Pencil shavings art

A while back I got a bunch of Prismacolor colored pencils and sharpened them all, resulting in a large pile of very colorful pencil shavings. It was so pretty I took a picture of it (several pictures, actually with the shavings in different configurations). After seeing this art, I wish I had kept some of it in one of the cute little glass jars I have. Guess I can always sharpen more pencils...

This reminds me of the little game that I had when I was little - Wooly Willy where you had a board with a printed face and a magnetic 'pencil' which would pick up small black metal shavings that you arrange on the printed face to make eyebrows, beards, mustaches, etc.

Speaking of Wooly Willy, here are some instructions on how to make your own Wooly Willy table using an Ikea Lack table and Ribba frame (both pretty inexpensive). You could obviously change the image from the bald-headed man to anything else that would be fitting - how about a fashion doll and you use the magnetic shavings to design clothing on her?

See more of the pencil shaving portraits on Design Boom.

Pics of my studio

Well, here's a picture of my studio about a month ago. It's actually been re-arranged since but I have not had a chance to take pictures so I thought I'd share this one. I collect those wire mannequin forms (get them from HomeGoods) and have them displayed on top of the Ikea Expedit 5x5 unit. I love that thing! My desk is also from Ikea...so are the curtains (and more stuff you can't see). The chandelier used to be a boring cream color (my neighbor was going to trash it and I saved it). I spray painted it black and it's pretty cool. The only thing I don't like about it is all the wattage it uses from the 9 light bulbs it has. Hubby put in a dimmer switch for me though so I can dim it down when I want to. I keep my art books, journals, art supplies, idea books and magazines, office supplies, and other 'stuff' in the cubbies.