On the 4th Day of Christmas...

...this blogger gave to thee...

...four fancy fish...

...three granulations...

...two bits of wood...

...and a calendar made of tea.

For the 4th day of Christmas, I am having a long lie, watching an ice skating movie with Michelle Trachtenberg*, having a cup of coffee and finishing another post from the long list of drafts I've furnished with images, videos and links, but no actual text.

In some respects though, this particular post doesn't need me to write about it, as I wouldn't do it justice, instead, I would like you to watch this video of artist Riusuke Fukahori working on his beautiful and intricate series, "Goldfish Salvation".

'A Cup Of Flower' (Rice Measure, Casting Resin & Acrylic Paint)

Painted on fine layers of resin using acrylic and confined within existing vessels, these hyper-realistic goldfish where inspired by the artists pet goldfish, who, while struggling with his artistic identity, became an integral part of his future.

 'Muses' (Sushi Basin, Casting Resin & Acrylic Paint)

 When you first look at Fukahori's work, it would be easy to believe that these were photographs of real fish.

'Goldfish Sake: Shinokaze'' (Japanese Cyprus Sake Cup, Casting Resin & Acrylic Paint)

They are intricately painted, each layer finely brushed onto a dried pool of resin, adding depth and tone to the emerging goldfish, mimicking the translucent, iridescent nature of fish fins and scales. If you have every owned fish, you can understand the delicacy which Fukahori has managed to capture.

'Karemoni' 2013 (Ceramic Bowl, Casting Resin & Acrylic Paint)

Fukahori's keeps goldfish in tanks and bowls around his studio, studying their form and movement closely, so his work never need rely on photographs to recreate the underwater creatures. They are committed to memory and preserved in resin.

His goldfish are his muse.

Every artist is looking for one of those. I certainly still am.

Link | Riuske Fukahori - Official Website
Link | Riusuke Fukahori Paints Three Dimensional Goldfish Embedded in Layers of Resin via This Is Colossal 
Link | Goldfish Salvation Project by Riusuke Fukahori via Abduzeedo Design Inspiration
Link | Riusuke Fukahori Intricately Paints Swimming Goldfish in Resin via Design Boom
Link | Riusuke Fukahori: Goldfish Salvation at ICN Gallery via Design Boom
Link | Breathtaking 3D Goldfish Paintings by R. Fukahori via Bored Panda
Link | Goldfish Salvation via Atsuko & Joe

Merry Christmas! Part five tomorrow...

*I loved roller blading when I was younger (and thinner), I would have loved to try ice skating, so I am unashamed that every time this Ice Princess comes on, I watch it and wish I had never gained weight and gotten too embarrassed to blade.

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Listening: Last Christmas - The xx

Musical Interlude: Golden Teardrops

The Beatles and Massive Attack, the former of which you don't mess with in my opinion. So I think if this particular mash-up hadn't worked I may have had to track down the creator of Wax Audio, Tom Compagnoni, and have a stern word with him...particularly as he used Golden Slumbers which has always been one of my favourite Beatles songs.

However, it is truly beautiful, and perfectly executed. And in the words of Daisy Steiner, "this, is the good shit."

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Listening: Golden Teardops (The Beatles/Massive Attack) - Wax Audio

On the 4th Day of Christmas...

...this blog gave to thee...

...four little shorts...

...three tasty treats...

...two fancy stamps...

...and a Cathedral made of seeds.

Today we have for our 4th day of Christmas, film shorts. I've always loved shorts and Pixar (and partly Disney, who used to put on a short cartoon prior to their features) is to blame. Anyone who can anthropomorphise an anglepoise lamp is amazing in my book! So here are four other shorts which have impressed me over the past few months...

Zero, is a wonderful piece of stop motion animation by husband and wife team, Christopher and Christine Kezelos (Zealous Creative) and documents the dark and often miserable life of Zero, who in a world where your position in life is dictated by your numerical stature (given at birth), he is the lowest common denominator in every sense. Working through a world of homelessness, bullying, racism and intolerance, Zero, in his frankly adorable woollen form, proves that good things come to good people... 

Partly Cloudy, is another gorgeous short from those creative marvels at Pixar. Let's face it, if you're going to look at shorts, you will no doubt be left awestruck by at least one of their animations. This one elaborates on the mysteries of birth. All of us know that the stork delivers babies, but where does the stork get the baby from himself? Simple, they sculpted in the stratosphere. While most of the storks head to their fluffy white partners, Peck lands on the edge of his, the insecure little grey cloud, Gus, who is a master of creating not the fluffy and friendly babies, but the more dangerous offspring...

Dragon Baby, is the brain child - and actual child - of Patrick Boivin. Who took his son, Romeo, a stuffed Dragon toy, some special effects and too many viewings of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill and created the awesome Dragon Baby! All I have to add is don't mess with Dragon Baby!

Alma  by Dreamworks is my final, slightly creepier offering for this Christmas inspired post - though as my sister keeps saying about her film choices "it's got snow, it's Christmassy!" So Alma, begins her story wandering through the snowy streets of Barcelona, where she adds her name to a wall full of signatures, then she notices a toyshop on the opposite side of the road, where a her dolly doppelgänger lures her inside...

So that's my four shorts for the day, and if you know any others, feel free to post a link in the comments for me.

Link | Zero by Zealous Creative
Link | Partly Cloudy by Pixar
Link | Dragon Baby by Patrick Boivin
Link | Alma by Dreamworks


Merry Christmas! Part five tomorrow...
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Listening: 'Til Kingdom Come - Coldplay

Musical Interludes: "Little Talks"

Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men

This is the debut single of , Of Monsters and Men, an Icelandic indie/folk sextet. Which I have been playing on repeat for a day or two now and still can't quite pin down. It sounds like something and I can't work it out!


What I have worked out is that I totally and utterly love the madness that is their video, in which "five sky-sailors discover a crystal meteor containing a lost mythical female creature. An epic journey through fantastical worlds ensues as the sailors struggle to return her to her people." Created by Mihai Wilson and Marcella Moser of We Were Monkeys, it reminds me of a mixture of A Yellow Submarine and the animations of Terry Gilliam, all mixed up with a bit of The Mighty Boosh and Labyrinth. 


What better mixture of madness could you have?
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Listening: Little Talks - Of Monsters and Men

Get on your dancing shoes...

In fashion, we're always being told that having a capsule wardrobe is a wonderful idea. Limiting ourselves to a few interchangeable pieces of clothing which we can mix and match and allows us to save money and remove the detritus which lurks within our wardrobes and chests of drawers. Years of spur of the moment buys, or long lost loves which no longer fit or have seen better days - as a jeweller all my clothes have acid burns and the rest have pulls from ill-placed cat claws - which we keep for years on end.

Same with shoes.

In the ideal capsule wardrobe, you should - apparently - have four pairs of shoes. I assume this means, for women, one pair of flats, boots, heels and I suppose trainers, or a variant of that based on casual or formal and indeed your preference for heel height. But could you limit yourself to four pairs of shoes? (I couldn't, for a start there are simply too many different colours of Converse Sneaker and secondly they're just too pretty!)

I bring this up, because of a design I saw recently by Israeli designer Daniela Bekerman, who has created a modular shoe which has it's own capsule wardrobe.

Ze O Ze, which means 'This or This' in Hebrew, is a shoe created by Bekerman with an interchangeable heel. Thus allowing the wearer to go easily from high heel to flat, from Mary Jane to Oxford by simply slotting the modular heel into the sole of the shoe. One shoe, the basis of your feet's capsule wardrobe, given endless possibilities by the simple exchange of a heel and ankle support.

Now think about how convenient these would be after a long day at work, or a night out. No more spare shoes in your bag, or under your desk, or walking home in bare feet. Just change your heel and save your soles.

link - Daniela Bekerman

via - Design Milk

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Listening: Arctic Monkeys - Dancing Shoes

Day & Night...

Day and Night a short film by Pixar.

A great little short by Teddy Newton from Pixar following the meeting of Night and Day and their rivalry and friendship. It also, unlike most Pixar films, combines both 2D and 3D animation which is part of what I find really charming.

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Listening: Will Young - Hey Ya!