Happy Thanksgiving!

May your day be filled with wonderful times with loving family and friends.  May it be filled with gratitude for life experiences, good or bad.

Mummification experimentation part one complete.

So, lovely readers, as you know your fearless heroine has been hard at work figuring out the logistics of ancient mummification to honor a dear friends pet in it's journey into the afterlife.  (Run on sentence much?)

Yesterday, after much stupidity in Howard County, I finally came away with unbleached cotton muslin, and a sad excuse for gold leaf.  Apparently, Joann can't be bothered to keep actual gold leaf in stock because the binding agent in carcinogenic.  No need to worry about the fact that I've been elbow deep in some mildly toxic resins and the stuff that they're selling in place of gold leaf contains Hexane which is a neurotoxin *eye roll*.  Anyway, I digress.  I got home and set to work...

"gold leafed"

wrapped

All Done.

So it's done.  I'm quite pleased with it.  I'm going to work on a larger rat next before starting on Pip.  But D, saw the finished project last night and was pretty pleased.  I think everyone on my Christmas gift list this year will be getting one.

Thanatos, by Henry Kirk White

I visited with my doctor today, and he told me to  look up this poem, it's beautiful, and I thought I would share it with you.  xoxox

Thanatos

Oh! who would cherish life,
And cling unto this heavy clog of clay,
Love this rude world of strife,
Where glooms and tempests cloud the fairest day;
And where, 'neath outward smiles,
Conceal'd the snake lies feeding on its prey,
Where pitfalls lie in every flowery way,
And sirens lure the wanderer to their wiles!
Hateful it is to me,
Its riotous railings and revengeful strife;
I'm tired with all its screams and brutal shouts
Dinning the ear;--away--away with life!
And welcome, oh! thou silent maid,
Who in some foggy vault art laid,

Where never daylight's dazzling ray
Comes to disturb thy dismal sway;
And there amid unwholesome damps dost sleep,
In such forgetful slumbers deep,
That all thy senses stupefied
Are to marble petrified.
Sleepy Death, I welcome thee!
Sweet are thy calms to misery.
Poppies I will ask no more,
Nor the fatal hellebore;
Death is the best, the only cure,
His are slumbers ever sure.
Lay me in the Gothic tomb,
In whose solemn fretted gloom
I may lie in mouldering state,
With all the grandeur of the great:
Over me, magnificent,
Carve a stately monument;
Then thereon my statue lay,
With hands in attitude to pray,
And angels serve to hold my head,
Weeping o'er the father dead.
Duly too at close of day,
Let the pealing organ play;
And while the harmonious thunders roll,
Chant a vesper to my soul:
Thus how sweet my sleep will be,
Shut out from thoughtful misery!

October, the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

I love autumn, all of it's crisp sweatery goodness.  The leaves changing, the taste of mulled cider, pumpkin everything!  However, it is the artists worst nightmare; especially, if you need to go to the craft store for supplies.  The trip started innocently, just some cotton muslin and gold leaf.  I went on by break from work because I had gobs of time.  Apparently, not enough.  I had forgotten what a mad house fabric and craft stores are come October.  So wrapping the mummy will have to wait a couple of weeks.

The mouse has come alone quite well.  I am pleased with how it dried.  I am sure that I have a better understanding of keeping parts of the body which will be kept exposed and preserved via resin.  I light a stick of incense next to it every morning, and I'm a little bummed that I got rid of my Egyptian Book of the Dead.  Who knew I would  be adding mummification to the laundry list of talents.

Today, I'm headed to Gettysburg to poke around antique shops, and stand in cold spots with my best friend and husband.  Maybe walk through a cemetery or two.  In two Wednesdays I'll be strolling into the doors of The Mourning Museum in Drexel Hill, PA.  How sad is it that I am probably more stoked about that than ever going to Disney World.  This is his anniversary gift to me.  Maybe we can pop over to the Mutter Museum for a quick visit with the wall of skulls, and perhaps a new 2013 Calender just in case we make it past December 21st.  ;)

Absent

I've been on a whirl wind fun time having vacation for the past couple of days or so.  I've needed it.  It's been super fun.  I feel more centered and focused, which is NOT where I've been lately.  I've been staring at projects and books that I should be reading, looking at my calender at appointments I should be making.  I have been a bit more absent minded than usual.  I am a very detailed oriented person, but lately, little things have just been slipping through my fingers.

I started reconstruction on Wilfred's leg, which is a pile of foam mauled by the sweetest of pit bulls, Fletch.  Thank God I have a pile of pins.  I feel like a surgeon piecing together some one's shattered hip socket.  It's not the end of the world.  It just calls for a bright light, Bondo, and straight pins.  Once, I have it temporarily reconstructed, I will number the bits, take it apart and begin putting it back together with said Bondo.

It's also the first day of October, which normally means that I begin 31 days of horror at my house.  I think I may skip it this year in favour of classics instead of the gore fests which have lead me to become increasingly depressed during my favourite time of year.  I think tonight I'll start with The Omen, or Rosemary's Baby.  Both favourites.

The mummification project is going well.  I may pop out to a fabric store today to see if I can get some muslin.  The one mistake I made was drying the mouse face up.  There was seepage from his face (because of the detailed work involving removing his brain and eyes <see not being detail oriented while doing taxidermy IS a problem>).  This will be less of a problem with the ferret.  Cavities are larger, so I will be able to get into the skull to take care of both of those things.  Otherwise, Now that I know to dry them face down, I think the process will go super smooth.  Clearly, Pip will have to dry for a much longer time, but I think all in all the experiment was a success, and the resins that I chose not only did a beautiful job preserving, but it's the loveliest smelling piece of taxidermy I've ever created.  I hope to get started on Pip this week.  Hopefully, Diana will have him back by December 21 (end of the world stuffs).  That's my goal, at least.  I'll see her today to discuss specifics on decoration and whatnot.  I'm very excited about it.

Another weekend filled with friend therapy on the horizon.  That's good stuff!

Next post I promise will be image heavy.

Just a quote that I happened on today...

We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us. - Charles Bukowski

Convalescing a Strange Fox

This has been in the works for some time now.  Co-owner of the spa that I work at asked me if I would take a look at her sister in law's fox, that her dog had gotten a hold of during a fit of anxiety.  I agreed and today I finally met him.

Meet Wilfred...

So super handsome!

Wilfred was maimed by Fletch, R's dog.

A bit more than a flesh wound, he will be like the bionic man when I'm finished.

It is my job to restore Wilfred to his old glory.  I'm not going to lie, the condition of the pelt has me a little concerned.  It's very dry.  I will need to rebuild the leg form and then reattach the pelt and pelt pieces to the form.  This is going to be very detail oriented and time consuming.  But who doesn't like a challenge?

I am so happy that these opportunities are coming into my life!!!

Wilfred also enjoys car rides....

And meeting new friends...

Linus says a typical canine, "Hello".

Beamish is a little more confrontational...

who am i?

What makes a girl thrust herself into a world of death and reanimation?  I have always been a fairly dark person (on the inside)...

Clearly a little sassy on the outside.

My parents (mostly my mother) constantly wondered why I would bring home drawings of coffins and want to snuggle and throw funerals for my goldfish and other pets (complete with little painted boxes, with handles, handmade gravestones, and funeral rights, grave side.  Nothing got flushed in our house.  These little rituals, with full processions always lead me to think about death in not only an end to life, but the beginning of a fantastic new journey.  As I got older and gained access to books on the funeral industry, and Victorian mourning (OH THE FASHION!), I became even more obsessed.  So I decided on my 30th birthday I would try to learn something new, that new thing, taxidermy.

Much to my mother's chagrin, the first taste of dismantling that fox and mounting it on a foam mount has been a fire that's burned very brightly in my heart ever since.  Yes, these creatures are dead, but it's a privilege for me to have the experience of recreating life with them, or in different circumstances, creating a loving monument to the treasured beasties they were in live.

By day, I work with the living as an aesthetician, beautifying and working on sometimes complex skin conditions.  During my free time I hang out with my dogs, watch obscure documentaries on puppetry, collect bones and bugs, go to drag shows, read fashion mags, practice yoga and try to have as much of a creative outlet as I possibly can.  I also have a shameful weakness for the Jersey Shore.

The first few posts will detail my quest to make a lasting memento of my dear friend D's long lost ferret, who passed away due to adrenal disease.  We originally had thought of getting the bones nice and clean, and then I would painstakingly put them back together as a mount for her.  But I've only worked with Maceration before...

Single point buck skull with lower mandible and vertebrae.

And a Ferrets bones are so small I was afraid that I would lose some in the process.

So it came to me last night during a dream, why not try mummification.  Thus the process has begun.  I hope to have her beloved Pip back to her by spring.  It's been too long already.

Walking that really thin line, or tight rope...

So many of you know me as your fun loving aesthetician or makeup artist.  But since my 30th year, I've been studying and practicing the art of taxidermy.  I spent my 30th birthday elbow deep in a fox that some kind gentleman on the internet was kind enough to send me as my first mount.

Tonight, I am embarking on the beginning of a project for a friend.  My dearest friend Diana had to put her ferret down two years ago, and brought him straight to me for preservation.  My original idea was to clean the bones and reassemble the skeleton for her.  Sadly, I'm afraid to loose any of the bones, so in an inspiration I decided to try mummification.   So meet Fritz.... (guitar pick for scale)

Fritz is a feeder mouse rescued from the pet store freezer, in order to fuel my desire to study small anatomy and do some work that's not huge.  I thought that anatomy might be similar only in a smaller scale.

So I made an abdominal incision and separated the fascia from the skin working from the edge of the incision around back making sure not to disturb any of the organs.

Once I had gotten everything separated I had to snip off at the leg joints and at the base of the skull.  I'll spare you all the pile of gore next to the skin.  I did manage to get the intestines, liver, kidneys and heart all in nice little piles, but everything was so small it seemed silly to preserve them.  Thus, the next picture a hollow little mousy.

Clean and freshly washed.

Scraped clean and coated with the first coat of resin and preservation powder.

Resined ears, these will not be wrapped in the finished product.

Second coat of resins and cotton soaked in preservation resins and essential oils.

All sewn up.  Coat of resin on the face, ears and tail.  Feet tied together for drying and resined as well.

Buried in preservation salts.

I've read 60 days for a full grown human and a dry place, but since this critter is so small I'm going to keep an eye on it for a week or so and see how things start looking.  So far, this is the nicest smelling piece of taxidermy I've ever done.  I look forward to seeing how this turns out.  The next step will include wrapping it and resining it again.    More when the drying process is complete.