For science and art...

"The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds."


John Maynard Keynes,
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (13 December 1935)
English economist (1883 - 1946)

Carved rubber stamp - octopus

I bought a rubber plate which is intended to be carved (so this time no poor eraser is to be sacrificed ^^). They even had bigger sizes than this but for testing it was enough. The subject was, there will be no surprise, an octopus.

I used my beloved scalpell and my first (and only) linocut tool (I need a lot more of them!). To be honest, I think on this size rubber is not the ideal material anymore. To soft for really fine lines. But it is fun to work with and afterwards it is really great to use it for stamping!

But I think I am tempeted to work with linoleum... hu... my last linocut was... I think it is over.. let's say a long time ago...! Sometime at school... Linocut itself was never something which occured in my mind as being something you should try... but after realising that carving stamps is not really different from it (and gives the oportunity for really fine lines!) this totally changed! Okay, you still need the rubber to press the paper or fabric gently to the linocut. Stamping itself will be a little bit more difficult but nothing to bad...

It is not perfect, you can see some dots here and there which are not intended... (I will work a little bit more with it) but still I love it!

For getting the stamp ink on the rubber I used a small rubber roll like you do with linocut! Also an good thing to use with fabric paints (which are really smoot and creamy) and stamps! So you can be sure not to use too much paint on the stamp and not to smear the finer details.

Being Bisu!

...no more words needed ^^

...and the other side...

a little bit blurred... but I like it nevertheless ^^

"Small thing" sketch...

...just one example out of my sketch / idea book (cat sketch book).

A small thing... or something... some things never change and this sort of doodle can be found in all my papers since... let's say a long time ;)

That's just the definition of "being cute"!

Veined Octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, showing sophisticated tool use behaviour. Footage shot by Dr Julian Finn of Museum Victoria.

Here the research paper corresponding to the video :)


Finn, J.K., T. Tregenza and M.D. Norman. (2009) Defensive tool use in a coconut-carrying octopus, Current Biology, Volume 19, Issue 23, R1069-R1070, 15 December 2009

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(09)01914-9

Small worlds...

...on my balcony!

And the view in the rear court from the balcony...

Yes, this are subjects my rico seems to like... a little bit more than scarfs ^^

Experiments with material...

...this time: Marble colour on fimo (polymer clay, already backed)

This marble colour stuff is really strange. This paint is just... hu... I don't think kids should work with this! Never! Let alone the smell being a little bit acid... brrr... every nerve is getting hit by this (used to work careful with certain substances with similar smell in the lab..)!

But nevertheless... it is also addicting! One just wants to put everything in this paint! Fabric, paper, small glass bottler, beads... and the fimo elements lachafa just baked.. they were there so they went into this marble colour paint ^^

At first I though due to the plasticiser and softener in the fimo it would never cure. And day after day it was still... wet and soft and... stinky....!

But now, maybe a week later, it cured completly and got this really great and nice and shiny and smooth (and... and... and...) finish! I love it! Better than laquered...!

I just want to touch it all the time :)

PS: I don't think that working with the marble easy paint is good for your own health... but it is a lot of fun! For sure ^^

"Lisboa II"

The next scarf made out of jersey... a lot of single jersey lines which make this little and nice rolls after being streched... (and streched and streched...!).

The colours are a lot more intensive in reality but today it was grey and rainy outside... so rico didn't like to make better fotos... :/

Lisbon scarf...

Lachafa found a nice jersey scarf in lisbon and therefore this kind of scarfs or the inspirated scarfs are all my "lisboa ones". The first one is just the experimental piece but I bought some more colourful jersey today to use it ;)

The first one, just with these nice ends (still very decent)

The ends are now a little bit "smoother / closer" but it is a nice and easy good night project and perfect as a sommer scarf. There will be a lot more of them ;)

Number 3 - Dean!

He is the most addicted cat I know. My little black demon loves to be cuddled and he really never ever gets enough. Hour after hour and he wants more... if there are severeal people in the room, he just switches from one person to the other at the moment the first one is exhausted ^^

And he is sleeping under the blanket very night... even if nobody else (human ;) ) is there... he just crawling under it...!

Playing with 3D fabric paint

After using this kind of fabric paint for a pink tentacle I bought a new one, gow-in-the-dark yellow! I just played a little bit around but I have to admit, I love this kind of paint more and more! Especially because it is not only meant to work on fabric but also on glas, wood, etc....

Simple things but most enjoyable ^^

before / after

Oh... for the pink tentacle structure: You need a good layer of the paint and then just go over the surface with a sponge! For a flat surface use a paint roller... for this it is better to work with stencils and not freehand ^^

Pink plush tentacle!

It acts like other paint during painting and drying but after ironing it all goes *plush*! Hach... this texture seems a little bit strange under my fingertips... but the three dimensional structure is just perfect for tentacles and although ( to be honest...) pink is far away from being my favorite colour (but it is the loved one from a dear friend of mine... ^^ so, pink tentacles!), with this stuff I even like pink!

Okay, I love this kind of fabric paint!

Just a little experiment on a small bag (DinA 5) being used as a gift wrapping :)

Front...

...and back :)

Black elefant...

Okay, no octopus. No tentacle... hm... at least no real tentacle...?

This stencil is one of my first but I couldn't show it due to "delivery" problems. It was a birthday present for a friend of mine.

I had some problems with the structure / texture of the paint. Not sure why because it never occured again although I did not chance any details in the process... mh...

Mh... next time violett on white fabric...

The different colours are due to the time the pictures were taken... at night / daylight and... I have to confess *blush* without white light correction....

Growing III ...

...this time red and black again :)

The foto was taken with a little bit too much light from the side but you can see the suckers better now ^^

But in the end I think with the acrlyic paints I used the black ones on a contrasting background are my favorites :)

Growing II ...

...another one :)

I like using a strong contrast in colours. Red, black, white... are very nice for this. Although I will have to buy a better white acrylic paint which is more ( a lot more!) opaque.

Growing...

At the moment it seems that envelopes are my favorite background for painting, glueing, whatever... they are small, it's nice to use them afterwards (I love getting post in painted envelopes!) and you can try a lot of techniques with them.

Here is a tentacle one called "Growing". Although these are meant to be tentacles they also remind me at fern. They have small suckers and even mostly two rows of them but on the digitalised image it is difficult to see. They are painted with acrylic paint black on black so in reality you can recognize the suckers through the structure of the dried paint which I couldn't catch quite on the foto (I am open for ideas how I could do that!).

And the next one, my ever loved structures, just dots ;)

Some easter cards...

Just used as tags :)

The stencil was made out of paper and just laid over an ink pad for stamping... and then the ink pad was used like a stamp itself. I just have to try this with some other designs, I think the perfect good night profejt (easy, fast, sweet).

Or just some printed paintings / illustrations / other pictures were cut out and glued on a small tag. There could have been more structure to the background although I quite like it this plain :)

PS: One thing learned: One cannot use this silver ink pad on all papers or otherwise after drying the silver paint is not fixed (all those silver spots on my fingers... :/). Maybe just fixation spray afterwards or different paper...

Blue octopus card

I know... it's late... but nevertheless... a good night project ^^ Fast and nice and a gift card for the weekend... (easter!)

Blue. Silver. Turqoise. Octopus. Tentacle.

Here I am! ^^

Get the octopus on the dress!

First impressions!

Lachafas turqoise octopus!

The last pictures will be made tomorrow... at a time point when there is some daylight back! But before that just some pictures of the process. This time the octopus is a turqoise one and to be painted on a dress of Lachafa. I glued just two freezer papers together for getting the right size (no, I just have the DinA4 size here... and it is the only size I can get easily with amazon....).

The stencil made out of freezer paper... and a new blade for the cutting knife again (I can count just one per stencil :( ...)

Preperation of the dress with the stencil for painting...

Do you see tentacles...?

Lachafa wanted another tentacle stuff on the shoulder part of the dress. It is a tentacle with to ends... on at the front and one at the back... and never forget to add all the little suckers!

Leftovers... (yes... still only one time usable...)

A hair-band with flower brooch...

Made out of grey jersey (cotton) pieces which were leftovers of Lachafas sewing project today :) The flower is suitable to be added to the hairband or to be used alone.

I think on my to do list is an item more: to make some choker with flowers like these. I like the way the jersey fabric rolls into itself (just stretch it after cutting it into long pieces!).

You can see the little points of colour on the jersey. This are the trial sites for painting on this fabric but although not intended for this it is perfect to add some colour to the grey band... it is sewed with black thread to get a little bit more "used" or rough effect :)