Thursday, April 10, 2008

Magpies, Glass Eyes


Robyn referred to herself the other day as a magpie, which I
thought was so absolutely charming! She, like myself, is a scavenger.
It is the artist in us, that is drawn to the beautiful and unusual on
this earth. Her wonderful woodcarvings are full of her treasures.
I often pick up odd things at flea markets. This winter I came across
this great glass eye. A vendor had a huge collection, all sizes and
colors of eyes, housed in an interesting old wooden case with 15 or
20 shallow drawers. It had once belonged to a local optometrist.
After examining each one several times, a large grey blue was my
choice. The workmanship is amazing; the iris is incredibly detailed.
So, that's one of the unique things this particular magpie snatched
up and carried home. Just because.

8 comments:

  1. I'm a self-confessed magpie too! But in that sparkly things tend to catch my eye.

    What a cool eyeball! I was a bit startled by it at first. But it's remarkable. It even looks a bit bloodshot, unless those are slight cracks in the surface. I like where it sits especially ;)

    La gazza ladra
    (except I don't thieve)

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  2. That is amazing! It doesn't look glass...it looks soft and real! eeeew!

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  3. Is the eye completely round like a marble? It's certainly lifelike...do you ever feel like its 'watching you'?...LOL.

    The magpie is such a cute bird with a really cute name. A friend of mine once had one swoop down and seize her eyeglasses which she had just set down!

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  4. LL, you know I always assumed that a glass eye was completely round, but it isn't. It's convex like a large contact lense!

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  5. BP...Hope the eye didn't scare anyone. I thought about making the picture smaller, but then the wonderful detail wasn't so clear.

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  6. I suppose I could consider myself somewhat of a magpie as well :) I've had to smile at all the responses to your glass eye....reminds me of a scene out of "Blade Runner"...do you know the one?

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  7. DeeDee, You are right, I just read down through the comments and had a good chuckle. :) Blade Runner is one film that is not familiar to me, so I'm missing the joke. You must fill me in!

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  8. ............and here's looking at you kid!!!!
    That certainly is a stunning eyeball.

    Enjoyed reading about your great great uncle - such a handsome fellow and very sad he died so young. You have great family pics in your collection.

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)