Tea Pots and Other Recent Prints

 

                                            Green Tea Chemistry linocut by Ele Willoughby

I thought I should add a tea chemistry linocut to go with the coffee linocut, which includes the caffeine molecule. Of course, tea chemistry is quite complex! I asked on Twitter, thinking I might have some tea loving scientist followers with good suggestions and I wasn't disappointed. Not only was I given some good feedback about which chemicals to feature, but also the suggestion of including the chromotography, as a means of telling the fuller chemical story.

There's a tea pot, two cups of tea and a tea plant (Camellia sinensis) on a tray, and in the steam, you can see some of the organic chemicals found in green tea. Up to 27% of the composition of green tea can be a member of the flavonoids called catechins like the molecule illustrated on the right. The stimulating effect of green tea is of course related to caffeine (the molecule in the middle) but, unlike say coffee, green tea also has an amino acid in tea called L-Theanine (the molecule on within the tea pot handle). L-Theanine has a direct effect on the brain, relaxing it without making you drowsy and can help with focus and mood; it's also largely responsible for taste. Since the chemistry of green tea is complex, and I can't show all the molecules involved, at the base of the tray is a chromatogram to illustate the L-Theanine (largest peak) and other amino acids in the green tea. 

With tea and teapots on the brain, I started thinking about a suggestion for another "imaginary friend" of science (my collection of charismatic thought experiments like Maxwell's Demon or Schroedinger's cat): Russell's Teapot. 

 Russell's Teapot by Ele Willoughby

The alledged china teapot, in orbit between Earth and Mars is an analogy by philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) to make the case that the philosophic burden of proof lies upon a person making unfalsifiable claims, rather than shifting the burden of disproof to others. The print is made by hand on lovely 8" x 9" (20.3 cm x 22.9 cm) Japanese Obonai paper with a feathery sheen.

The Earth appears in blue in the corner. The China teapot itself has a blue flower pattern, and is shown magnified. Mars is in red with two tiny moons. At the bottom are the symbols for the solar system: Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, and the extra teapot, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

 

I also made a couple of Snowy Owl light boxes, which include my snowy owl linocut and colour changing LEDs to simulate the aurora.

While, we've been on a lockdown here in Toronto, and the schools are closed, so I'm spending a lot of time every day fascillitating online school for my 7 year old, I have also been trying to do all of the Printer Solstice prompts (one a week since the winter solstice).

Humpback linocut for prompt "under pressure".

 

A New Hope linocut schematically shows how mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, train the body to make spike protein, which our immune system then learns to combat.

 

Blep linocut, for "in good taste" is thinking creatively about taste and tongues. 

Europa Express linocut for the prompt "passport"

N is for narwhal and nautilus

Lastest monogram is n, for narwhal and nautilus, of course. They are really quite tiny. That's a thumb-sized narwhal.

Imaginary Antarctic

One of the most marvellous things I've seen are Pacific harbour seals at night, surfacing at night in water rich with bioluminescent bacteria. They glow in the dark! This inspired this print. I imagined glow-in-the-dark seals, a Pygmy Right Whale, a mysteriously forming submarine miniature galaxy, between two icebergs, below a starry sky and the aurora australis. This is one of a (variable) edition of 20 screenprints (22.5 cm by 33 cm/8.6 inches by 13 inches). The south polar sky does vary from print to print. The seals, stars (in the sky and the sea) and the aurora are all printed in glow-in-the-dark ink. It's very hard to take a photo in the dark... but they really do glow!

In screenprint class, we took some of the prints into the dark room to have a better look. I don't know how to capture this in a photo... you'll have to take my word for it.

Scrappy Strip Quilt - and butterflies, dinosaurs, fractals and more

I finished my quilt. I was torn on whether I wanted to block print the fabric or not... but I'm glad I did. Here's the reverse:



I made this quilt with stripes of fabric scraps from my stash, including vintage thrifted fabrics and contemporary prints. I block printed the sashing with my own carved monarch butterfly lino block. The reverse is a patchwork with the green sashing fabric, rectangles of the fabrics used on the front and a series of my block prints on fabric including a dinosaur, jellyfish, bees, butterflies, Russian nesting dolls, a fractal triangle, a quail, a rhino, and a blue whale. The quilting is done in a couple of variegated threads, by machine. The quilt is 39 inches by 57 inches (1 m by 146 cm), maybe the size of a child's bed.



Pretty nifty what one can do with scraps, imagination and patience, no?

Walrus dreams of dinner...

I made a new pillow:

This is the front with a patchwork of my "Winter Walrus" lino block, printed in brown and blue on striped white-on-white canvas, with a sushi print cotton, corduroy in lime and blue fabric.

The reverse shows a blue whale lino block print on lavender cotton, green cotton print and grey pin-striped fabric, with the minouette label block printed on a goldfish-print cotton (care of Reynardin - thanks R.!).



And in a new and creative entry in the "Injuries Which Only Happen to minouette" file, I managed to cut myself while photographing this pillow. Yes, I know. You have never heard of someone injuring themselves while photographing a pillow. This is how it's done: I wanted more light, so I detached my angle-lamp from my craft table and held it while photographing. Then I propped it up to use two hands on the camera. Then it fell over, shattering the lightbulb. I unplugged it and picked up the pieces. Then I noticed the blood. Clearly my fear of electrocution is stronger than my foresight about gravity and the dangers of cut glass. I'm telling you, not everyone can injure themselves with such creativity and regularity as I. It's an acquired skill, but I can't recommend it.