Gyotaku : a new project (lampshade).

Hi there!
My first try pleased me enough to want to have another go at this ancient Japanese printing technique.
This time I opted for something more difficult: a lampshade.
I bought this rather nice cheap pottery lamp but it came with a boring white shade.

It does have some black needlework as a decoration, but I don't like that either. So, I decided to have a go at livening it up with a print of one of my potted ferns.

And this is the result:

This first is the shade next to the real fern; the second is the detail.

Old Japanese Printing Technique

Hi there,

Contrary to what I've been blogging about lately (cats, hiking, books, more cats) I actually do have other interests. Unfortunately they are all sedentary ones, that is to say I sit on my butt whilst I indulge them.

Because my guitar playing isn't good enough to share, and I have no garden to show you that comes up to my standards (I rent...need I say more?), I have decided to let you in on my other secret hobby: messing around with paints and whathaveyou.

Now, intelligent pragmatic that I am, I thought to combine the two: get off my butt (read: go out into the wild as it is around my wetlands and search for interesting 'stuff') and  experimenting with paints in order to produce a Gyotaku print.
A what? Yes: Gyo = fish, taku = rub in Japanese. And so far there were no fish harmed in the process! Not that I aim to harm any fish, ever.

Today I tried my hand at rubbing two types of garden fern and some ivy. The result is...
Well, you judge.
I need A LOT of practice yet!