Morbid Dark Arts and Crafts...
Goth since my early teenage years, you can imagine that people have believed me to be a weirdo for...ever. They aren't wrong! I do have an attraction, a fascination for the strange, the unusual, the peculiar. Oddities and Curiosities are my jam!
Also, I totally am a pervert in the sense that I sometimes use things for more than what they were designed for...
Let me tell you about a few weird and morbid things we have all been around:
Did your parents keep your fallen baby tooth? or the first haircut piece of hair the hairdresser wrapped for them? you know human remains? I bet they still have it!
Do you realize Western societies are deeply influenced by human sacrifice idolatry? (Jesus)
Humans love eating dead animals, wrapped in animal and/or stuffed with a mix of never born animal, animal milk and rotten animal milk, with bone reduction based sauce...oh and they give a bite to their animals when they sit pretty.
Now, do you still think it's weird to find Death and dead things fascinating?
When I was little, in southern France I collected cicadas molts (sure they don't die, most of them, during molting but...). I also had an urchin shell on my shelf and I loved picking shells on the beach. I don't think anyone saw or sees something wrong with that....those are pretty common thing to do with your kids.
If you didn't get it yet... "Imma talk a lil bit about ma dead stuff business hobby"
Taxidermy and Entomology
Don't you find butterflies beautiful?
Aren't they fascinating?So fragile and delicate, their life an ephemeral phenomena of graceful and beautiful science. Is it so weird to celebrate their beauty by framing their remains when they pass?
these (apparently) blues beauties in a frame are a present I custom made for my friends who got engaged. One is from Peru and the other from Singapore, where my friends families respectively come from.
Surely, ethical sourcing (stay tuned for a whole post on that) is important to me when/if I buy my specimens. I don't like to nor do I want to encourage animal abuse, f*cked up human greedy breeding and hunting species to oblivion. Considering the state of our dear mother Earth, let's be mindful and avoid nefast impact on the environment and ecosystem...
Ethical consumerism is why I refuse to buy bat remains for instance... although they look cool AF, those are most likely endangered species that were captured and killed by a poor, uneducated person in a remote country trying to make a buck out of careless westerners greed to feed their wannabe edginess.
When getting into taxidermy/bug collecting, One should strive to:
(if you read my first post or you ...you know the reference)
be informed and seek knowledge on what specimen or piece they are trying to add to their collection. Avoid rare, endangered species.
> https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/directory?direction=desc&sort=extinction_status
do their due diligence and get some informations on the seller/supplier.
>Try to buy from local, small artists and shops and not whole sellers, it usually assures you a better quality and customer service anyways.
buy vintage/ second hand / old / antique and don't order new
> Buying vintage taxidermy or fur garment can mean repairing and restoring pieces that may have been neglected and giving them ‘new life.’
Find alternatives to real skulls
> 3D printed skulls of very high quality for instance are absolutely amazing nowadays!
Go check out :
My amazing friend Karin Ashley 's instagram features a vegan friendly, resin cat skull, crystallized in deep red crystals and framed by a brass diamond. It’s truly one of a kind piece for the lucky friend of a special collector ❤️
Click on her name or on the picture to check out her instagram and website.
Talking about friends and fellow weirdos!
I had the dark and delicious pleasure to vend and attend the Oddity and Curiosity Expo those last 2 years while I lived in San Diego, CA. My dearest friend's Marco Turrubiartes was kind enough to request MY assistance knowing full well I was gonna enjoy every single second of it!
This is where I met Karin between other creators, strange and unusual people...
If you are one of us, do yourself a favor and check it out!
This place felt so much like weirdness paradise! It gave me the opportunity to not only buy my weird sh*t and fill my eyes full of stars, meet and befriend a bunch of weird kids, but most importantly be myself and feel valued and valid!