Jive Turkey

I just finished up a very unique commission that took months longer than anticipated:My client wanted a pair of turkey legs from her brother's farm to be mounted and embellished with the intent of using the toes/talons to hang her jewelry from.

 Of course I was in love with the idea from the very start, but when she brought me the legs I was shocked.  While my turkey mount experience is limited at best, I have handled legs before.  They are usually large, but not much more meaty than a large rooster. This turkey was a monster!  The feet were big enough to wrap around a small child's arm and meaty enough to make for a meal on their own.  

I made slices along the side of each talon to access the meat so I could flesh it out.  For traditional standing mounts where the turkey would be standing on an environment, foot pad side down, this is an easy job, but I had to keep in mind that the underside of these feet would be one of the focal points of the finished piece and therefore the cuts had to be neat and ultimately concealed.

I filled the foot in with clay where I had removed the flesh, sculpted it back into shape and wired the cuts shut so it could dry a bit in the right position.  After the clay had firmed up I lined up the skin on either side of each cut and used superglue to seal them back up.  I left the pair out to dry and cure a bit more, and perhaps it was the humid end of Summer climate but it took two months for them to get to a point where I could begin the finishing work. I then blended an epoxy clay into the "scars" and textured & painted them.  When I was done, the cuts were blended in so well I can barely find them!

Next came mounting on a custom plaque and embellishing, my favorite part!

I fancy myself a bit of an alchemist when I'm taking vintage gems, some old jewelry of my own and marrying it with those either gifted to me or found on the street during my daily journeys, and giving them a new purpose.  They go from being dormant and underappreciated to vibrant pieces of interactive art!

Since they were designed to hold jewelry, I gave them a test run with some of my own pieces before hadning off to my client.

Turkey legs as jewelry holders.   I adore my clients!

Double Rattlesnake Dreams

Last July two brothers brought me a pair of rattlesnakes that they'd caught together hunting near Philadelphia.  Don't tell them but this was only my second snake job, after a tragically botched one 3 years ago.  I accepted the commission in a very casual way and it didn't occur to me until the snakes were in my possession that I needed to exercise extreme caution in handling them since I could easily puncture my finger on a fang and be on the receiving end of a posthumous, deadly, venomous snake bite.  

Both rattlers looked very similar but I think I've managed to separate the two in these photos; the first few shots are a smaller, slightly darker one, and the larger, lighter one is pictured after the carcass/meat images.

The tails are really fun, I wish I'd been able to keep one for myself to wear somehow.  They sound great.

So, about that venom.  Did you think I would let such potent stuff go to waste?

After doing some research I became completely fascinated by snake venom and its applications; I found a story about a man who has been injecting himself with venom for years and swears on its health benefits.  I also found some sketchy information about a high end luxury anti-aging cream that had (synthetic) snake venom in its base.  Apparently it acts as a topical Botox.  I have the venom in a little vial in my freezer; who knows what I'll actually do with it.

I also learned that a snake can still bite and kill a human even after its head has been severed, and that its heart will beat after being pulled out of it's body.  What tenacious, ferocious creatures.  It inspires pride in being born in the Snake Year.

Of course I wouldn't let that meat go to waste either.  After the plethora of critters I have eviscerated for food prep, I find snakes to be the quickest and easiest.  It's literally as simple as just puling the intestines like a loose yarn on a sweater.

I marinated the meat in whiskey, honey and ginger chunks for about a day.

Lucky me, I was invited to a BBQ that evening and I got to throw that snake on the grill and share it with a bunch of folks.  A pleaser, even if it was a lot of work to chew around those millions of ribs.

Next began the arduous process of altering the foam mannequins to accommodate the skin and positioning desired by the clients.  Hours of cutting, gluing, filing, sanding, measuring, test fitting, measuring again, etc.

And then presto!  A couple of mounted rattlesnakes.

I ran into a couple of issues with the seams, but aside of that I'm quite pleased with the work.

The positioning was very challenging to me since it required a good deal of twisting the skin.  Here's a secret- It's easy to hide a wrinkle in furry mounts, because it's covered in fur.  Not so with reptile skin.  Fortunately snake skin is tough and just requires a little patience and finesse.

~And that'ssssssssss a wrap~

Vampyra the Winged Domestic Feline

Meet Vampyra.  She is the beloved feline of a local Philadelphian and has been posthumously winged as per his request.  I think it was a brilliant idea.  She has a very gothy feel.

In life, she seemed to wear a mildly surprised or curious facial expression so I did my best to recreate that.  I wish I had spent more time on her pillow seat, though.  It could use some tassels, for sure, and also tends to want to lean a little bit.

I used wings from a chicken; at first I wanted to use a black rooster but after noticing all the subtle browns and reds in her coat, a pitch black pair of wings would have looked very flat so I opted for a bit more texture, color wise.



Many measurements and carcass casting to make a custom form.

A progress shot of her ears drying.  Despite the carding the ears still gave me some grief.

 Here she is, eternally poised for preflight.

It was an honor, Vampyra.  Charmed, indeed.

Here is a 12 point deer trophy mount that took me over a year to mount:

 The hunter picked him up today and I believe he was satisfied.

Even though I've been doing this job for years, I still worry that the client may not be completely thrilled with the final product.  It's challenging to be an artist and pour your heart and soul into a piece, even if it's technically a commercial venture, and then separate your self worth with the final product.

I wonder if folks in other lines of work lie awake at night fretting over whether or not they've sung a song perfectly, diagnosed a patient correctly or served an ice cream cone to the best of their ability.

Waste Not...

Remember that rat I mounted a few months back?  I also preserved her skull, here are some photos, please enjoy!