A Most Unusual Commission

I recently sent some pieces to Hendricks Gin as environmental decor for one of their many famed Wondrous Affairs.  This one took place in Chicago and while I have yet to find photo documentation of my pieces in action, I trust the entire presentation was nothing short of tremendous.  I've had a friendship with Hendricks for some time, in fact one of my favorite interviews was with their blog back in 2012. Last November a few of their most stylish associates paid me the honor of renting some couture wearables for a Masquerade.
This time around they ordered a few wall mounts and my signature Goat Hoof Candle Holders, but the whopper was a commissioned luminary goat hide rug.  I hustled to get source the parts and get her produced in time, and here's the result:

I scored a hide from Alaska of all places, this specimen was once the beloved pet goat of a local animal control officer.  I'm so touched that she's gone on to live a shiny new jet setting life!

I found the lamp components from Mid Century Furniture, just down the road from my studio, which happened to be open to the public and completely empty of people on the day I needed to find these parts the most.  I didn't like the shade so I made a new one from some leather hide that I also used to line the bottom.  If you look closely you can see the branding:

I was compelled to embellish her, so voila: Pearls (genuine, to boot!), hair extensions and ostrich feathers.

Can't you just picture sitting in a rocking chair with a gin gimlet reading your favorite pen pal letter under the light of this lady?

So that's my latest luminary rug piece; hopefully photos from the event aren't far behind!

Shine on, Belinda.

Jill, the lil Scamp with a Cleft Lip

Jack and Jill lived in a tree, until the tree was cut down and both baby squirrels were rendered homeless.  A kind woman took them in and raised them, and while Jack thrived, Jill had a difficult time as she was born with a cleft palette and eating was tremendously difficult.  As I write this I wonder-if their home hadn't been destroyed, Jill may have perished much sooner than she did.  Perhaps in a parallel universe that's the case.  And in yet another one, she lives on, animated with her brother and adoptive human mother.

In this universe, however, Jill expired.  Her human's wish was to have her as a soft mount, so I had her teeny tiny hide soft tanned and mounted her with cotton and armature wire so she could be plush and pose-able.  The malformed skull had to be reinforced with clay and glue; I found this aspect to be the most difficult part as I've never worked with a harelip before.  I basically had to recreate the fleshy gum and lips of her palette.  Unfortunately I lost some files as I transitioned from my old computer to this new laptop so I don't have any closeup photos of her face but you can get the idea here:

I'm still getting the hang of this soft mount option and while I love love LOVE it I'm working on figuring out a way to strike a balance between touchable/squeezable and anatomic accuracy.  I'm not crazy about how floppy her little squirrel fingers and toes are.

But she sure is fun to pose!  Sat Nam, Jill.  May your path always be illuminated and free of obstacles.

Koko the Guacamayo

Hola Koko!

Koko is the very much beloved 15+ year old pet Gaucamayo of one of the most delightful families I've had the pleasure of meeting through my work as a taxidermist.  It's profoundly touching to meet folks who care for their critters so deeply.  Koko's humans were in tears when they brought him to me; yet were still able to chuckle as they told me of how he would cuss in Spanish to get everyone's attention.  They had even saved every feather he'd ever shed over his entire lifetime!

 This pet preservation project was an absolute honor to work on.  What a lovely specimen, to boot.

 My client was brought to tears when they were reunited; the entire process was extremely rewarding. She even baked me a cake and sent me photos of Koko after he was back home in his little bird abode.

So long, Koko, I will savor the experience of working with you and your family for years to come.

Say hello to my furry friend.

 Well, he's not mine anymore, he's now in the hands of his rightful owner, a great guy who commissioned me to create a soft-mount taxidermy piece out of the dead skunk he brought me back in November.  I not only created the mount, but I saved the essence and ate the meat.  But I'm sure you already guessed that.

 His face was chewed up a bit by a possum by the time he reached my table, and it's not up to competition level by any means but for my first full soft mount it's just fine.  My client says that soft mounts are the future of taxidermy and I think I'm coming around.  I'm already working on my second one and developing a great technique to produce even better results. 

 Taxidermy you can play with!  Who doesn't love that?  (You don't have to answer that, I know there are oodles of folks who don't love it.  I get the hate mail to remind me)

Au Revoir, Skunky!

From the For No Particular Reason File:Chicken Head Glass Votive Holder

 Here we have a chicken head mounted trophy style onto a plaque, a glass votive holder dangling from his beak.  While burning a candle in this vessel would obviously be a terrible thing to do, it would make a great spare key holder or place to keep your favorite trinkets.  Maybe he can hold some salt for you to pinch off a little bit each time you need to throw some over your shoulder.

 If a luminary element is what you're hell bent on, batter operated LED candles are a wonderful option.

 He is ready to serve you.  Just don't fill this thing to the top with spare change or gold bullion; you may beak his neck.

Bilal

 This is the skull of Bilal the cat, a beloved member of my dear friends' family.  When he passed, they gave him to me to make something with.  I brain tanned his hide and transformed him into a luxurious fur stole, of which I sadly have no photos.

 W & R were instrumental in my early development as a taxidermy artist; I couldn't have made it without their guidance and generosity.  I was reflecting on this last week when I decided to unearth Bilal's head from my freezer, clean it off and gift them with the skull.

 I've been getting into bone cleaning lately, all these heads are in my freezer that I figured I'd do something with someday.  Now I'm really getting into it.  I don't use beetles, as bone cleaning isn't even a significant part of the services I offer (yet) but I'm thoroughly enjoying the catharsis of scraping brains out, yanking cartilage with my bare hands, pulling, plucking and prying all the messy gunk off the bones.  Perhaps it's a metaphor for some deep self exploration I've been engaging in...

 Bilal had some pretty impressive teeth, although he was missing a bottom fang.

 I articulated the mandible to the skull and drilled a hole for his name tag to dangle from.

Another day in Paradise.

Ashley's Wedding

Ashley approached me almost a year before her wedding date to talk about bridal & bridal party head pieces.  I believe her words were, "OK, I'm engaged, now I have to go talk to my taxidermist!"-she may or may not have used the word "my" but I like to fancy myself as providing such an intimate service to people that they would refer to me in a possessive fashion, as though part of me belongs to them.  Honestly, after the literal blood sweat and tears that go into each piece I make, part of me literally does belong to them.

Ashley wanted to wear a white lamb head on her wedding day. I told her that I couldn't guarantee it, as I basically work on a "whatever falls into my lap" modus operandi.  We agreed that come March, if I hadn't been able to source a dead or stillborn white baby lamb (perhaps a morbid task to some, to others just another day in the office), then we would start to concoct a backup plan.
March came and went, and just as I was about to chew my nails down to the bed, I sourced a 24 hours-lived lamb from a farm in Colorado.  Things really do always work out if you just let them. For me things always seem to work out literally at the last possible second, every time.

I got to work immediately as soon as Lambette arrived and skinned her, then made a mold of the head:

The mold was then cast and I test fit it on a head form.

And of course then the skin is taxied onto the form:

I use steel headbands for these types of head pieces; even still, bobby pins or clips are needed to keep them in place.  It's not your conventional tiara & veil, ladies.

She wanted very minor embellishment so I harnessed myself and limited the gems to just a few around the eyes. 

I sewed a silver plated comb into the lining for extra security, and used a very special out-of-production brocade that I reserve only for brides.

I wanted to see how it would look with hair so I attempted to give this mannequin a wig up-do, but it falls short. I suppose it's time I got some live models back into circulation.

Oh!  And there were bridesmaids!  Two of them, to be exact.  Both of them totally cool with wearing chickens on their heads.  My kind of gals.  Here is the first one:

There was a color palette that played off the country/farm type of setting where the wedding was held and I incorporated that by selecting birds with all those hues.

And the second one:

I'm having fun incorporating deveined and shaped feathers into my work these days, expect to see much more of it in the future.

Congratulations, Ashley and friends! And thank you for the honor of being part of such a tremendous moment of your life.