Mr.Twister Brian Tolley creates unique sculptures out of twistie ties Brian Tolley, age 19: Throughout that time I felt that people kept treating me a little different than others. Then when I heard of autism, then it got me a little more curious, like what is autism and what does it have to do with me? I didn’t, really wasn’t quite sure what it meant, but I asked several people, and they all gave me very different, different explanations about it. Most like I can’t really put a straight definition on it, but I see some autistic people with a lot of focus and perhaps a little too much focus. But, uh, I don’t think that’s really that much of a problem with me, of course. Brian was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in 2004 Brian: In my perspective most of the people without autism feel like that, it looks like they have more confidence in them, and with certain autistic people, they, I can see that some of them have a little trouble trying to act socially to others or try something different that they never did before. Brian: Pretty much the first, the first creation was, uh, pretty much this. To others it may look like nothing, but to me I see a man with a scorpion stinger in the back of his head. See with this sticking out as the head and the little part down here as the body and the long, and the long, and the long part right here as the stinger. And, uh, when I found more of them on the, pretty much on the floor or in grocery stores, I tried seeing if I could make something more besides the, besides the man with the scorpion head. Brian: Usually I make soldiers, mercenaries, zombies, uh, radioactive zombies, half man and half animal creatures, demons, that kind of thing. Just regular guy stuff. Well, what these creations are, are figurines made out of the bag ties you see at the grocery store. I don’t use any glue nor tape, just the twist tie itself and just markers. Originally it was supposed to be a size ten but, uh, apparently I was able to make it a size twelve by mistake (holding up twister hightop tennis shoe). I feel quite fascinated with myself that people think that this is quite an amazing gift I have. And some people saying that, like, my creations are quite interesting . . . Visual: Twisty Ties ART SALE Mr. Twister’s Twisted Trinkets Original Designs By BRIAN TOLLEY Twisty Tie Artist ONE OF A KIND DESIGNS 818 . 799 . 9695 Brian: . . . gives me the confidence of telling them what it is and of why I do it and all. Brian, at Hollywood Farmer’s Market: Feel free to pick anything up for a closer look. Nice necklace, the infinite one. Brian: For when the times I do, I usually just laugh it off, because I just can’t believe how I’m acting when I’m mentioning my work. Spectator: So there’s no other type of filler? This is all twisty ties? Brian: Uh, yes. Brian: I, uh, I honestly don’t, wouldn’t have a clue what I would do if I didn’t have this kind of creativity with twist ties. Pretty much creating, creating twist ties like into figurines is basically mostly of like what makes, what makes me me actually. I mean like I see more of it from, from autism ability as it is a lot more than just twisting the twist ties in general, because you may have a lot of focus if you have autism. It only depends on the things that you put focus on. Brian: Brian Tolley, also known as Mr. Twister.