It's not a Jack-in-the-Box, but this Sea-Drama-in-a-Box would never ever end up on The Island of Misfit Toys.

Happy to oblige a few Koloists who have asked to see some close-ups of the finished Kolo project examples now on display at Log-On on Hong Kong's Kowloon side (see previous post 10/11/08). More in future postings, but here's the centerpiece: Steve Light's sea monster sculpture springing from a red Kolo Havana Box.

Steve used this mango Kolo Luxury Cortina for his planning drawings.

My project was inspired by an old nursery rhyme. It's in the public domain ... it's in an old nursery rhyme book, the author unknown. I changed one or two words.

I have a scroll saw and other power tools. In NYC you make do with the space you have, and I turned a walk-in closet into my own little woodshop. This sculpture is made out of bass wood -- a fine grain, light-weight wood. I cut out the large/rough shapes with the scroll saw, then use a knife to rough out the rest of the shape. I then use a dremel sander or sand by hand. The walk-in closet works well to keep the saw dust out of the rest of the apartment (which makes my wife very happy). What used to be the changing area is where my desk and other work bench are. That area is where I do my illustration work and the painting of the sculptures...

...the Kolo Havana Boxes are great for these sculptures because they are made similar to cigar boxes; the first story boxes/story sculptures were made in wooden cigar boxes. And I love the window as another place to do a piece of art relating to the sculpture.

The nursery rhyme is displayed on the inside of the lid of the Kolo Havana Box:

I saw a ship a-sailing
A-sailing on the sea,
And OH! It was all laden
With pretty things for thee!

There were candies in the cabin,
and apples in the hold.
The sails were all of silk,
And the masts were made of gold.

The tiny little sailors
That stood between the decks,
Were tiny little white mice,
with bows about their necks

The Captain was a duck,
With feathers on his back;
And when the ship began to move
The Captain said “Quack! Quack! Quack!”

For more of Steve's recent works: www.stevelightart.com. You also just have to experience his home page: click here.

- Ugo