An Estonian sculptor, Mati Karmin, came up with this idea of creating furniture from old, rusty naval mines recovered from an ex-Soviet fortress on Naissaar Island. It seems that the naval mines were used in World War 2 and they had a “Blok” device and two electro-magnetic antennas, with the upper antenna kept steady by a buoy.

Mati Karmin has been trained in the Estonian Academy of Art and it started with bronze and stone sculptures. He drew attention for the first time in 1981 with the “Military Fox” sculpture that was made out of corroded scrap metals.

The Estonian sculptor’s passion for  furniture items created from underwater mines began 5 years ago on the Estonian Finnish Coast, which was populated with corroded mine shells. Karmin started to collect the naval mines due to their perfect and uniform aspect, with holes, spires and shackles. For creating furniture, he used only two forms of underwater mines, the hemisphere and the cylinder and the result was great. The sculptor managed to create impressive armchairs, aquariums, writing desks, toilets, beds, cupboards, swings, fireplaces, bathtubs and many more.

You can see some of Mati Karmin’s sculptures after the jump

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This huge book was made by scientist Michael Hawley and is one of the eleven models available worldwide.

Called “Giant visual odyssey through the Kingdom of Bhutan”, the book has a height of 1.52 meters and a length of 2.13 meters and weighs about 60 kilograms. In its 112 pages, the book offers stunning and high quality images of the Last Himalayan Kingdom, taken on four trips through Bhutan. The entire book requires 1 gallon of ink and 1 day to be printed and the total costs are nearly $2000.

The Giant Books sells for $10.000 and all the money is donated to various charity institutions.

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Trying to come up with an original birthday present for mother in law, a museum curator managed to set a new world record for the world’s largest toast mosaic.

27-year-old Laura Hadland, a museum curator from Leicester, wanted to offer her mother-in-law a really special gift, on her 50th birthday. Together with 40 friends and volunteers, Laura spent six hours toasting thousands of bread slices and arranging them into an amazing mosaic of the woman she calls not only a great mother-in-law, but also one of her best friends.

The world’s largest toast mosaic was created using a set of ten bread toasters and measures 32 feet 8 inches by 42 feet 3 inches. Its made up of 9,852 slices toasted to varying degrees of brown, which add up to about 600 bread loafs.

As a museum curator, Laura Hadland has had plenty of experience working with ancient Roman mosaics, and admits she was thrilled to create a modern mosaic out of her favorite food. Her mother-in-law says it’s a bit weird seeing her face recreated from pieces of toast, but at the same time very flattering.

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Old army helmets seem pretty useless in these modern times, but artist Fred Conlon has found a pretty good use for them, and it doesn’t involve a museum.

Growing up in small Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Fred Conlon was always fascinated by art, but it wasn’t until he graduated from the University of Utah, with a degree in Public Communications, that he decided to open a pottery shop. With only his family’s support and 15 credits in pottery classes, Fred fulfilled his dream and opened Sugar Post Pottery, in Salt Lake City. Throughout the years, he discovered his passion for working with metal, old war gear in particular, and his original helmet sculptures are just some of his wonderful creations.

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London-based artist Carl Warner creates amazing food landscapes he refers to as foodscapes. They are totally edible, but why would anyone want to ruin such masterpieces simply to satisfy their hunger?

Inspired by the work of American landscape photographer Ansel Adams, and literary works like The Wizard of Oz and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Carl Warner began creating his own unique landscapes out of food. Whether he uses vegetables, various bakery products or meat, his incredible foodscapes look absolutely mindblowing.

While he likes to get involved in setting up the foodscapes, Carl admits he often asks for the help of model makers and food stylists to create his sets. The process usually starts with him drawing a sketch of the foodscape, then the set is created, and finally, he takes photos of it and retouches them on his Mac. It sounds simple enough, but the foodscapes are photographed in different layers, a laborious process that can take up to a few days. He also spends a lot of time staring at vegetables in the supermarket, which may sound weird, but finding the right looking veggies for a foodscape is very important to him.

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Looked at from up close, Zac Freeman’s artworks look like common piles of junk, but take a few steps back and you’ll discover amazingly detailed portraits.

You know that stuff most of us throw away after a while, things like old buttons, LEGO bricks, keyboard keys? That’s exactly the kind of material Zac Freeman uses to create his unbelievable portraits. He began gathering junk and found objects in 1992, and started gluing them to pieces of wood, creating various portraits.

In the words of the artist:

“I was interested in communicating through visual representation in apparent 2-dimensional space and through the actual objects used for the medium in 3-dimensional space. It is very important to me that I incorporate the actual objects into the art as opposed to a picture or rendition of it because it better expresses the intention of the artwork. I feel the junk is more powerful being present. It is an actual thing to be reckoned with that existed in this time and place and carries energy in and of itself.”

I was thinking about how many artists use junk as an art medium these days, and then it hit me: it might seem like a peculiar thing to use in art, but junk is everywhere around us, and so easy to come by, so it’s no wonder artists use it in their artworks.

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French designer Katell Gelebert has created a line of clothes, made from various food packaging, that expresses her position as an environmentalist and human rights activist.

By using the packaging of everyday foods like pasta, frozen vegetables, coffee and even cat food, Katell Gelebert has created some pretty amazing pieces of clothing that have great potential for re-use and are also esthetically pleasant. Using only low-tech means, the French artist managed to combine design and reusable materials, without creating more waste.

If you’re interested in more packaging artworks, check out Jason Clay Lewis’ rat poison packaging art.

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Just days after he showcased his amazing duct tape AT-AT model, Star Wars fan komanac strikes again, with the awesome Aluminum Falcon.

Inspired by the animated comedy series Robot Chicken, the Aluminum Falcon is a truly unique piece of Star Wars fan art. Made from styrofoam, cardboard, duct tape and aluminum foil, the one of a kind replica of the Millennium Falcon weighs just 4-6 lbs and was first showcased at “the Star Wars 33&1/3 Anniversary” art show.

The best thing about the Aluminum Falcon is that it can be your to own, if you hurry up and place your bid on eBay, before some other Star Wars fan snatches it away. Keep in mind though, just like the duct tape AT-At, this is not a toy, and shouldn’t be treated like one.

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Stretching 3.95 kilometers, along Hanoi’s Red River, Ceramic Road has been declared the world’s longest ceramic mural, by the Guinness Book of Records.

Ceramic Road was a massive art project, initiated by artist Nguyen Thu Thuy, out of love and passion for Hanoi, and as a special way to celebrate the city’s 1000th anniversary. She first got the idea for a record-breaking ceramic mural in 2003, when she discovered ancient bricks and ceramics from the Ly dynasty, and other artifacts from the Tran dynasty, at an archeological site. She thought about the long history pf these findings, and decided a mural would best reflect the patterns of Vietnamese history.

Nguyen Thu Thuy reached out to fellow Vietnamese, as well as international artists for help in realizing her dream, and mural masters from all around the world started coming to Hanoi, to leave their mark on Ceramic Road. Some created contemporary design patterns, others used Vietnam’s history as inspiration, and even recreated famous paintings out of ceramic tiles. Nearly 100 artists, from countries like Mexico, Brazil, France, Denmark and many others participated in the creation of Ceramic Road.

The whole thing was completed on September 25, and on October 5, a representative of the Guinness Book of Records inspected Ceramic Road and acknowledged it as the longest mural in the world, spanning over 7,000 square meters. A window into Vietnam’s fascinating history, and an unbelievable artwork, Ceramic Road is set to become one of Vietnam’s most popular tourist attractions.

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Built out of wood and cardboard and wrapped in layers of gray duct tape, the duct tape AT-AT is a small scale replica of the legendary Star Wars behemoth featured in The Empire Strikes Back.

The 4 feet tall, 5 feet long AT-AT replica was made by Star Wars fan komanac, for a Star Wars themed art show, back in July. It took several rolls of duct tape and around 30-40 hous of intense work to complete, and its creator would love to hang on to it, but for lack of space, he decided to auction it off on eBay.

The lines of the duct tape AT-AT were drawn using a permanent felt marker, and the entire model is made up of five pieces, the body and four legs. They are well attached and stable, but it’s important you know this is not a toy and will likely break if seriously abused.

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I’ve always wondered what actor Kevin Bacon would look like if made of actual bacon, and apparently I’m not the only one. The guys at J&D Foods have teamed up with Bacon-crafting website What Do Bacon Do to create a life-size bust of bacon Kevin Bacon.

The tasty-looking bacon bust of Kevin Bacon was created to be auctioned on eBay, with all proceedings going to non-profit organization Ashley’s Team, who seeks to bring joy and happiness to cancer suffering children and their families. But, by buying this unique piece of bacon art, you will not only be helping sick children, “you will become the coolest person you will ever know, a champion of the underground meat sculpture movement.” At least, that’s what Justin Esch, of J&D Foods, says.

The eBay auction for bacon Kevin Bacon began today and fans of the actor (or bacon) will have the chance to buy it in the next ten days. But before you start fantasizing about literally eating Kevin Bacon’s head, you should know it’s covered in layers of lacquer, so it’s not edible. But think of it this way, at least you’ll be the owner of a one-of-a-kind of bacon art, for the rest of your life.

Mike Lahue, the artist who created the bacon Kevin Bacon bust out of small bacon bits, says the toughest thing about working with bacon all day long was satisfying his own craving for the crispy stuff. He managed to refrain himself from eating Kevin Bacon, by eating an entire bottle of bacon bits. Lahue also admits that after months of working on the bacon statue, he’ll never be able to look at the real Kevin Bacon the way he used to.

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Remember the awesome LEGO Warship Yamato we featured a while back? Well, its supremacy as the world’s biggest LEGO ship on Oddity Central has come to an end. It’s now time for Lego Monster’s USS Intrepid to take its place.

Just like warship Yamato, the real USS Intrepid played a crucial role in several battles of the Pacific campaign of World War 2, and now acts as a war museum. That’s probably one of the reasons why Ed “Lego Monster” Diment chose to dedicate a large part of his free time to recreating it out of LEGO bricks. The LEGO USS Intrepid is bult at a scale of 1:40 and has 23 feet in length.

While it might look like the world’s biggest LEGO ship, that title actually belongs to a 7.66-meter-long container ship built by a group of German school children, this August.

If you want to see this epic masterpiece in real life, you can go to the Great Western Lego Show, in Swindon, UK.

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Artist Carolina Fontoura Alzaga uses old bike parts, like metal chains, to create one-of-a-kind steampunk chandeliers.

Inspired by Victorian chandeliers, DIY culture and bikes, the bike chain chandeliers start out as unartistic, due to the nature of the materials used, but end up as genuine works of steampunk art, fit as decorations for the equally awesome steampunk house.

Combining the elegance of the classic Victorian candelabrum with the elegance of discarded mechanical bike parts, Carolina Fontoura Alzaga’s bike chandeliers are both an example of original art, as well as upcycling done right.

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Nathan Wyburn, a young Welsh artist from Ebbw Vale, has created a series of celebrity portraits with jam and marmite, on a canvas made of toast.

The first time you lay eyes on Nathan Wyburn’s artworks, you don’t know whether to frame it or eat it. But, even though his art mediums might seem a bit weird, 20-year-old Nathan is an established artist, with a worldwide online following. Uploaded videos of his work have been watched by millions of people and made Nathan Wyburn somewhat of an Internet celebrity.

Some of Nathan’s past projects include a portrait of Simon Cowell made of 30 pieces of Marmite-covered toast, and Lady Gaga in sugar. His latest works were commissioned  by a new Costa Coffee shop, in Towcester, and feature the portraits of international celebrities David Beckham and Cheryl Cole, painted on toast.

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Quilling has been around for hundreds of years, but it’s still as impressive and popular now as it was during the Renaissance.

The art of quilling first became popular during the Renaissance, when nuns and monks would use it to roll gold-gilded paper and decorate religious objects, as an alternative to the expensive gold filigree. Later, during the 18th and 19th centuries, it became a favorite pass-time of English ladies who created wonderful decorations for their furniture and candles, through quilling.

Basically, the quilling process consists of cutting strips of paper, and rolling them with a special tool. It sounds simple enough, but special skill is required to create more advanced shapes like marquises, arrowheads or holly leaves. All through the years, the art of quilling has remained almost unchanged, but new specialty supplies now allow quilling masters to create anything from detailed 3-D figures to wall-sized museum installations.

Because it requires so few supplies, quilling is available to anyone with enough patience to give it a try, and with a little bit of practice you’ll be creating some pretty amazing paper artworks, just like iron-maiden-art, whose works I think show the beauty of quilling.

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