Last week, in the course of my daily folk art search on Etsy, I stumbled upon something exciting: something better than old needlework, more interesting than your typical duck sculpture. This was a cache of the most amazing rings I’d ever laid eyes upon, and there had to be a story behind them.

I wrote to the shop owner, Constance, in the hopes of finding out more info. The story just got better. In fact, it went back over seventy years, to the days when the rings’ handy creator, Bob Dodd, was a sailor. According to Constance:

Bob said that when he started as a sailor in 1937, making rings from celluloid was a crafty thing to do, but few people made more than one or two because the process was so time consuming and labor intensive. Each of these intricate rings was made by hand — without the use of molds or melting — by cutting up raw materials such as old celluloid toothbrushes, hand mirrors, vanity trays, combs, piano keys, guitar picks, umbrella handles, pocket knife handles, accordion pieces. (Bob said he once even used a piece from the windshield of a helicopter or small plane.) These pieces are then filed, pieced together, and filed again. This process can take a master craftsman a day or more to complete.

Today Constance is selling a portion of her collection of Bob’s rings, in the hopes of funding efforts to make them herself. Bob was a true folk art hero, and I can only hope to own one of these elaborate pieces someday.

Read the whole story on the Etsy Blog.

How amazing is this peacock? Composed by a tinsmith around 1900, this elaborate piece of artwork was actually meant as a tenth anniversary gift — the “tin” anniversary, as it were. (Now it’s the diamond anniversary, naturally.)

Now this ornate little fella needs a new home. If I could afford it, he’d be doling out mean glares to my cats for years to come. (Peacocks are the meanest birds.)

[Via Anonymous Works]

I’m strongly considering starting a collection of carved folk art. This Native American chief, most likely a cigar store Indian, would be the most amazing piece to anchor it.

My idea of the ultimate score: a watercolor folk art rendition of Abe Lincoln on his deathbed. Wow. Now available on eBay.

[Via Anonymous Works]

Folk art appeals to me on so many levels: aesthetic, conceptual, gut. I appreciate the earnest artwork of the untrained, the insane, the imprisoned, so much more than those who learned their skills from a higher institution. I obsess over chipped, wonky pieces of yard art and untrained painters’ landscapes. There’s a lot to be said for creating work for yourself alone.

So, on that note, I hope you weren’t freaked out by the falsetto singing of a doll (you know I love that stuff). This video, narrated by one of folk artist Calvin Black’s “actresses,” shows a panoramic scene of Possum Trot and the “Bird Cage Theater.” Located in the bleak Mojave Desert, Black spent his life creating this installation, including more than 80 life-size female dolls, each with its own personality, function, and costume. Each of the dolls perform and “sing” in voices recorded by the artist. Was this carnival ever intentioned for the public? I’m not sure. I wish it still existed, nonetheless. Can you even imagine coming upon this?

Watch the short documentary on Calvin Black and Possum Trot in its entirety on Folkstreams.

Holy realism! This spectacular life mask, eyelashes and all, was created by folk artist Linwood P. Law (seriously, going in my future cat name file) of Buffalo, New York in 1935. Apparently little is known about the man behind the mask, but he did leave behind a very coveted body of sculpture. Learn more at Anonymous Works.