Assemblage artist Jane Perkins creates beauty out of discarded, once-loved objects like buttons, toys, beads and jewelry. Her resulting art works are shocking in their transformation. Perkins has a magical way of understanding what elements the human brain needs to see in order to register a copy of a famous person or work of art. Examined up close, these pieces make zero sense, but taken as a whole, somehow it all comes together. Take the piece above, Girl With a Pearl Earring. Up close, items like a tiny plastic giraffe and two little toy pigs and a minute toy soldier reveal themselves, pulling you out of the overall picture. But taken as a whole, those random items combine with shells and beads and many, many buttons to form the young woman’s face. It shouldn’t work, but it does.

I honestly had so much fun zooming in on each piece, marveling at the disparate and sometimes funny items Perkins incorporates into her magnificent pieces of art. She must have such a great time sorting through all those tiny pieces, assembling these pictures. She says she sorts everything that comes to her by color. It makes me desperately wish I could see her work room. What a wonderful place it must be!

You can follow Jane Perkins on her website and on Instagram.