Day 281 - 365/2014

Day Two Hundred Eighty-One

Cool stuff in the mail today!  My new Van Dyke's Taxidermy catalogue and two cats by Karen Suzuki through her Etsy shop namelesswonders.

It's funny, too -- last night I was looking at Van Dyke's online because I have an idea for the bowling pin...and then the catalogue arrives in the mail today!  I think I may have found something I can use but I want to talk to one of their "taxidermy techs" on the phone tomorrow because I have a couple of questions.


And this afternoon I met up with artist Nancy Kozlowski and purchased her delightful "Rabbit for Dinner" pastel.  I love it!  We also had a lovely lunch and then came to my house to look around a little.  I had a really good time with Nancy!

I had to angle the camera like this to keep the glare from the glass to a minimum.  I will re-shoot it once I find the right spot for it.

365/2013 - Day 125

and yow -- my hands are still vibrating

Earlier today I spent a lot of time looking at glass taxidermy eyes.  I chose two kinds of bobcat eyes, cheetah, wolf, African lion, wildebeest, carousel horse, mountain lion, tiger, leopard, and crocodile...and these are much nicer looking croc eyes than last time.  I get my glass eyes at Van Dyke Taxidermy Supplies.  One of these days I am going to order a life-size form and work plaster cloth over it.  Man -- I would LOVE to get something really big like a kangaroo or bear...they even have a rhinoceros...can you imagine???

samples...(just because they are a specific animal does NOT mean I will be making that animal)

carousel horse

wildebeest

 

bobcat

crocodile

Tonight was shelf sanding time...I put it off all day and now it was time to get to work.  I probably should have done them in shifts, but I knew I wouldn't come back and finish them if I did...I really didn't want to sand...I never do.  Luckily I found a brand new pack of sanding pads for my Mouse sander when I went shopping in my studio.  That little sander really works well for small jobs.

This is the pine that I bought at Northville Lumber yesterday and had cut into lengths.  One shelf is 45" and nine shelves are 15" -- they are all out of 1"x4" planks.  I wanted 3 1/2" deep shelves and the man at the lumber desk said that was great because one-by-fours are actually 3 1/2 inches,  not 4 inches.  I imagine they aren't 1" thick either.  Whatever...they are lightweight, inexpensive and they fit my purpose.

before

after

365 Day 207

the taxidermy eyes arrived!

I am very excited -- the taxidermy eyes I ordered from Van Dyke's Taxidermy arrived on Monday in the late afternoon. I have been playing around with placing them on several of the plaster cloth guys that are still under construction. They may or may not end up where I placed them -- especially the large clear ones.

I will need to add color to all of the clear ones. They are actually sold as "black pupil flint fish eyes" and this is what Van Dyke's has to say in general about them: Flint fish eyes feature only a painted pupil. This enables the taxidermist to create the design that best fits their individual needs.

in this photo:
36mm black pupil flint fish eyes
30mm large pupil leopard eyes
20mm dark coyote eye
19mm black pupil flint fish eyes (2 pr)
14mm black pupil flint fish eyes (2 pr)







I think that from now on I will not order any eyes under 19mm. The two 14mm pairs are just barely big enough to work with but kind of /sort of fit the two plaster cloth guys they will end up on...although the faces of those two guys may change a bit.









Another pair of the smallest fish eyes.













One of the 19mm pairs of clear fish eyes.














the 20mm dark coyote eyes...they seem quite a bit larger than the 19mm clear fish eyes. They are a lot more rounded...like a half of a marble. The fish eyes are flatter.









These are the 30mm leopard eyes (large pupil version).
Again, these eyes are quite round.














Now look at how different the same 36mm clear fish eyes look on these three guys...




This bear-ish guy with the twirly lawn sprinkler crown will get a much nicer face eventually.









This sight hound-type guy will also look different when he is completed. The eyes look to be a good size for him.
















Three different placements of the same eyes on the same guy.

I haven't decided whether this guy (and his twin...and perhaps more relatives) will get glass eyes or painted on eyes.












See how the expression changes when you move the eyes?
















I like this placement the best out of the three (so far)...but they may end up with painted on eyes so that they look more like toys...I don't know what they are yet, though.









Van Dyke's has SO many wonderful choices of eyes in SO many sizes. I want to start buying a few every so often and stockpiling some.