Tags
A Detailed House, art, Faux deer heads, Mirrored art, Mirrored snake, Penny horse head, Rachel Denny, sculptures
A few months ago, I saw an image but didn’t save it, nor did I burn into my memory who the artist was that created this amazing masterpiece. BIG mistake on my part. Huge! (paraphrased from Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman– haha!) I couldn’t get it out of my mind, but couldn’t track it down. After I did the post ‘How to Make a Penny Floor’, I was in a state of sheer frenzy. Couple that with my horse-crazy child’s birthday and I made it a mission to find it. I’m so glad I did. Prepare to be blown away:
When I first saw it, my immediate reaction was to dissect it. I wanted to DIY it. Then I read what the artist, Rachel Denny, had done. They are actually pennies that she:
yep, flattened. Ugh. I’m not going to go to that much trouble. She also drilled and screwed them to the form, which sounds like a loooottt of work. When I showed my horse-obsessed child and asked her what she thought this piece was made of, she said, “Scales.” Huh. I dismissed it at the time, but later thought, you know, if I ever get some time (doubtful) it would be fun to take larger sequins and make it. If her horse obsession continues, I may.
(If you read my post Adorable DIY Ideas for Kid’s Rooms, I talked about beheading plastic reindeer for mounting purposes.)
The piece below seems to be not quite as challenging, yet still striking:
In the meantime, if you haven’t seen Rachel Denny’s work, here is some of her other amazing pieces:
Nothing like someone’s creativity to make you feel like a complete dolt 😉
A Detailed House 
Interesting. Thank you.
Love them both!
Wow! Those are truly amazing. I’m trying to imagine her working on that horse and sorting pennies by subtle variance in color. Oh my! I don’t think many of us have the time or patience for that project!
Her pieces go for thousands, so she has a huge incentive! Plus, it’s probably how she supports herself…
Damn! Time to start squashing pennies….
Holy moly that horse head is amazing!
I just love it! And the mirrored snake is my second favorite – you?
I am not a big snake fan so even though the snake is pretty cool I would be a bit creeped out if it were in my house!
Wow. That horses head is fantastic – she still managed to get detail into it even though she was using coins.
Exactly! So unbelievable…I really love the horse and snake.
I see the horse made out of pennies and my thought was can you make one out of old betting slips from the track?
Now that would be good because of the irony of it!
Creative! I saw a blog post the other day about using pennies and loose change as a flooring option. Happy Sunday:)
Haha! 😀
Very creative. I love the horse. Hope all is well Kearney.
Cynthia
Wow, that is a interesting horse head and to flatten every penny. The time that must have taken to make. Is beautiful, though.
Totally enjoyed this post. Thanks for sharing Rachel’s work. A-mazing!
Wow. That woman has a really unique talent.
I hope she didn’t actually flatten the pennies by letting a train run over them on a railroad track. That’s extremely dangerous and illegal in most areas.
That’s exactly what she did. She lined them up on the tracks, would take a short hike and retrieve them when she was finished hiking. I was surprised she was so forthcoming with the details because I think it’s illegal to alter US currency. I didn’t know about the train tracks though…
The train tracks are private property and putting things on the tracks is illegal under federal law and under many state laws, even things as small as pennies. Here in the United States there are significant penalties including monetary fines and prison time for such acts. Then you do have the federal crime of destruction of currency.
very seriously amazing…
Wow! These are amazing, and my first thought about the horse is “I could do that, let me go get my pennies!” Yeah…no…thanks for the step by step process the artist used, it saved me a lot of wasted time–love the idea of large sequins–that’s more do-able for me! 🙂
Haha!! You’re just like me! I thought the same thing…until I read how she did it
Reblogged this on mchelsmusings.
Very neat artwork! Perhaps you could look into using plastic spoons and super glue as an alterntive for your horse project. Then you could just sponge paint the likeness or paint it to match your daughter’s room.
I have also seen an artist use chicken wire to make a scuplture of three horses appearing to ‘burst’ out of the wall. Looked very neat hanging in that lawyer’s office.
how lovely. loved the sheep 🙂
Total luxe!
Just amazing! I love the copper horse!
That horse head is AWEsome!
Or to inspire … =D
Haha love the pretty woman refernence! The coin horse is so cool… But yes, would take alot to DIY!
I love flattening pennies on railroad tracks!
Oh the horsy looks amazing
So cool…! I nominated you for the “one lovely blog award”. Keep up the good work 🙂
http://medesignmagazine.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/one-lovely-blog-award/
Having become thoroughly disgusted with the ‘artist’s/architect’s/designer’s/landscaper’s own home’ trope that fills every magazine, TV show, and Sunday supplement feature that comes down the pike, your blog is like a cool breeze of hammered thumbs and “just one more trip to the hardware store.” And I mean that in a super awesome way, from one “I can do that-er” to another. Our styles are miles apart (though a penny covered horsehead would look great in my home), but our hearts are quite alike. Congratulations, and thank you for finding your way to A Thistle in My Sensitive Area. Oh! I totally did my daughter’s room with the flowers from Chiasso, too. So maybe not miles apart. Thanks, Calvin
I think that is the best compliment I’ve ever received here!! Admittedly, I wasn’t always a diy’er, but we haven’t hired anyone to do a project for us in 10 years and now know at least 15 people at our Home Depot very well! Our aesthetic may be slightly different, but your diverse interests, topics and perspective are so similar to mine. We have the same plight with property rights (your aerial photos said it all) and I just about died at your sighting of the lynx! Thank you so much for such kind words!