Whew!!!
It took 4 layers of careful trimming and textural blending to fade the fox, skunk, and bear furs together!
For the chin I added some curled black bear fur with individual skunk tail hairs blended in for the salt-n-pepper look. After the bondo sets I’ll be able to attach the ear fur (also blended fox/bear) and paint the lower lip. A few spot checks, some last minute mount adjustments, and probably a few deep sighs of relief and this amazing specimen will be complete!!!
~Sculpted textures and unusual methods.~
Using some of my black bear fur to recreate a fox chin. Included some detail shots of the tearing/stretchy flesh effect on the sides of the mouth (I’m spending a lot of time on these areas).
It’s almost finished!!!
Blending fox pelt with scrap skunk hide
Next comes ears, lower jaw fur, and curling the whiskers!
Hard to believe this was just a lowly, tattered, discarded fox fur “scrap”; virtually EVERYTHING here has been sculpted to work around the damage and bring the face back-to-life. The nose, jaws, skull/head, eyes, tongue, and of course teeth were all sculpted with special polymer and epoxy clay then painted with acrylics …*whew*!
Here’s some humble beginning shots…
Just listed these on my etsy page! I think that these little, more jovial (maybe that’s not the right word) kinds of projects are great for keeping my production high and my mind relaxed. I’ve got a tendency to do 500 things at once, so sometimes it’s good to sit down and decompress..you know, hacking up my little ponies 😉
“Space Lamb”
And “My Little Night~Mare”
The poppy-plant creature is not available for sale at this time (it is a submission for exhibit), but the little Valentine heart guy is!!! Check my etsy shop for him, new works, and great gift items
In the sunlight it seriously GLOWS!!!
I’m concentrating the majority of my attention on taxidermy really, but I had started this submission for one of my favorite west coast galleries and the deadline was just extended giving me just the perfect and realistic amount of time I needed to finish it. I’ve got to wait on a few things in the tanning wash, so the timing couldn’t be better!
The base is a found item, a painted poppy plant on walnut craft wood. I liked the painting a lot, but sadly the finish was in pretty bad shape. What I’ve done here is preserved and incorporated the original painted bloom into the new work and created a psychedelic poppy-plant-squid-creature to embrace it. It’s flashy, colorful, and no doubt a far out piece! Here’s some progress pics to give you an idea of what the finished piece will look like…
What can I say…I’m just one girl, overworked and only slightly underpaid. 😉
After a busy month setting up shop at holiday outposts like the Scarab Club, Chin’s Tiki, and even having to pass up a few shows…..I’ve cleared out nearly all of my inventory and am back in the studio working to bring you the best work I can.
Some quick points of info, all Jan-Feb is “taxidermy-time”, and as is the case with all my tax work~every animal used in this upcoming collection was either roadkill or a donated dead pet. As a new mainstay of ALL my taxidermy work..10% of all profits will be donated to animal welfare groups listed in detail on my BRAND NEW and soon-to-be-released website!
Here are some images of work created over the past month, including the wildly popular “My little Pony” collection of modified/up-cycled vinyl toys.
More posts to come soon, and big news about the TV show(s), second-year solo shows, and the new clothing line. Always growin’!
The Strange Artworks of Emi Slade.... 