Friday Round-Up: Fish with Feet
So, this week’s Friday Round-Up celebrates one of my heroes, Darwin. The well-known two legged take on the ichthys symbol is used by fans of evolution (can a scientific theory have fans? Does it matter if it does or not? It’s popularity’s kinda irrelevant; it’s still true…). Darwin Fish (Or Tonys, as all good Feeters know) are rough depictions of Ichyostega, the remains of which are important transitional fossils between tetrapods and fish, since they have a tail and gulls akin to fish but amphibian style skull and limbs.
So, I present to you my ten favourite crafts in honour of both Darwin and Tony…
Above, we have a simple but brilliant necklace made by Reuse on craftster, for Foxlet as part of the Geek Chic swap a couple of years ago. I couldn’t find any info on how it was made, so your guess is a s good as mine… really neat shrinky-dinks maybe?
- Reuse’s Craftster profile
- Craftster Swap board (join in!)
Here we have a frickin’ awesome example of tie-dye by Deviantartist Spudnuts. I have to be honest, I’ve never really had a high opinion of tie-dye (possibly I am prejudiced after a disastrous A-Level Textiles lesson involving string, tubs of dye and a teacher who loved purple in a way that made me question her marital affairs). But this just blows me away. Apparently it’s all done with accordion folding, but I personally believe there may have been some witchcraft too…
This little pin-back by Vicky says it all really, doesn’t it? Under her online pseudonym Vickinator, she sells amazing graphic design pin buttons (and occasional magnets) on Etsy, with images inspired by all things geekcraft – video games, anime & manga, Internet memes, computer nerdery, real science (and maths) and sci-fi. Her badges really are cute, the only problem is deciding which ones I want the most…
Vicky’s Etsy shop Geek Buttons
This Darwin shirt (and it’s Atheism counterpart) were free drawn with fabric marker by Veri on Craftster in preparation for her family holiday to the Vatican (perfect. just perfect). She up-cycled some commercial tees which had been sent to her pharmacist partner by a anti-depressent manufacturer; they say ‘Smile’ (in Slovene), that’s the orange text above her art work.
This is another craft that I could find limited information about. In fact, I found nothing about it – zip – apart from the piccie itself, and the fact that it was made one weekend by Alyssa, an angry-feeter. I’m guessing at papier mache and paint, in an old skool Art Attack manner. Anyway, however it was made, it’s the most kick ass Tony since the actual fish based life form himself.
Alyssa’s Angry Feet profile (under the username Derrison)
Now, I have to include these because I have one pinned onto my locker at work. Thanks to deviantartist Hannah, I get to pet my feeted felted fish everyday :D They are super cute squishy little badges, inspired by Tim Minchin’s Tony story, and all hand-sewn with love.
Hannah’s Deviant Art page (under her badhairday24 pseudonym)
These stuffed fish are made from fleece by Cara (Earthknots), and available from Etsy. She uses all sorts of pattern and colours, adds safety eyes, stuffs and finished each one with a machine embroidered smile. I like how his leg positioning makes it look like he’s walking…
Kate of Little Devil Designs on Etsy makes these beautiful sterling silver pendants, depicting our Darwin fish in all his shiny scaly greatness. They are hand cast, I just love the detailing that has gone into them. Kate’s other designs include some amazing stuff inspired by the natural world, all well worth checking out
Rounding out this Round Up, I thought I’d go for a bit of blatent self-promotion: I must have made about 30 of these sockie Tonys for various friends of mine, and when I got sick of that I posted a tutorial on my blog to make your own. That’s it guys n gals, you’re very own footed friend from nothing but socks (geddit -make the feet from socks…) and stuffing. The tutorial runs over two posts, since it was written for non-crafty types, but it’s actually amazingly simple to sew.
First part of Darwin Fish Tutorial