Botanical Extravaganza Project

 Mousey Candy-Roses are a mix between a rose, a candy stick and a mouse. The following is the report of one of the botanical experiments filed in the anonymous herbarium called:

"Botanical Extravaganza".

This report of a botanical experiment has been found inside an empty laboratory of an unknown flower grower, who reported the curious experiment named "Mousey Candy Rose".

The hybrid creature  named "Mousey Candy rose" is the result of the grafting of rodent genes into a wild rose’s seed, which has been watered with liquid sugar and industrial candy flavor for two weeks, before starting to sprout.

The plant grown from that sprout has been fertilized with cheese flakes for about a month, growing a curious tubular and striped stalk that looks like a candy cane.

The bud popped out only by the second month of experiment, with sincere satisfaction of the flower grower. The wild rose that blossomed soon afterwards displayed a tiny mouse head in her core. The flower grower seemed to be truly enjoying it, as he refers to it as “the cutest thing”.

The situation turned off suspicious, though, as the mouse began to grow tiny and sharpen teeth. The flower grower loved his creature, and he kept feeding her with the most delicious cheddar cheese.

On the third month of experiment the Mousey Candy Rose had grown taller, chubbier and stronger, to the point that a pair of nice feet (wearing fancy shoes!) popped out from underneath its base.

The flower grower was genuinely fascinated, as he reported the unexplainable vanishing of the plant roots. He also reported that, once the Mousey Candy Rose was able to move her first step, he had to chain her to the pot, in order to prevent her for running all over the laboratory (mice tend to be very industrious, especially at night).

The flower grower was compelled to cage his creature, against any ethical belief.

He kept feeding the rose with cheese, and watering her with liquid sugar, up to the revealing moment when the creature grew tiny hands with worrying claws.

One day the flower grower discovered in horror that she used her claws to dig a hole in the bottom cage and set herself free.

It must have been at that point that the flower grower expressed his first perplexity about the whole experiment. He also confessed to be scared by the unexpected results he had obtained. It was now evident that the rodent genes had taken over the plant’s, so that the hybrid creature generated was in fact a rodent, more than anything else.

Going against his ethic, the flower grower stopped feeding his creature, expecting her to fade and eventually die.  But against any expectation the creature started eating herself, biting into the candy stick that composed her body. The flower grower despaired, in the astonishing self revelation that he had given birth to a monster.

The last page of the experiment reportage is almost empty, with the word "forgive" only partially spelled. It is clear that the flower grower had no time to finish his writing, as the experiment was interrupted by something unexpected.

Curiously, blood stains the page.

(By anonymous.)

This is a beautiful sample of Mousey Candy Rose just opened.  Look at how pretty are her blue eyes, and what a shiny fur! This is just the best Mousey Rose I've ever grown. I water her with liquid sugar twice a day and I feed her some cheese fertilizer once a week.

As you plant a mousey-candyrose seed into mild dirt, all you need to do is to water it with liquid sugar and fertilize with cheese flakes. After a week or two the candy stick-stalk pops out of the soil.

It will takes two weeks to grow tall, sugary and bright.The bud usually gets ready to blossom within 15 days.

As the boots pop out of the seed, it is ready to sprout. The mouse genes are taking over the plant.

As a Mousey Candy-Rose has grown enough, she gets "footed". With her nice pair of boots she can jump and run all over the place and you won't be in charge of feeding her no more.
It's at this point that the "mousy" part of those creatures takes over, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Since a Mousey candy Rose is partially a mouse, you have to expect her to sleep during the day and to turn into a little evil at night, when she wakes up and runs to the shelves in search for cheese.

What a mess in the kitchen! But it won't be for much longer: Unfortunately Mousey Candy-Roses wither very soon. They last as long as a regular rose...

See more soon.

A "Kitchen Mouse Ghost" story...

Kitchen Mouse Ghosts are used to haunt my house every year around Halloween.

Those ghosts disguise themselves as kitchen mice in order to haunt store cupboards in search of sweets.

But they tend to be quite clumsy. Sometimes you can tell from the very first moment that they are wearing a camuflage: It's a matter of fact that Kitchen Mouse Ghosts aren't very good in stitching on mice costumes.

You can tell they have a fake tail. And there are times when the costume start falling apart.

Some other times they even forget to take off their socks!

They are not particularly scary, I'd say. Actually... Kitchen Mouse Ghosts are the ones that geta scared as they see a human being.

Poor thing! All this ghost wants is just to eat his sweets in peace.

How are shells made?

Have you ever wondered where shells come from?

"Villis" are the  explanation. Those furry and tender creatures live underneath the ocean, and grow shells from their heads. As a shell is ready the Villis drops it off his head, down on the sand.

No worries: Another shell will grow from the Villis' head soon.

                                                          Good night... ZZZZ  ZZZZ...

"Villi" is an intellectual property of Maracole.

"PooPoo Girl & Mr Fly"

The doll that nobody had the courage to make, it's finally here!  "PooPooGirl" by Maracole is the first and unique scented poo poo doll. This first release is Strawberry scented, as PooPooGirl has just eaten strawberries.

PooPoo Girl loves strawberries. As she eats strawberry, strawberry spots pop up on her cheeks and she becomes strawberry scented. Mmmhhh, delicious!

Mr Fly is always with PooPoo Girl. Soon available the comic strips of their fantastic adventures.

PooPooGirl by Maracole 2011. All rights reserved.

"When it rains diamonds"

This mixed media sculpture is an assemblage of parts made in various materials, like sculpey, faux fur, zipping, wire, fake gems, glass, fake flower and wood.

A glass base and a fury look make this art work more appealing. I love mixing fur, fabric and gems with harder materials like wood and glass.

I imagine a world where it rains only gems, and the inhabitants crave for the rain.

In this case the melancholic flower-elf has popped up from his glass-cone-house in order to catch some diamonds with his special umbrella.... With plenty of holes:)

It seems that he caught at least one gem for sure;)

This flower elf has a melanchonic expression, some sort of a sad smile that recalls to memory the enigmatic smile of Monnalisa. It's because when it rains the world gets soaked with melancholy.

Even when it rains diamonds.

The Art Show Master Blasters of Sculpture at the Hive gallery in Los Angeles downtown, Nov 2011.

"Adopt a little Ogre"

Ogres have a heart of gold.  Ogers' kids in particular are adorable. That's why I decided to create an Adoption Service for little Ogres orphans .

Sally is the first on my list. She's 9 years old and is truly in love with animals. She recovers dead animals from the forest and makes them pretty. She gives them a new house. And she loves them as if they were still alive.

Sally loves also wrapping gifts. So she wrap gift paper around her little friends and she make beautiful presents out of them. This is Bob the moth.

Diamond Bob was used to being a regular moth. As Sally found his corpse, she made him prettier by adding decorations and a shiny gem on his left wing.

Sally loves flies, for they use to fly around her little friends. The real flies... As well as the fancy flies:)

ADOPT A LITTLE OGRE is now a mixed media artwork that you can buy on Maracole Etsy shop online. Sally has been packaged like a Barbie, and exposed inside her tiny environment with accessories.

The doll comes with bendeable arms and empty hands.

Inside the shoebox I put Sally's treasures: Tiny, pretty corpse-animals which Sally has wrapped into gift paper. Your choice of switching the gift in her hands.

As sample: Timmy the opossum...

Irma the wolf...

 

Richard the chiken.

 

Sally wrote also a letter to her new family. You'll find it inside her package box.

 ADOPT SALLY, PLEASE! You will see how warm  an Ogre's heart can be.

"Adopt a little Ogre" has been on show at the art gallery "The Hive", Los Angeles downtown, from Sept the 3rd to the 28th 2011.

ADOPT A LITTLE OGRE by Maracole 2011. All rights reserved.

The fable of the Gorgeous Caterpillar

"The fable of the Gorgeous Catyerpillar": A story about bully, for kids and adults of any age.

All caterpillars look generally the same, ugly and unappealing. Mother Nature establishes in fact that ugly caterpillars turn into beautiful butterflies in the springtime. That’s because, according to the laws of Nature, one needs to crawl on the dirty soil for a long time before one can belong in the sky.

True Beauty is a reward that is conquered through sacrifice.

Once upon a time there was a nest of caterpillars, amongst which there was one in particular that was prettier than the rest. Because her noticeable beauty and the fact that she had grown tiny wings before anyone else, the other caterpillars could not help but to admire her, and dubbed her, “The Gorgeous Caterpillar.  

This of course, caused the “Gorgeous Caterpillar” to strut around vainly, boasting her tiny premature wings that Mother Nature had generously given to her.

In her vain mind, the gorgeous caterpillar assumed that her tiny wings were a special gift, a reward of some kind for having special qualities that the rest did not. She started to believe that she was better than the other caterpillars, and became convinced that it was Mother Nature’s intent for her to order everyone as their rightful queen.

The first thing the Gorgeous Caterpillar did, was to make the other caterpillars stand in front of a mirror, as she mocked and pointed at them, so that they could see how ugly they looked compared to her. This made the other caterpillars cry, lamenting their misfortune. The more they despaired the more confident the Gorgeous Caterpillar became.

Aware of how they looked, the other caterpillars began to lose their confidence allowing the Gorgeous Caterpillar to control them. She then assigned each one of them a duty: One was in charge of cleaning her wings, another was in charge of bringing fresh leaves for lunch, one was in charge of polishing her boots, there even was one that fanned her when it got hot and muggy. The caterpillars had no purpose in life but to serve their Gorgeous Master.

Believing she was following the will of Mother Nature, the Gorgeous Caterpillar felt very happy with herself. Besides, she loved immensely to be served, and knowing that the moment of metamorphosis was fast approaching, she started to fantasize about soon being the queen of all butterflies.

In her logic, the Gorgeous Caterpillar assumed that the metamorphosis would turn her precious tiny wings into the largest, and most beautiful butterfly wings ever. When they saw this, the other caterpillars should recognize immediately that she is their rightful mistress.

 

Time passed, and all the caterpillars slowly changed their shapes inside their cocoons. They each received strength and beauty according to how much each had worked and struggled in life.Their metamorphosis happened just as Mother Nature intended it to be.

The cocoons opened one after another, and from each a beautiful butterfly came out, gently stretching out their wings. However, the branch that held the cocoon of the Gorgeous Caterpillar had been torn down by the wind, and had fallen onto the ground. She did not move or come out for some time after all the other butterflies had done so. Once she did come out of the cocoon, without opening her eyes, she heard and felt the wind blowing on what had to be her new enormous, and awesome wings.

Amongst the sound of the wind, she distinguished high crystalline sounds, voices and giggles coming from above from creatures in the sky. The Gorgeous Caterpillar opened her eyes and saw herself surrounded by beautiful butterflies, each with their own set of wonderful wings that flapped gently creating the soft breeze she had felt. They all laughed and pointed mockingly at what appeared to be her.

It was clear the she had not completely come out of her cocoon yet, and in their stupidity the other butterflies did not realized how much more beautiful she had become.

The photos for this project have been shot by Simon Hung and Vina Kao Mahoney.

In her attempt to silence the impertinent comments of the other butterflies, the now self-proclaimed Gorgeous Butterfly proudly stood up out of her cocoon. The other butterflies will have no choice but to stop their laughing the moment they take a look at what is without a doubt, the most splendid and awe inspiring wings Nature has ever given a Queen Butterfly.

But instead of wonderful new wings the Gorgeous Butterfly extended a pair of miniscule wings, the same wings she had received at birth had not changed at all, in spite of the metamorphosis she had remained the same Gorgeous Caterpillar, gorgeous for a caterpillar, but still only just a caterpillar.

The butterflies gathered closer with immense curiosity. They wanted to inspect the strange case of this Ugly Butterfly. As they got closer, the Gorgeous Caterpillar saw the small shadow that her tiny wings cast on the ground, compared to the much larger and impressive shadow of the wings of the butterflies.

The Gorgeous Caterpillar could not comprehend what was happening, those deformed wings were not hers, they could not possibly be. Some of the butterflies brought a mirror before her. She saw in her reflection the same caterpillar she had always been, but now, what had once been gorgeous and extraordinary, was unimpressive and miniscule.

Her tiny wings and rounded body were shameful compared to the beauty around her. With Spring in full swing, the caterpillar began to feel a deep anger, and tremendous jealousy for the butterflies, after all, those wings were supposed to belong to her, that is what Nature had intended.

All of the sudden the butterflies flew up into the air in search of flowers. The Gorgeous Caterpillar attempted to do the same, but no matter how hard she flapped, her tiny wings could not lift her chubby round body off the ground. In desperation, she tried to climb up the stalk of the flower, but her weight kept making her slipping down.

To be continued....