Art Kaleidoscope

Between art and craft

Category Archive: Miniature

Legendary Engraver Roman Butin

Gold beetle engraving on a coin using nickel, gold. Engraver Roman Butin

Gold beetle engraving on a coin using nickel, gold. Engraver Roman Butin

Legendary Engraver Roman Butin
Nothing is impossible for the Russian engraver Roman Butin, thanks to his wild imagination and talent. Admirers of his art call this Golden Beetle a masterpiece, as well as many other works of the master from Yekaterinburg.
Inspired by Edgar Allen Poe’s near-forgotten fairy tale of the same name, the gold beetle features an intricately carved dollar that hides a secret. The button activates the beetle’s wings, revealing gold. Noteworthy, at an auction in December 2017, this beetle was sold for $9,200. However, this is not the highest price at which he sold his products.
Roman’s “Gold Beetle” and its hidden secrets is a reference to Poe’s short story including cryptography; hidden elements that readers must decipher in order to understand the story.
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Pavel Zaitsev miniature bronze sculpture

Bronze stand 'Mona Lisa' for a crystal candy bowl. Pavel Zaitsev miniature bronze sculpture

Bronze stand Mona Lisa for a crystal candy bowl. Pavel Zaitsev miniature bronze sculpture

Pavel Zaitsev miniature bronze sculpture

Miniature bronze sculptures made by Moscow based artist of applied art Pavel Zaitsev remind of the old days of palace intrigues and magnificent balls. The bronze figures are striking in their realism and artistic performance – whether it’s French actor Jean-Paul Belmondo (1981 film “The Professional), or Mikhail Boyarsky as D’Artagnan. For more than 10 years Pavel Zaitsev has been engaged in manufacturing miniature bronze figurines as stands for wine glasses, vases, and glasses.
During this time he has made more than a hundred of models. The combination of bronze and cut glass (crystal) looks extremely beautiful. Master combines crystal with other metals and hot casting. These are silver and nickel silver, brass, and even gold. Made in vintage style glasses associated with palace luxury – they are sought and aristocratic, worthy of the palace interior.
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Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature art

Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature art. Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I, 1605–1610

Queen of Bohemia, daughter of James I, Elizabeth. 1605–1610. Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature

Nicholas Hilliard portrait miniature art

Son of a citizen of Exeter, Hilliard founded the school of English miniature art, not only among courtiers ostentatiously vying with one another for the “Queen’s picture in little” at “forty, fifty or a hundred ducats apiece”, but among all who desired mementoes of their family or friends. Miniature painting went on at high level in England until the era of Cosway (Richard Cosway (1742 – 1821) – eminent English miniature painter, who portrayed all the beauty and fashion of his day) at the end of George III’s reign, and indeed it was only killed by photography. (G.M. Trevelyan. Illustrated English Social History).
The work of Hilliard was mainly confined to small scale portraiture. None the less he was a complete artist. In the Elizabethan, as in succeeding periods, portraiture was the only branch of art in Britain in which a painter could find a sure subsistence. The demand for miniatures, or liming, was a specialized section of this demand for portraiture. It had grown up in England in the 16th century and drew a part of its strength from the development of interest in jewellery and articles of personal adornment, chains, lockets, fans, engraved stones and so forth.
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Wonderful Felted toys by Natalia Fadeeva

Blowing soap bubbles. Felted toys by Natalia Fadeeva

Blowing soap bubbles. Felted toys by Natalia Fadeeva

Felted toys by Natalia Fadeeva
Textile art, and creating felted toys in particular, has become a natural extension of the creative path that Natalia follows from early childhood to adult career. Russian artist of applied art Natalia Fadeeva is the author of these wonderful toys made of felt or mohair.

The artist creates her works by hand, and each of them is unique, presented in a single copy. All the little creatures have a special character, and even facial expressions. It seems that a cat is just about to jump off the shelf, or a mouse family sitting at the breakfast table are going to run away on their business.

According to Natalia, she has been making stuffed animals for more than 20 years now. Started by her small toy making business has become a family business, in which other members of the family participate – her husband and their son. Noteworthy, Natalia Fadeeva sells her works worldwide. In addition to textile art, she is fond of creating video games, photography, and painting.
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Five cats collectible coins

Five cats collectible coins

The first in a series dedicated to the most popular Latvian fairy tales – Five cats collectible coins

Five cats collectible coins
The Bank of Latvia issued a cute coin series with fabulous cats based on the fairy tale of the Latvian author Albert Cronenberg “Five cats.” Noteworthy, made by illustrator Anita Paegle, the 5 cats have names – Murici, Nyuris, Intsis, Mintsis and Puntsis.

This is the first coin of the “fairy-tale series”. The circulation of the issued coins – 10 thousand copies, and the cost of each reaches 39 euros in the Latvian banks. Those wishing to purchase for a “cat” coin of 925 silver weighing 31.47 grams and a diameter of 38.61 mm will have to pay € 39. Hardly anyone is going to use these coins as payment, and they have become the collectors’ item.

According to the Bank of Latvia, the following year they plan to issue commemorative coins with the image of a cow and stork. Previously, these characters for a long time decorated the Latvian lats. In particular, a lot of atypical creatures, such as an ant, a rooster, a toad, hedgehog, mushroom, and a fairy-tale hero Spriditis. Also, pretzel, oak wreath, cones, snowman, water lily, chimney sweep, harp and even a beer mug.

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Hasan Kale Mıcro Art

Hasan Kale Mıcro Art

Bird, miniature painting on M & M’s candy. Hasan Kale Mıcro Art

Hasan Kale Mıcro Art

Unique, and without doubt talented artist Hasan Kale was born in 1960 in Turkey. Hasan makes awesome miniature, even micro drawings of beautiful landscapes, cityscapes, wildlife, historical characters, and not only. The artist has been working in micro miniature since the 1980s. For his detailed mini-marvels he uses extraordinary canvases, such as the wings of any taxidermied insect, a lemon peel, pasta, snail shells, seeds, lump of sugar, grain of rice, and even sharp plant spikes! However, the skillful artist doesn’t need a wooden board to mix colors on it, instead, he uses his finger as a palette. For 55-year-old artist miniaturist the main inspiration is his native city, that’s why we see colorful scenes of Istanbul in most of his art works.
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Victoria Chernysheva miniature toys

Victoria Chernysheva miniature toys

Sphinx. Sculpted by hand, without the use of mold, painted with acrylic paints. Victoria Chernysheva miniature toys

Victoria Chernysheva miniature toys
Russian mixed media artist Victoria Chernysheva has created a wonderful gallery of life-like realistic toys of dogs, teddy bears, cats, ferrets, mice and birds. Traditionally, the artist works in a variety of techniques. These cute miniature toys are not more than 3 cm tall!
Born 3 October, 1977 in Rostov-on-Don, Victoria is currently living here with her husband and their two wonderful children. Before she started making teddy bears and dolls, Victoria tried her hand in different directions of applied art, but miniature has conquered her completely. According to the artist, the world of miniature captivates. Noteworhy, she creates her detailed miniature works manually, and very carefully, so every work is unique.
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