The latest sensation in interior design is trippy floor covering!
Every floor you’re seeing is 100% code flat! From the seismic shift carpet on the left, spotted in a Paris video game store, to the gentle waves in the new ballroom of the Marriott Solana in Southlake, Texas – it’s clever 2-D patterning that makes them look 3-D.  That’s what tricks the eye, messes with the mind, and challenges the balance. Don’t look down and you’ll be fine. (Let’s hope these businesses have good liability insurance!)

And if a garden meditation spot is a bit too serene for your taste, the other extreme is this backyard deck designed by Berkeley-based architect Thom Faulders – commissioned by Apple exec and art collector Jeff Dauber, who “wanted someone to barf when they look at it.”

These are definitely not recommended for Tai Chi studios or senior citizen housing!

Remember those Magic Eye pics in the ‘90s where you had to overpower your instinct to focus in order to see an image hidden in an overall pattern? Well, phew! “Fuyuu” Op Art is totally different.

Here you simply focus on the center spot in the image. Move your head towards the image and the inner ring appears to rotate counter-clockwise while the outer ring appears to rotate clockwise! Move your head away, and the direction of rotation is reversed! Curiously, the faster you zoom in or out, the faster the rings rotate! Mind blowing, isn’t it?!

“Fuyuu” (which means “waft” or “float” in Japanese) is the latest creation of Mathematical Vision Scientists Hitoshi Arai and Shinobu Arai. Their algorithm – based on their neural model of visual information processing in the brain – can transform any pictures into motion illusions. Click the images below to enlarge them.

The scientists Arai offer a respectful bow to their simple-pattern predecessors, also from the 1990’s: Ouchi illusion, Pinna illusion, Gurnsey-Morgan illusion, and Kitaoka’s illusions. I’ll be sharing some of these phenomena in a future post. Send your faves and I’ll share those, too.

Toshiko Horiuchi Macadam, one of Japan’s leading fiber artists, was exhibiting her crocheted Multiple Hammock #1  when two children entered the gallery and, blissfully unaware of the rules that govern the display of fine art, asked to sit in it. The artist watched nervously as the children climbed into the structure, but then was thrilled to find that the installation took on new life – swinging and stretching with the weight of the small bodies, forming pouches and other unexpected transformations. Above all were the sounds of utter delight as the children discovered their new play space. And the artist was led to create her CROCHETED PLAYGROUND in HAKONE SCULPTURE PARK, SAPPORO, JAPAN.  (Story credit: Playscapes)

“Children became part of her crocheted sculpture, activating it, stretching it, redefining it with their play. (Macadam’s) willingness to let kids touch and actually play with and on her sculpture marks her as an unusually open, and patently brave artist. Her ability to perceive how the children became part of her sculpture, completing it in ways she had never imagined, shows her mastery of the playful path.”  Bernie DeKoven, Major Fun

YARN BOMBERS, GUERRILLA CROCHETERS anonymous:   Are you an anonymous “bomber”?  Do you know how/where yarn bombing started?
Wondering, too,  is this something locals can safely add to neighborhood playgrounds?

Moiré effect optical illusion

A moiré effect optical illusion results from two static transparent patterns sliding across each other – like layers of shear nylon fabric. As the overlapped layers move independently, new patterns form. The GIF on the left shows how superimposed parallel lines create the optical illusion effect of bands compressing and expanding. Using the moiré effect John Leung cleverly printed a glass coffee table with a parallel line interference pattern and a rug with offset fish

Video Credit: Caitlin Stier, video intern at New Scientist TV……….

images.  The table and the rug – separated by a distance of about 18 inches – serve as the static layers in Leung’s design. To reposition the layers in relationship to each other (and animate the carp) an observer merely needs to move his viewpoint! Interference points between the table and the rug trick your mind and your eye into perceiving motion beneath the table.  Leung’s Magic Carp-pet was named winner of the Red Dot Design Award: Best of the Best 2011.

I must have replayed this video a dozen times!  This is my kind of eye candy!  How about you?

You’re busy. Money’s tight. You want the best toy for your buck.  Being smart, you turn to sources who’ve done the hunting for you.  Sometimes that’s friends, mommy bloggers or Best Toy Guides and Top Toy Lists. But here’s a news flash.
Some of those “Best Toys” and “Top Toys” sites on Google are bought and paid for by manufacturers and retailers in disguise.

How did I find out? I get Google Alerts instantly whenever “optical illusion toys” appears anywhere on the world wide web. One Alert mentioned a list of Top Optical Illusion Toys – a list that failed to include any OOZ & OZ product! How could they possibly have overlooked Morph-O-Scopes – optical illusion toys that’ve won more awards than any other toy of any kind, ever?! Looking for a way to contact the anonymous blogger I clicked on the “Disclosure” link tucked into the bottom corner of their webpage. Let me share the scary, enlightening secret I discovered there:

“Disclosure
This blog is created or supported by a company, organization or group of organizations. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, product freebies and other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers’ own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

We receive commission from sales made through our site from these companies: Amazon, Toys R’ Us, Wal-Mart, eBay, and many more. If you are clicking on a link, assume we may be getting compensation for the referral.”

Excuse me!  Compensation MAY influence content?! Please! You’re getting paid, pal. Are you really going to dis your benefactors’ toys?

Transparency laws require bloggers to post disclosures. Please, please read those footnote disclosures.

So, where to look for the best toy recommendations for your kids? Well, ignore those anonymous Top Toy lists and retailers’ own Best Toys Guides. Turn to impartial mommy bloggers and trusted child development and toy experts like Dr. Toy, Parents’ Choice, National Association for Gifted Children, etc.

By the way, that anonymous blogger did get back to me. He invited me to submit my toys. I declined. When you have a unique concept and an award-winning product line like Morph-O-Scopes, positive reviews are earned, not purchased.

The following review of Morph-O-Scopes Kits appeared  in the September 2010 CoolMomPicks.
We learned of it only weeks ago! The review is reprinted here with permission of Liz Gumbinner, Publisher, Editor-in-Chief of CoolMomPicks.com.

“I’m not going to lie to you: When I opened the Morph-O-Scopes Kit box my daughter received for her birthday one year, I was unimpressed. Some crayons. A shiny cup. And a bunch of coloring pages, the images all stretched out and weird looking.

Honestly I expected to find it all discarded on the floor within 10 minutes.

Color me surprised (with or without a shiny cup!) when this optical illusion activity and art kit kept both children happily occupied for days. You put the reflective cup in the center of the paper, and then you can view the “normal” reflected image so you can see what the distorted outline on the paper can become. I know that sounds complicated – just look at the website and it all becomes clear.

The kids just think it’s cool and nifty, but the setup of checking out the reflection and then working on the original paper is actually honing their fine motor skills and spatial reasoning. And that’s aside from keeping them busy and out of your hair for hours on end. -Mir

You can purchase Morph-O-Scopes kits directly from manufacturer OOZ & OZ, or from our affiliate, Amazon.”

“Dream Big” was a year-long project in which “Pixel Pete” Fecteau created a brilliant mosaic of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. using 4,242 manipulated Rubik’s Cubes!  Fecteau created the installation for ArtPrize2010 – Grand Rapids, Michigan’s fabulous annual art competition. Exhibit attendees’ votes determined the winner. “Dream Big” made it to the top 50 of 1,700+ submissions. Watch the video below to see the whole process.

“Dream Big” – one of the world’s largest Rubik’s Cube mosaics – was created with the help of YouCanDoTheRubiksCube, First Park Congregational Church, The Student Advancement Foundation and Cooley Law School. The artist obtained crowd-funding financing for his project through Kickstarter.

Check out the 2011 winner - a stunning Crucifixion stained glass mosaic by Mia Tavonatti.

What’s the most unconventional medium you’ve ever seen or worked in? Disassembled electronics? Dryer lint? Mud pies?  I will share your artistic explorations and celebrate your courageous creativity here!

Remember that “Pukin’ Pumpkin” a few years ago. The art has stepped up. A lot!

Check out these ingenious works of pumpkin art by Ray Villafane, an American model designer and former art teacher – carved with just a spoon and a scalpel!