Production begins on the London 2012 victory medals at the Royal Mint on October 27, 2011 in Pontyclun, Wales. A total of 4700 medals will be made, split between the Olympics and Paralympics. Each medal, 85mm in diameter are the heaviest summer Olympic medals made and production will be completed by Spring 2012. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Artist Elizabeth Thompson poses next to her Blu-tack Spider sculpture at London Zoo on October 25, 2007 in London, England. The sculpture, known as “Blu-ey”, is a model of a common house spider and is completely made out of blu-tack. It is on show at BUGS! at ZSL London Zoo. The sculpture is made from around four thousand packets of Blu-tack and weighs over 200kg. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

People will spout about impermanence of digital records, but books are really fragile, too. Alexis Arnold from San Francisco wanted to illustrate that with her project The Crystallized Book: collecting books and growing Borax crystals on them. Books range from literature classics to magazines, and there’s even a mysterious and arcane tome called “Linux: The Complete Manual”.

RISD furniture student vivian chiu has completed a new project called ‘pixel chair.’ Creating a trompe l’oeil effect, this seating unit is made up of 1/2" x 1/2" cubes,placed individually by hand in a brick-laid formation then laminated together.

"I am completely inspired by the natural world. Beauty is everywhere. It is the growth of the forest, the depth of the sea, and the curve of the bone. It is skin, scales, bark, and tide pool ripples. It is texture, and it is raw. I am a translator of life, and I am compelled to narrate it."

An extraordinary work of art has just been completed in Scotland. The Kelpies by figurative sculptor Andy Scott surge upwards in steel, whinnying and snorting alongside the banks of the Forth and Clyde Canal near the town of Falkirk. These fantastic beasts from Gaelic mythology have risen again as monuments to the horse-powered industrial heritage of Scotland.