I've been manipulating a lobster over the last couple of days to try to do a gyotaku print. A hard shelled crustacean is difficult to print well and as a lobster has a a number of prickly point in its armour it makes it more difficult to mould paper around the shell without tearing it.
For crustaceans the indirect method of gyotaku is the best, using fabric - a light weight cotton or silk and tamping colour through the fabric instead of inking the beast itself. I didn't have the right fabric on hand, so I used the lightest rice paper that I had as well as a bit of unryu.
The body just wouldn't do what I wanted and the lobster's crushing claw came away from the body, so I took advantage of the fairly flat surface of the large claw to print just that section. These will not be large pieces, measuring around 8 x 10, and I'll experiment with a couple with added background colour as well as leaving a couple as just the print itself.
And for those who wish to know, here's everything about Atlantic lobsters!
8 comments:
Brave woman to attempt the lobster (Homarus americanus) in Gyotaku...I'd rather have it for supper though!
The claw does look pretty good though....
I can't eat them, I'm allergic. I'll try it again once I have the right fabric. I like just the claw too.
Jeanette, I'm surprised you can handle them with your shellfish allergy, but glad you can. This is really beautiful. I like the plain reds with no background but will be looking forward to seeing what you do with some backgrounds.
what a really cool effect :) love how you can see the texture of the claw in the print.
neat animals to look at, but not keen on the taste of them :/
Awesome, Jeanette!
Very nice results, Jeanette! Thank you for the link to the lobster info - most fascinating. I always feel guilty when I eat a lobster - this creature could have reached the age of 100 without man's intervention...but then, they taste so good, that I quickly forget my guilt:-(
the claws came out really well jeanette we saw some incredible blue and yellow lobsters this summer...have you printed crabs and starfish ?
Thanks Jane. Some lobsters have very exotic colours. THe Atlantic lobsters are quite dark til they're cooked.
I've printed starfish and have some crabs waiting til I get some fabric to print them onto.
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