Divovska lignja / Giant Squid



my 9,5 feet long squid / moja 290 cm duga lignja

Pomalo neobičan naslov, priznajem, senzacionalistički čak :). Ali, ova lignja je stvarno divovska :))
Sve je počelo vrlo slučajno, nabasala sam na jedan vrlo interesantan post, kojeg možete pogledati OVDJE . Ta je cura svom dragom napravila jako veliku lignju-jastuk za Božić. Sve to skupa ne bi meni bilo uopće toliko važno (osim što joj je ideja vrhunska) da moj muž nije strastveni lignjolovac već duuuugi niz godina. Toliko je u tome da sam ga ja davno već prozvala Lignja-Man (kao Superman, valjda :)  Za nas je normalan razgovor onaj koji uključuje skonsalice, štapove, lampe, ferale, dubine, finske mamce, japanske mamce, je li mjesečina, nije li, brodske motore, brzine, čvorove, panulavanje, vjetar ... i sl. I, tako sam odlučila napraviti nešto slično za njega, kao božićni poklon. Nešto što će ga 100% oboriti sa nogu.

A little bit of strange headline, I guess :)  But, this squid is really giantic :))

Everything started by chance, really. I came across this intersting post, that you can check out  HERE. That girl had made a 8 feet long squid pillow to her boyfriend as Christmas gift. But, that fact wouldn't be that important to me - if I hadn't have a husband who is  impassioned fisherman, specialized for squids! He is in that passion of his for sooo long, I nicknamed him Squidman (as Superman :) years ago. A normal conversation in our house includes debates about  fishing rods, lights, depths, finnish or japanese baits, is it moonlight, or not, marine engines, speeds, knots, winds...etc. That's why I decided make something similar for him this Christmas, something that will blow him away 100%!

Loligo Vulgaris

Ali, naravno, lignja je ipak trebala sličiti ovoj našoj, europskoj Loligo Vulgaris.
But, that squid should look alike our european squid Loligo Vulgaris. (I belive that more accurate term would be "calamary", but I will use "squid").
Ova naša lignjica je vrlo ukusna, to ne treba posebno pisati.
This squid that lives in Adriatic Sea is very tasteful, we use it a lot in our traditional diet.

Prvo sam krenula u potragu za odgovarajućim dezenom, trebalo mi je nešto na točkice, tako da oponaša kromatofore - pigmentirane stanice na tijelu lignje. Ovaj materijal mi je bio nekako najbliži onome što sam zamislila. Kad je to bilo rješeno, od papira sam napravila kroj. Nastojala sam da što više sliči našoj domaćoj lignji, pa se dosta razlikuje od onog kroja iz posta koji sam spomenula. Dimenzije možete vidjeti gore, a one su ispale takve slučajno; dala sam si malo umjetničke slobode :D . Dakle, za tijelo lignje potrebno je iskrojiti gornji i donji dio, jer to će biti jastuk na kraju.
First I went to find some material that I imagined, something with little dots to look alike chromatophores - pigmented cells on squid's body. This design was the most similar to that idea. So, when I sloved that issue, I made paper pattern. I tried to make pattern much more alike to european squid then the one in the post I mentioned earlier. Its dimensions are written above. They turned out like that by chance, I gave myself some artistic freedom :) . So, for squid's body I made 2 pieces, upper and bottom, it is supposed to be a pillow, after all.

Tada sam napravila bočna krilca / peraje, odmah ih napunila punilom za jastuke i prošila rubove.
Then I made this side wings / flippers, stuffed them with pillow stuffings and sew the edge.



Onda sam iskrojila i sašila pipke 6 manjih i 2 veća, te glavu lignje na koju sam aplicirala oči (izrezala krugove od materijala koji mi je ostao).
Ali, avaj, kod pipaka sam se malo prešla! Naime, lignja ima 8 malih pipaka i 2 velika! Sve ove puste godine koliko gledam (i čistim) lignje i nije mi na pamet palo pobrojiti ih! A pošto sam ih već bila napunila punilom i sašila glavu, ostavila sam ih u ovakvom broju, nadajući se da taj nedostatak neće nikom upasti u oči.
Then I tailored and sew 6 tentalces (arms) and 2 longer, squid's head with applique eyes that I cut out of the rest of the material.
But, I made a mistake with arms, yeeks! Squid has 8 shorter arms, not 6! All of these years that I look at the squids (and prepare them as well) - I didn't think of counting them at all! But, since I stuffed them already and head was already done, I left them so. I hope that nobody will notice :D

Tu sam već sašila pipke za glavu, te sašila jastučić za glavu. Hmmm, komplicirano zvuči... Ali nije!
At this point I sew squid's arms for its head, and made a head-pillow. Hmmm, sounds complicated. But it is not!

Kako je šivanje odmicalo, tako bi je bilo sve jasnije da će ovaj jastuk biti ogroman. Znači, i težak. I kako ću ga prati? Hmmm...
Odlučila sam ovu lignju iz jastuka pretvoriti u jastučnicu i jastuk. Sašila sam jastuk kojim ću napuniti glavu i jastuk koji će napuniti tijelo, istih dimenzija kao i orginalna glava, odnosno tijelo.
As my creating of this squid went further, I realised that it is going to be big. And heavy. And - how am I going to wash it? Hmmm...
That's why I turned this squid-pillow into squid-pillow case with pillows. I made one pillow that will fill squid's head and one to fill its body, same dimensions as originals.

Ovako to izgleda.
And it looks like this.

Kad iz lignje izvadim ta 2 jastuka, ostaje mi ovo - tijelo lignje - kojem su napunjena bočna krilca i pipci na glavi. Sama glava i tijelo lignje su prazni. E, ovo već može ići u mašinu bez problema!
When I take out those 2 pillow out of squid, this is what I have - squid's body - only stuffed parts are side wings and arms. Head itself and body are empty. Now, I can put this in a washer, no problem!

Tijelo sa strane ima patent, tako da se unutarnji jastuci mogu bez problema stavljati i vaditi, po potrebi.
Squid's body has a zipper at the side, so interior pillows can get in or out with no problem at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Malo detalja:

Some details:

Bočna krilca, napunjena.
Side wings, stuffed.

Glava i pipci.
Head and arms.

Na "vrhu" glave se nalaze usta.
On the "top" of the head are squid's mouth.

Pipci. Sviđa mi se ovaj materijal.
Tentacles / arms. I belive this material design is right for it!

I tako je nastala lignja duga 290 cm, od dna tijela pa do vrha dugih pipaka. Nisam mislila da će biti ovako velika, ali... od viška glava ne boli! Kako lijepo svjetluca na jutarnjem suncu :)
And that's how this 9,5 feet long squid came to life, from the bottom of its body untill the top of its long arms. I didn't think that it is going to be so looong, but... And how lovely it glows on morning sun :)

Ovako to treba izgledati, lignja-jastuk- za valjanje!
This is how it is supposed to be - squid pillow - for our own enjoyment!

A ovako izgleda lignja u svom prirodnom ambijentu.
And this is how our squid looks like in its natural surroundings.

 Onda, što kažete na našeg novog kućnog ljubimca?

So, what you do think of our new pet?

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

My giant squid was featured at:

Thank you!