even the private parts with his very own hair. What came next is even more shocking: he puled out all of his fingernails, toenails and teeth and placed them on his wooden statue. He even gave it his glasses, clothes and a sculpting tool to make it look more real. If the statue looks somewhat emaciated it’s because the tuberculosis was already taking its toll on Masakichi. He was 53 when he finished the life-like wooden model of himself, and held a private exhibition where he appeared alongside his creation, confusing the audience, who couldn’t tell which was human and which was fake. Although he lived for 10 more years after completing his incredible work, Masakichi died a poor man…

The Masakichi sculpture was acquired by Robert Ripley, and became his favorite exhibit. Unfortunately, it was seriously damaged during the 1996 Northridge, California Earthquake, and has since then been waiting in a Ripley’s warehouse for someone with Masakichi’s talent to restore it. Sightings of the statue in Ripley’s Odditoriums, but no one has been able to confirm its restoration so far.

Sources: Wikipedia, Anomalies Unlimited

Hananuma Masakichi – The Artist Who Recreated Himself from Wood was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Artist Traps Bolts of Electricity Inside Clear Acrylic Blocks to Create “Captured Lightnings”

Posted: 18 Oct 2012 12:09 AM PDT

Want to give someone a unique present? How about a bolt of lightning? Bert Hickman’s work of art are literally stunning. He creates “Captured Lightnings” by blasting clear blocks of acrylic with millions of volts of electrical charge, using a high-energy particle accelerator, creating permanent “fossilized” tree-like patterns that reflect light like microscopic mirrors.

Bert Hickman’s works are scientifically known as Lichtenberg figures, only the artist and his physicist friend Todd Johnson have managed to turn them into artworks by creatng lightning bolts in the shape of butterflies, stars, trees and even the Yin Yang symbol. 65-year-old Hickman breaks down the process of making his Captured Lightnings: “To create our sculptures, we rent “beam time” on a 5 million volt particle accelerator. As the accelerator injects huge numbers of electrons inside a clear acrylic plastic specimen, a huge electrical charge (typically 1 – 2.5 million volts) builds inside.” He also manually creates an escape path for the electrical charge, a weakened path through the acrylic, to achieve the desired shapes. While the electricity escapes in a short lightning-like discharge, the intense heat from this miniature lightning leaves branching patterns that are permanently captured within the acrylic. These patterns are a ‘fossilized’ chain of microscopic fractures and tubes that reflect light like microscopic mirrors.

Explaining how the whole Captured Lightning art project began, Hickman explains on his site: “We were intrigued by the incredible beauty and the physics of Lichtenberg Figures but we were continually frustrated by their scarcity. A group of fellow “Spark Whisperers” (physicists and electrical engineers) decided to conduct independent research into the theory and technique of producing them.” Check out how one of these electrifying works of art is created in the video at the bottom of the page, and head over to the artist’s official site to check out more of his works.