Gyotaku!

Besides the fact that before watching the little video below I had no idea what gyotaku was or how to pronounce it, it just looks like the kind of word that should be shouted emphatically and followed by plenty of exclamation points, doesn’t it?

Anyway, I digress…  

What I’m really trying to tell you about today is a fabulous new line of stamps we’ll be carrying from nature artist Fred B. Mullett.  Mr. Mullett is known for his exquisite line of naturalistic stamps which are designed through gyotaku techniques; gyotaku, for those who haven’t gotten impatient and scrolled down to watch the video (just wait a minute…. I’ll get there!) is the ancient Japanese art of fish rubbing.  Bet you didn’t know fish enjoyed a good rub now and then, now did you?

Mr. Mullett’s stamps are created from the rubbings of found objects; found in nature, that is… how cool is that?   Take a look at what I’m talking about:

All of these images were created using Mr. Mullett’s stamps with different techniques…. I love how they look so calm and beautiful.   We have a great sampling of Mr. Mullet’s image and background stamps in stock so come on in and take a gander:

For those of you who would like to see Mr. Mullett’s work in action, watch this short video… in the beginning he shows you how to create images using tracing and rubbing techniques, and in the end he shows you how to use his stamps to do the work for you:

For those of you interested in the ancient Japanese art of Gyotaku this is a cute, informative little video… until they get to the part about pinning the fish to a board.  Don’t worry though…. I promise that no fish were harmed in the making of this blog post!  (Well, there was that mahi mahi taco I had for lunch, but I don’t think that really counts…)