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Tuesday 10 October 2017

Gyotaku - the ancient Japanese art of printing direct from fish.


Fisherman, artist, escapologist and general all-round-talented-guy, Simon Bradley seen here with his adopted herring gull pal...



and TV celebrity Derek, perched on the bow of his punt Stargazy Pie as they steam away from Cadgwith where Simon is based 


in his Porthole Studio...


and currently fishing for cuttlefish, with the occasional octopus thrown in...


it seems the ink from cuttles covers every surface in the boat!..


Simon has been experimenting over the last few years practicing Gyotaku, the ancient Japanese art of printing on heavy paper directly from fish...



like the octopus featured above...


Watch the video to see how cuttlefish change the apperance of their outer body to match that of the seabed!

which was caught whilst Simon was using his GoPro to film fishing cuttlefish using a squid lure off the Lizard.  If you didn't know, Cuttlefish make a superb alternative (and cheaper) to squid and can be used substituted into nearly every kind of dish that uses squid - as Cornwall's very own, Nathan Outlaw will testify in this recipe and article on the ubiquitous cuttle - it comes complete with its own sauce (the sepia ink sac)...


here is one classic Sicilian dish that has featured on the blog before but is a very simple dish with which to try.  Ask your local fishmonger to see if they can order some Cornish cuttles while the season is in full swing!  In Newlyn you could order from Stevenson's Fish shopFresh Cornish Fish or Mousehole Fish in Penzance.