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...!