some distant memories from my youth came to mind when the topic of this week was homemade stamps. i vaguely recall how we cut potatoes in half and carved away some flesh to make designs, then dipped them in tempura paint to make prints.
my wife is fond of okra/ladyfingers. i like the look of them more than the taste so we don't have them often. but we just happened to have some in the fridge and it didn't bother me in the least sacrificing one.
i have always admired the design of their cut flesh. by simply removing a layer of the seeds in each of the five segments i got a form resembling a cinquefoil (5 petaled flower).
just dip in the paint and stamp. no preconceived plan.
it was looking good
but when i tried some red color i didn't like it.
so it became a practice round.
however the mixed red, blue and white color reminded me of red onions whose natural design is far superior to any i could produce. we just so happened to have plenty of them so i decided to see if i could make a print with one.
i cut the peeled onion in half from top to bottom and tried to print but there were no lines in the design, just the general shape. so i dug away some of the white flesh, leaving the red parts exposed.
here are both halves of the onion, the top half i saved to make an omelette afterwards and i only used the bottom one as my stamp.
i dug out more flesh to get less smudging and started over
now back to the okra. each time i stamped the result was different. instead of trying to get them all identical i wanted the individual differences to be clearly visible. because i was only using blue i created subtle variety by double and triple stamping and also mixing in a little white some of the time
finished result.
a big thank you to qurator for arranging this contest. i have six grandchildren ages six and under and now i have a great activity to share with them- well not the youngest just yet.