Thursday 25 February 2010

California



(a photo of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk I took last time I was over)


Leaving tomorrow for California. I'll only be over for a few weeks, and I'll be posting any goodies that come my way (there's always such good roadkill in Cali what with all the cars and driving that gets done).

Jack's going to be holding down the fort in my absence so if you want to buy a pigeon foot pendant, or borrow stuff for shoots don't worry---
Any taxidermy orders however will have to wait until my return.

I feel like such a tourist in my mother country... It's been over a year and a half since I was back so if anyone can recommend some fun shit to do/places to go in San Fran or LA, let me know!

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Sunday 21 February 2010

PIGEON FOOT PENDANT



Today I met up with a good friend from my Saint Martins days...

The ever-so-talented-and-witty Tom Hauser!

What joy... coffee... cake and chatting was had! *Sigh*

We were even able to mix in a bit of business with pleasure, which I thought I might share with you...

Tom bought one of my pigeon foot pendants, and I thought it would be good to indulge my readers in some more images of the pendant, as well as some images of the packaging
(because beautiful packaging turns me on, so I thought it might just do the same for you? No? Oh well...).

Close-up of Pigeon Foot... it measures roughly 64mm x 24mm


Here it is in it's little black organza bag with black drawstring ribbon...


Then it's put into it's little 100% recycled box, filled with shredded waste paper...
(not of the fecal variety mind...)



The official sheet with your edition number on it (out of 100)


I LOVE sealing wax! Urghhhhh... SO satisfying!


And, here it is... ready to go... in it's also very satisfying/tactile clear pack.

Now, there are still quite a few pendants left for the taking... so get in touch!

With only 100 editions, these little beauties aren't going to last long...

Mmmmmmmmm... tasty packaging...

Station


Tom Hyde interviewed me for the latest issue of Station Magazine... check it out.

Thursday 18 February 2010

Mad Hatting



SAVE THE DATE: MAY 6th 2010


(Bookworm bookshelf by Ron Arad - Produced by Kartell, Image from: www.detnk.com)


I was approached by Vanessa Carlos to exhibit some of my taxidermy headpieces as part of the Ron Arad exhibit at the Barbican a while back...

They are putting on a fantastic "Mad Hatters Tea Party" to celebrate Arad's obsession with hats. This will be held in the Garden Room, and will showcase my headpieces as well as a range of magnificent culinary delights by concept chef Caroline Hobkinson.

Now, I don't know if any of you guys made it to the Viktor & Rolf exhibit events... but the doll themed tea party they threw for that was A-MAZING. Tons of cake and tea and incredible costumes, and and... and from the sounds of it this will be of an equally high standard--- especially seeing as Vanessa put that one on as well!

So here's the plan:
Snatch up your craziest/favorite hat, skip over any time during the day and see the Ron Arad exhibit. At 6:30pm, hop on over to the Garden Room for a peek at some "unbelievable taxidermy head wear" (the Barbican's words not mine...) and to sample some incredible canapés. Stay for another look at Arad's work and wind down the remainder of the night (until 10pm) at the Tom Foulsham and Valentin Vodev designed mobile Absolute Vodka bar!

Did I mention tickets to all the above fun and games are FREE with a ticket to the Ron Arad show?

So no excuses! See you there with your best hat(s) on!

Monday 15 February 2010

Fox


Really excited about the fox I skinned last night...

Monday 8 February 2010

Light

Check out this light sculpture
I just finished thanks to Jack's masterful light wiring capabilities:



Pretty great eh?
It's made from a bull's skull that my mother found for me.

Apparently it was de-fleshed using a traditional "Mexican Method" which (from what I understand) seems to mean it was simply left in the desert until all flesh and fur was eaten or burned off by the sun.

Works for me.

Unfortunately some sticky fingered postal service person helped him/herself to the beautiful horns of this creature on it's way over.

Bastards!

So I've made my own horns ... a sort of "brushed silver" version.

I like the way it looks like he's actually "looking" at you---
and the way the light picks up on all of the intricate cracks and thinned bone of the skull.

Thursday 4 February 2010

Vice


Hit up the Vice website for a wee interview with yours truly...


Disney Happy Happy

Here are some images of a commission I've just finished for someone who wanted some shields made up like ones I have made previously for art exhibits.

The only catch? Instead of having creatures snarling and gasping off the face of the shield, this person wanted them to have "Disney happy happy faces".

Never one to dodge a challenge, I was happy to oblige.

After months of trying to source all the right critters (who knew it would be so difficult to get a hold of a duck with it's feathers still intact?)
and going through a few duds
(rotten duck x2 anyone? two words: mouldy tongue)

I have finally finished them, and they are going to be shipped out Monday Morning!




Aren't the shields delicious colours? Expect to see more like this...