Japanese photographer Kouichi Chiba takes beautiful photos that remind us you don’t need expensive or even particularly uncommon supplies to create art that delights and touches people.

Koichi places sweet and playful paper characters in a variety of environments, some natural, some urban, to create charming photos that feel like tender glimpses of a fragile little world existing inside our own that are completely endearing. Whatever they’re doing, naping, undertaking daring adventures, or just walking their dogs, his paper people are enjoying their lives.

Visit Kouichi Chiba’s 500px page to view more of his enchanting photos.

[via My Modern Metropolis]

Japanese paper artist Nahoko Kojima creates awesome works of cut paper art using single sheets paper. Her incredibly delicate pieces depict animals, textures, and other natural phenomena. Some of them are exhibited encased between acrylic sheets, while others, like her Cloud Leopard [see top two images] are hung from wires for display as 3D pieces. To give you an idea of just how painstaking these pieces are, Nohoko spent five months cutting the Cloud Leopard.

“The artist is currently working on a new piece titled Byaku that will be unveiled at the Jerwood Space in London next month, an ambitious artwork of a life-sized swimming polar bear made using a single sheet of white Washi paper.

You can see much more of Kojima’s work in this online gallery, and learn more about her work at Solo Kojima, a design studio she founded with Shari Solo.”

And if that’s not enough, you can also visit Nahoko Kojima’s Flickr page to view more of her work.

[via Colossal and Laughing Squid]

Located in the tiny village of Bishop Hill, Illinois, American sculptor Beth Ann Magnuson transforms the eggshells from turkeys, chickens, duck, peafowl, pheasants, partridges, and even tiny quail into delicate works of art. She carves and etches intricate Victorian lace patterns into the blown shells using a high speed drill.

Click here to watch a short demonstration video

Although she is currently taking a short break (to create more awesome lace eggs), Beth Ann has an Etsy shop called The Nest at Windy Corner where she sells these amazing works of art.

[via Design You Trust]

Spider webs are inherently awesome, but this takes them to a whole new level. New Jersey-based artist Emil Fiore, also known as Rocky, has perfected the art of collecting whole spider webs intact and preserving them behind glass. 

Based in New Jersey, Fiore first learned about catching a web in a children’s craft book and, ever since, the idea has stuck. He has used all kinds of sprays and varnishes to master the preservation of each web in its entirety and his hard work has certainly paid off. Spray painted with silver paint and set behind glass, these striking, silky designs are unique and captivating representations of the wonders of nature.

To collect the webs, Fiore spends his days hunting for spiderwebs in Palisades Parks, New Jersey. From May through October, he catches an average of 20 webs a day, five days a week, which he estimates to be roughly 2,000 in total per year. On average, a spiderweb lasts for only a few hours. So when Fiore comes upon an intact web, it’s an exciting moment. He says, “When I find one, I’m exhilarated. The web shimmers and dances in the sunlight with the slightest breeze. The silk refracts light casting rainbows of color at me. It is a thing of beauty and I wax ecstatic, but the capture demands all my attention. I stop breathing to make the catch and time stops with me. Then the hunt continues.”

Visit Emil Fiore’s website to view more of his awesome spider webs and perhaps even snag one for yourself or an arachnophile friend. We might just do so too.

[via My Modern Metropolis]

Believe it or not, German photographer Heinz Maier has only been taking photos since late 2010 and says he hasn’t settled on a specific form of photography as a focus. Currently he’s experimenting with macro photography and these awesome high-speed photos of water droplets that look like incredibly delicate glass sculptures.

Check out Heinz Maier’s Flickr page to view a lot more of his work.

[via Design You Trust]

Spider webs are inherently awesome things, which makes these painted spider webs super awesome. These colourful and delicate works of art are created by spiders (of course) and artist Anthony Michael Simon. After the spiders do their part, Anthony sprays the webs with a protective coating, which helps hold the web together, then he adds the colour.

Visit My Modern Metropolis to view a few more examples of this unusual artwork.

Once a woodcarver, Chinese artist Wen Fuliang lives in Shaanxi province where he transforms chicken, goose, and duck eggshells into incredible (and incredibly fragile) works of art. 

Wen Fuliang has practiced the delicate art of eggshell carving for over ten years. The work is done “using a fine diamond bit on an electric rotary tool. The artist sketches a design on the shell, which has been carefully emptied of the yolk and egg white with a syringe. They must then gently but securely hold the egg shell in one hand, the rotary tool in the other and slowly carve away the design in an incredibly time-consuming and skillful process.”

[via Neatorama and Dailymail.co.uk]

Switzerland-based artist LadyTinuz carefully cut away leaves she found on the ground after an autumn snowfall to create a beautiful series entitled Fall-ing Leaves.

[via My Modern Metropolis]

German photographer Kara-a. takes awesome macro photos using single drops of water to beautifully reflect and transform their surroundings. The clever Jack Skellington drop is our favourite. Take a moment to check out her DeviantArt gallery to view more of her wonderful photography.

[via Free York]

Most of us have probably had at least a little experience drawing with crayons. Some of us can even clearly recall the way crayons smell without being anywhere near one. But have you ever turned a crayon into a piece of art?

Artist Pete Goldlust carefully carves wax crayons, transforming the humble art supplies into intricate works of art. The fragile patterns are strangely mesmerizing. We want to handle the crayons as much as we’re afraid to touch them.  

These beautiful Carved Crayons remind us of the amazing work by of Dalton Ghetti (previously posted here), who turns pencils into tiny masterpieces.

[via Beautiful Decay]