Release the Hounds!

But after I've unstuck my pink stilettos from the grounds, please.



The soil is quite moist from the precipitation we've been experiencing.  I aerated (free of charge!) about 80% of the green you see below:







When I wasn't feigning absolute comfort in the most impractical shoes in the entire place, I was relaxing in style under the -speaking of which -Philadelphia Style Magazine tent.







What is this event,you ask?  Why, the Radnor Hunt Steeplechase of course!  I was the very fortunate guest of my dear friends at the Brandywine Polo Club who joined forces with the Style mag to produce the most luxurious tent-mosphere I've ever had the privilege to enjoy.  The furniture, the florals, the displays, all were thoughtfully arranged and delightfully polo-philic.







These mini arrangements were scattered throughout the infield seating area.







These chaise lounges were borrowed from my future powder room:







Lush, green grass is a nice touch.







If I hadn't been wearing fishnets I would've taken the heels off and dug my feet in.







Look at the bridle bits!  My love for all things equestrian is making it hard to write.



Below is a solid gold chair crafted by hand from three generations of British royalty on loan from Will & Kate's personal collection.*







In the tailgating area the classic cars enjoyed their moment in the sun.











The theme this year was the Great American Novel.  First person to leave a comment correctly naming this story gets a taxidermy treat from me!







I'm sure this tasted just like chicken.







Old Man and the Sea, complete with Mr. Hemingway himself!







I met a lovely woman named Heather who had a daughter competing in the hat contest (thankfully there is a child's division so no "accidents" had to happen to the little dear); they invited me to this particular tailgate where, along with the Old Man, I encountered an entire roast pig!







Some friends of the Polo Club (and female players!) were hosting this tailgate, the theme being Moby Dick







Up by where we'd set up the  Polo Club table, there were some tres classy air-conditioned portopots complete with pump flush action.  This stall came with enhanced instructions.  It's hard to see the wording but some clever little scamp wrote "otherwise you might catapult shit onto the ceiling".







She may have been overestimating her strength just a tad.



Back down infield at the Phila Style tent, a handsome gentlemen stopped by with his horse to chat.  I wasn't able to catch it but his four-legged pal took out a woman's mojito in one gulp.  Can't blame the furry guy.







My new friend Claudia!  She's one of the players at the Polo Club.  I can't wait to watch her play.







More friends of the Polo Club.  I just adore how effortlessly well they all match.  Total eye candy.  Listening the Portuguese being playfully shouted back and forth didn't hurt either.  At least I think it was Portuguese.







My all too gracious host Branden Walsh,  polo-phile extraordinaire, with a beautiful mystery woman standing on a chair.  Note the flip-flops.  Very intelligent.  All the ladies seemed to know what they were doing and wore flats or wedges.







This adorable little lady wore boots.  The nicest boots I've ever seen, I might add.  She was learning how to shake hands and properly greet people when we were introduced, but her and I made a silent agreement that shaking hands is totally gauche and real ladies curtsy.  And so we curtsied to one another and if I had gotten a video of it your heart might break.







Parked next to us was a gentleman and his wife and their antique Packard.  Silly of me not to get a picture of the entire car but I certainly enjoyed posing inside of it!



That damned smirk...







Oh!  Right.  That's my ribbon for taking third place in the ladies hat contest.  While I am absolutely thrilled; I really need to work on getting a different color ribbon.  I thought the blue hair would clue the judges in on what I was aiming for...



Thanks to the Daily Local News for this lovely photo in their online coverage of the day:







Back to that Packard: I had the presence of mind to take a shot of my view from the steering wheel, seeing as I have no clue when I might get the pleasure of sitting at the driver's of one of these ever again.



Yummmmmmmmmmm.







Oh hello!  The owner was emphatic in telling me that my sitting in his car had added a significant amount of provenance to it.  I replied that his Packard had done likewise for my seat.  And there begins the slippery slope of dirty jokes that I'll leave up to your imagination.





Considering the world was supposed to end on Saturday, I think it's fair to say I would've gone out in style.  Speaking of which, it didn't occur to me until late in the day that every stitch of clothing/accessories I had on was from WILBUR Vintage.  I didn't even plan that; but I guess I love the shop that much.



For more pictures covering the event, please check out the photographs my new pal Juan Vidal took throughout the day.



*Bev-tale?  You decide.

Like a ________ with its head cut off.

Specifically, a pheasant.



I recently came into contact with the striking and fabulous Kiki Hughes, proprietress of Kiki Hughes Boutique in Philadelphia.  Word to the wise: click on that link and check out her store if you're near Philly.  There are some truly, truly gorgeous wardrobe pieces in there (like my ostrich feather skirt!!!) and all the clothing is merchandised in such a clever and unique fashion that you'll kind of get sucked into a time warp and forget how long you've been there ogling at the displays.



Anyway, Ms. Kiki has this lovely pheasant head hat from her personal collection which her cat made into a sacrifice one night by ripping the head clean off.  What killer instincts!



My cat Frankie, a.k.a the Diamond Tooth Studio Mascot, seems to not care less about anything feathered which makes him an ideal work buddy, provided I keep all things mousey out of his reach.  For the most part, he just wants to be near whatever I'm doing.  Example:







Upon closer inspection, this bird was more than just decapitated.  He was straight ripped.







I started by sewing binding tape over the cracks and along the edge of the head which I then reinforced with an adhesive.  This would provide a stronger  bond once the whole thing was sewn back together.







Cotton filling back into the head:







Next was the binding tape along the edge of the bottom half:







Finally it's time to sew the head onto the body.  This is where curved needles come in handy.







After the head was securely reattached, there was still the job of filling in the blank skin spots with feathers.  Fortunately I have an abundance of pheasant plumage on hand and was able to find the right shade/size.shpe to blend in with the originals.



And he's finished!  Top view:







Side view:







Other side view:







So the moral of the story is:  I do repairs.  Please feel free to contact me should an old piece of taxidermy in your collection need some new life breathed into it.

Last Ride

I recently collaborated with fellow artist and compadre Andria Morales on a performance piece titled "Last Ride".  Formerly known as Andria Biblioni, Ms. Morales wanted to mark the moment in her life where her maiden name (and previous self) ceased to exist.  We both share a fascination with death and how we as humans approach/accept it within our various cultures.   Coming from a Puerto Rican background, Andria has personal experience with the practice of posing for photographs "with " the departed at their funeral.  Being of Irish and German descent myself, there aren't any notable funeral practices I've personally experienced.  I still think the act of embalming is extremely bizarre, and dare I say...pointless?



Which is why I'm all for the outrageous viewing displays created by Marin Funeral home in Puerto Rico:







If you're going to embalm a body, why not make it interesting?



All of this led to us performing a "viewing" for Andria where we transformed the space at local venue the Rotunda to look like a funeral home.  This required some manual labor, elbow grease, and the occasional frightening ladder climb by yours truly:







I designed the ensemble and provided the taxidermy mounts scattered throughout the scene for ambience.  Here is our subject, looking positively stiff.







We got a decent crowd of friends and relatives flowing in and out to pay their respects; my favorite was dear friend Bailey Hale and Jennifer Cohen who came with the two little ones in tow.  I believe she said something about opting for the fake viewing over gymboree that day.  The tots were stoked.











Every viewing has its downtime.







The view from behind:







Another mourner:







More photos HERE.



This event was several weeks ago and this past Friday the gallery edition of "Last Ride" opened at Air Space which is where Andria currently resides as an artist in residence.  We basically recreated the Rotunda set-up with some tweaking, including substituting a mannequin for Andria, who stoically held still like a real body (with my rigging help) throughout the entire two-hour original viewing.













Now that she has ascended, Ms. Morales is currently entrenched in some other activities with artist Maya Escobar.  You can learn more by checking out their Are You My Other (self portrait dialogue exchange) project and the AMerican MEdia Output project .

Kentucky Fried Chickens

Team Diamond Tooth is back from a whirlwind tour of Louisville and the myriad of Derby-related events taking place there.



We drove through the night, leaving at 9:30 pm on Wednesday and arriving in Kentucky about 12 hours and many rest-stops later.







By sunrise we were coasting through some gorgeous country farm landscapes.  We stopped at a gas station for a fill, some coffee, and a bathroom.  The lady's room had a tub with a hose for washing the cow crap off your boots.







Just outside of Louisville, we stopped in a Starbucks to change and freshen up for our first appointment in town.  Here I am, very sleep-deprived and high on adrenaline.







We caught a celebratory cocktail at a sushi joint  just across from Seviche.  I marveled at the fish in the tank.







After Seviche we drove across the bridge into Indiana for a tasting at Bristol.  Our generous hostess then regaled us with tales of the tradition known as "Thunder over Louisville" while we enjoyed the view of the city from our vantage point.  Unfortunately we arrived after the show had taken place, but check out the video below for the action:











We checked into our room and closed out eyes a bit before getting gussied up and heading out to the Barnstable Ball.  Unfortunately we were a little early...







like 24 hours early. Rule #1: sleep is important Staying awake for 36+ hours straight can do unusual things to one's perception of time.  No worries though, we made the best of our fabulous selves and headed to a local bar on 4th street Live where my serama hat caused quite a stir. We then took a cab back to our room. Rule #2: derby rates apply in cabs during this time of year, meaning that patrons will pay about $10/mile. Your best bet is to bring a bicycle or get a room reserved early enough to secure a spot in the middle of town.







The next morning found us sampling chocolates at Gyhyslain, which isn't a bad way to start the day if you ask me.







Next we moved onto Doc Crows for a bourbon sampling where the owner was extremely generous with his time and knowledge, schooling a couple of newbies like us on the ins and outs of Kentucky bourbon.







We then hit up Kentucky Oaks for some infield action.  Meredith fully immersed herself in the experience like the good sport she is.







I hear it's ok to order your wiz wit in any native tongue you please. That's Southern hospitality for you.







Off to the Barnstable Ball, for real this time.  Here I am from my patio perch, surveying the madness on the lawn.  I'm wearing a hair comb composed of quail feathers and head.







Inside the mansion this book was on display.







I found the title an interesting juxtaposition to our surroundings.  Perhaps I should go look te book up before I go getting snarky and whatnot.







Off to the Julep Ball!  By the time we made it, the auction was over and three of my pieces had sold!







The comb went to this lovely lady.







What a great smile!  Her name was Ryan, but that's all I remember.







I then encountered these stylish women sporting my other two pieces.  They were kind enough to permit me to make adjustments.







Gorgeous!  I cannot fully express how honored I am that women with such a unique range of style find my work desirable.







Look!  My Summer beret!







I want to hang out with these gals.







Oh and by the way that's Mike Mills accompanying this lovely pair.  But I'm sure you knew that.  Unfortunately in my excitement I completely forgot both women's names which is my loss because they really strike me as potential kindred spirits.







Derby day.  It all leads up to this.  We dragged ourselves out of bed and proceeded to spackle enough makeup and clothing on as it would take to make us look human.



Or something close to human.  I think we embraced our inner 60's secretaries that day.











Mimosas will always take the edge off.







Derby rule #3: Don't even try driving to Churchill Downs.







The pink tractors belonged to Vinyard Vines, a fashion label that has truly enmeshed themselves in all things derby.  I'm a fan of the pink whale.











Here's a couple of wild and crazy gals posing in front of Secretariat.







Unfortunately I didn't win any bets that day, but it was the experience of a lifetime, and over before I knew it.  We scoffed at the advice given to us by many and left our change of comfy shoes at home.  That is why we hobbled to gate 10 that evening and caught the first pedicab we saw: