TAD (top left, 5) Ceramicist Tad, who sells his wares every day in OB next to the beach with his pup in tow, lives in his van. Recently, he made a stunning string necklace of “teeth” sculpted from clay interspersed with quartz, crystal beads, and oxidized hematite bands. CASPER (top right, 3) Casper, 46, grew up in East L.A. and learned to draw by watching a friend of his mother’s paint murals. He doesn’t like spray paint – only pen and paper. “Everybody that I grew up with that was a mother figure to me is gone. If you grew up in the barrio, [it will] claim you at some point,” he says. He draws mostly women, including the Virgen de Guadalupe, because “women run everything. They’ve got their shit together.” TURTLE (bottom left, 9) Jewelry maker Turtle uses wrapping techniques, working with “pure” elements like copper, crystals, and stones – he won’t use fake materials, saying it “despiritualizes” his work. “I can’t do that,” he says. “It’s just wrong. There’s a better way.” He gives much of what he makes as gifts – talismans to ward off evil on the streets. MOBYTE (bottom right) Mobyte, who is originally from Georgia, lives in a tent with his wife, Amy, downtown. They met at a Vegas bus stop. The next day, they stopped overnight at a motel, where he started singing. She videotaped him, and they’ve been together ever since. He wants to make a living with his music.
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