Playing with Leaves and Octopodes

(For those of you who are wondering, octopodes is the most accurate, though not most common, plural of octopus.)

Back in September, I got invited to teach encaustic techniques to an organization I had never heard of before - the Nature Printing Society. It is a group of scientists, educators, artists, and other geeks and misfits who love making art prints from any sort of natural ephemera that will hold still long enough - plants, fish, and yes, even octopus.

nature prints by Bridget Benton made by placing feathers
and plants on light-sensitive etching plates; plates are then inked and printed

Making impressions of natural objects is one of the oldest - and most accurate - ways of recording the essential characteristics of natural objects: this is why the scientists love it. It also opens up whole new worlds of creative possibilities: this is why the artists love it. And as for the geeks and misfits, hey - who wouldn't love rolling ink on an octopus or tramping through the woods looking for nifty leaves and branches to print?

nature prints on fabric by Bridget Benton using an inked gelatin plate for mono-printing; shown here collaged with some mass-produced fabrics

Yup - you guessed it: artist, educator, and nature-loving nerd that I am - these are my people. I eagerly accepted the invitation to teach - it seemed like a great opportunity to learn some new things! In fact, doing the work to prepare to teach an encaustic class for nature printers opened up some new possibilities in my own work - I played with pressing leaves and other natural objects into the wax, and using oil paint to pick up the impressions. This led to a whole new series of work that I showed (and demostrated) during Portland Open Studios in October and at Guardino Gallery in December.

encaustic with oak leaf impressions

And I had a great time teaching at their annual conference at the Oregon coast. The whole group is so open to learning and sharing techniques that I felt completely at home. I took several classes while I was there, too, but there was one that had me giddy with excitement: Octopus Printing. Now, fish printing or gyotaku, is pretty well known in the U.S. as a Japanese import: you ink up a dead fish and then gently press paper onto the inky fish surface to pick up an impression. Using octopus as a giant rubber stamp, however, is not as well known.

gyotaku, or fish print, made by Nature Printing Society member

But I am deeply drawn to octopus. Octopodes. Octopusses. However you say it, I love their sensuous shape and suckerness. And to get a chance to print them? How could I resist? We started out with small ones, sold for food at local Asian markets. Thawed, cleaned, and dried, they are remarkably easy to position and print. They can also be re-frozen and then re-thawed and used again for printing. I admit, this is not for the squeamish.

me with my first octopus print!

several of my wee octopus prints!

I would have been happy just to make little prints. However, some local fisherman had caught a large octopus in their nets: knowing that we were in town and looking for non-commercially viable catch to print, they saved it for us. Several brave souls from the Nature Printing Society, including our intrepid Octopus Printing Instructor, Sharron Huffman, cleaned and gutted the octopus so that we could do giant octopus prints.

Sharron inking the large octopus

Sharron after the first print was pulled from the octopus

Now, Sharron has been printing octopodes for many years - she's as drawn to them as I am. She had one specimen, purchased at a Seattle fish market, that she carefully conserved and used for years to print from. She even has a detailed how-to on her website. Now, if you're lucky enough to live in the Portland area, and want to do some hands-on octopus printing, she's having a workshop in her home studio in February! Oh yeah - you can bet I'll be there!

print of large octopus tentacles by Bridget Benton

large octopus print on silk by Bridget Benton

If you're interested, here's the info: Sharron Huffman will teach Beginning Octopus Printing February 12, 1:00–4:00 p.m. at her home studio in Milwaukie, Oregon. $65 plus $15 materials fee. Limited to 5 participants. Contact Sharron at slhuffman@mac.com for more information and registration. I hope you'll join us!

participants in the octopus printing classroom, Nature Printing Society workshop, 2010

ArtFest Trade-O-Rama

A few of you may remember that I made ATC's for a pre-organized trade at ArtFest . . . I posted about that here. Well, here's the cool set of ATC's from other ArtFest attendees that I got in return! Check out the cool box that Bee Shay, the organizer, pulled together to display them - complete with encrusted octopus - the theme was sea life. I pulled out a few of my favorites . . .

I also had some little trades that I made up for spur-of-the-moment trading at ArtFest - all of them had buttons like the ones from my EyesAflame Etsy shop, and some had ATC's and some had Moo Cards. And here is some of the cool stuff I got in return!

A few ATC's, a bamboo pendant with an octopus on it, some random fibers, some Moo cards, a little booklet made from a recycled postcard, and a very cool little hanging.


It's made from driftwood, and it says "listen." Can you imagine makng 20+ of these for trade? Marvelous! I wish the artist had a blog I could link to!

Now, one trade I wanted but didn't get was a wonderful little booklet of octopus facts and matching octopus button . . . created by the marvelous Beenebag of betweenassignments.blogspot.com . . . so I sent her off an e-mail and a promise of a trade, and my octopi goodness should be in the mail!

The ATCs are In the Mail . . . Really

It's only about a month late, but as of Friday, my Artist Trading Cards for the organized ATC swap for ARTfest are in the mail. The theme for the swap is ocean life . . . related to the theme for the retreat which is Sea Monsters! Mine feature an octopus . . .


I had a stamp made from one of my drawings . . . and recycled some security envelopes to use for the materials.


I love the way you can see the octopus through the security envelope windows . . . almost the way it might look through a submarine window if you were about to get attacked by a giant octopus.

I used brads and eyelets to hold the layers together . . . and put all my contact info on the back with a picture of a giant octopus and a tiny submarine!


These will all go for the pre-organized swap that Bee Shay put together, but I'm hoping to make a few more for hands-on swappin'!

Monday's Give Away & A Crafty Update

GIVEAWAY!

Here's the first studio clearing give away: A collection of over 100 simple shape Style Stones by ClearSnap/Color Box. They're flat-surface beads that you can stamp and color and decorate like in the sample bracelet . . . I got them on clearance a few years ago, and they have sat in my studio ever since. If you want them, leave a comment by Monday, February 23rd, and I'll randomly select a winner and ship them off anywhere in the continental United States.

As for the crafty update, I got to spend a big chunk of the day in the studio today . . . very much needed. It had been way too long since I'd really spent a good chunk of time just making art. I worked on some artist trading cards for ArtFest in April. I'm using a stamp made from one of my octopus drawings and a bunch of old security envelopes mounted on watercolor board.

I also started working on a new encaustic collage . . .

More Octopus Love - and Ms. Crafty Manners!

Futuregirl had this lovely post today about a woman who had made 99 Octopi ornaments from the Octophrost: Santa of the Sea pattern . . . and then I wandered over to the flickr pool dedicated entirely to Octophrost . . . it's making me - and Ms. Crafty Manners* - think a lot about generosity and reciprocity.

I mean, yes, this is the holiday season, and yes, we all want to give something meaningful to our friends and loved ones (like Octopi ornaments), and yes, we all want to be generous as teachers (like sending out patterns early or giving lots of free advice). And - at the same time - we want to be compensated for that time and energy that we put out as teachers. Sometimes, I get frustrated by how much I am asked to give away - lots of information, advice, etc. Yet most people don't really want to be greedy - and the compensation that comes back doesn't have to be money.

And Ms. Crafty Manners reminds me that the compensation I want often comes from a completely source or in a completely different form . . . for instance, I recently asked for a photo of a finished project from a women who had corresponded with me via e-mail after seeing my craft segment on AM Northwest. She is having so much fun with the project - and having this photo of the magnets she made as a gift for a school teacher has left me with a wonderful sense of accomplishment and satisfaction - and it now it all feels like a really good exchange . . .


All this is not to say that the exchanges have to be one-for-one or that every action needs reciprocation from the same source in an I-give-you-this-you-give-me-that way. Just that the energy needs to flow both ways. And this was a wonderful energy flow . . . just like what happened with Futuregirl and the Many Octopi Makers. Ms. Crafty Manners would approve. And now I have to go buy an Octophrost Pattern.

(*Ms. Crafty Manners is my much better behaved alter-ego, exploring the etiquette of all things crafty. I expect her to pop her head in from time to time, putting her two cents worth in on copyrights, teacher treatment, workshop manners, and all things polite in this frequently rude - but ultimately well-intentioned - beg, borrow, and steal world of the arts.)

Birds and Brainy Sea Creatures

First, check out this time-honored crafty tutorial from Sister Diane at DIY Alert - it will take you back to childhood, and it will delight your feathered friends!

Next, see how the octopi are taking over crafty blogs all over the country, starting with this post over at Futuregirl.

Proof of Octopus Adoration and a Quilt Conundrum

In the comments yesterday, Gretchin seemed surprised that I was an octopus fan - here, I offer proof: A plate I created at one of those paint-your-own-ceramics places featuring an octopus reading. (And the plate features an octopus reading. The paint-your-own-ceramics place in question does not, in fact, feature an octopus reading. That would definitely be a cool paint-your-own-ceramics place.)

So, here's my conundrum. (You all did such a good job with the bone thing, I thought I'd throw another one at you.) A long time ago, in a place not so far away, I created this quilt top as a gift for someone special. We broke up before the actual quilting occurred, and the ex was understandably indifferent as to the quilt's fate as he had moved on to a new relationship. I considered finishing it for entry into the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show, but my heart just wasn't in it. The main panel is applique on denim, with a rather inexpert piecework border.



It's pretty, and I like it, but it's just too attached to a particular person and time of my life for me to enjoy it - or even finish it. And I'm ready to let it go. I'd like to see it go to someone who really will enjoy it, use it, and perhaps even finish it! I saw that M5K had sold a found quilt top on Ebay . . . and it got me to thinking. Is this a potential path for the Fishing Cabin in the Woods quilt top? Or is there something even better I could do with it?