Dark Artifacts

I don't understand students.

2011-05-20T19:03:00.000-04:00

At least for the most part. By that, I'm mostly referring to what they eat; most students don't eat well. The primary excuses being "I don't know how to cook" and "it's EXPENSIIIIVE!". Thus, they end up stuffing themselves with frozen TV dinners, canned crap, and dehydrated mac&cheese, and who could forget good ol' burgers & poutine!(at least in my part of the country!) Anyways, I've just crushed those two excuses.

Let me explain. Today was the first REALLY warm day of the year; it is currently over 25 degrees celsius in my appartment. Thus, I was craving something fresh tasting for dinner that didn't require much cooking. That's how I ended up eating a fresh spring salad with italian dressing, covered in snails sautéed in garlic, olive oil, basil and oregano. With this, I was tearing chunks from a fresh baguette which I ate smeared with deer, wild boar, pork, bison & 5 peppercorn paté, and with a bit of Bleu Bénédictin, a strong blue cheese made by monks here in the province of Québec. I washed the whole thing down with an ice cold bottle of red ale. (I'm french as fuck and I assume it!)

Total preparation time: 5 minutes. Total cost: about 5$ for my meal. The only thing that required any cooking "skills" was to sauté the canned snails in garlic, olive oil, and herbs. Easier than cooking an egg.

The whole thing took less time to make and was less expensive than ordering a meal at Mc Donald's.

Now students, stop thinking that eating well is out of your reach, dammit!

Rant over.

On Taxidermy: Concerning Small Mammals

2011-05-05T07:45:00.000-04:00

Or: In which the naturalization and preservation of a specimen of Rattus Norvegicus is undertaken.

Whew. Long time no see! Sorry if it seems I have left you behind, with my job at the shoe store and school, I don't have much time to do some crafting. Oh, by the way, if some of you wants to see my lousy progress as a CG artist at school, feel free to take a look here: it's in french, but it's mostly pictures and videos so you shouldn't have any problem understanding.

http://bartdelinterieur.blogspot.com/

Now that this has been taken care of, let's go back to our subject: the process of skinning, preserving and mounting an adult specimen of Rattus Norvegicus, or domestic rat. the whole process will be described with pictures after the jump, but not before since, y'know, rat guts.

Ok, so here we go! First of all, just to mention that the methods I describe can be used with any mammal up to the size of a large squirrel. Find your specimen any way you see fit, but make sure it is relatively clean, and free from holes (believe me, patching small holes is a pain.) I used a deceased male rat that belonged to a friend, who breeds these littles beasties as a hobby. (We go along pretty well; Feed 'em and I'll Stuff 'em!)

Once you have your specimen thawed if it was frozen, clean it up to make sure there is no dirt or fecal matter adhering to the fur. If possible, you should then plug the mouth, the anus and the urethra with a small piece of cotton. Afterwards, grab a scalpel; it is time for the incision! It should go from the beginning of the sternum, down to the genital area. Make sure not to go deeper than necessary; specially around the abdomen, since the digestive organs are kept behind very thin walls. You'll even see the guts through the flesh.

The next step would of course be the removal of the skin. I won't go in many details, but I'll give you a few tips: First, take your time. If this part of the process is well done, the rest will be much easier. Secondly, don't be afraid to help yourself with a blade. Sometimes the skin seems almost welded to the flesh, and a quick scalpel slice will free it. Finally, always check the thickness of the skin with your fingers. Remove too much, and you risk piercing or worse, tearing it. Remove not enough flesh/fat from the skin, and the specimen will take much time to dry up properly, if it doesn't rot first.

Once you've reached the paws, the trick is slipping of the skin as much as possible, like a glove, and then severing the bone just above the wrist/ankle. Afterwards, it is a matter of removing as much flesh as possible from the remaining bone.

If you have a male, you'll find the gonads to be a pain to remove from the scrotal sac. Take your time, once again. You don't want to pierce the organs, nor do you want to tear the scrotum.

For the tail, it's a bit tricky at first; in the case of bony-tailed animals, such as rodents, with a bit of elbow grease, the skin can be slipped right off. Be careful not to tear it, though. If you can't do it, slit underneath the tail and remove the skin the same way you did for the body.

The head is another thing; much care must be taken not to damage the ears. Cut off the ear canal as close to the skull as possible when you reach them. When you reach the eyes, take all your time and be carefull; it is easy to tear the eyelids. Same thing for the lips. As for the nose, with a small specimen like a rat, skin it until there is no bone underneath it, and sever the cartilage from the skull with a pair of plyers.

Once you're done, remove as much flesh and fat as you can from the skin, and clean it well using a soft, degreasing soap, such as dishwashing liquid. I like, afterwards, to let the skin pickle in a mix of 70% alcohol and Borax, which is a powder with antibacterian and deodorant properties, essential to the taxidermy process. I let the skin pickle for a few days, then rinse it again so it's nice & clean.

Afterwards, it is a good idea to rub the fleshy side of the skin with a mixture of salt and borax. This will help dry out the skin and will prevent bacteria from growing on it. If you feel like it, you can also use borax to fluff the fur. Helps making it fluffy & soft.

The next step is to stuff the head. The best method would be to boil the skull and clean it of flesh. Afterwards, use modeling clay to replace the fat & muscle, and insert the artificial eyes in the eye sockets, keeping them in place with more clay. It is then simply a matter of slipping the skull back into the head. In my case, I fell in love with the skull and wanted to keep it apart, so I simply sewn the lips of the rat together and stuffed the head with cotton balls.

The next step is to insert the spine wire; it should go from the mouth or nostril, down to the anus, or the tip of the tail, depending on your preferences. I went down to the tip of the tail so I had more stiffness and control in the final product.

After wards, insert more wire inside the specimen's feet, to replace the leg bones. twist the wires together to keep them in place.

Next comes the stuffing; If you want to good the traditional way, use Wood wool. Personally, I find cotton balls to be easier to work with.

(just a word, here; it is possible to construct or purchase a mannequin sculpted after the specimen's body; that way, one just needs to slip the skin over the form and sew it back together.)

When stuffing, don't leave any holes, but keep in mind that the skin shall eventually shrink while drying; thus, be careful not to let your specimen look bloated!

I like to sew the skin back up as I stuff it; makes the whole process less messy, in my opinion. Anyways, it is important to use a waxed thread to sew back your critter together; in the case of a white animal, waxed dental floss is perfect. As for the needle, I use an ordinary sewing needle, but with thicker skins, you might need something stronger.

The process is quite straightforward, stuff and sew until you're done! don't forget to put a few wisps of stuffing in the tail, which you should then sew back together if you had to make a slit to remove it. Oh, and fill up that scrotal sac, will ya? otherwise he'll look less like a handsome young ratty and more like his grampa. Once done, you should have what is basically a rat with wire sticking out of his extremeties. Feel free to brush the fur near the stitches to hide them as well as you can (a step I obviously suck at).

The next step is to simply pose the still supple stuffed rat in a pose as natural as you can, on the support of your choice.

I then pin the ears to small pieces of cardboard so they can dry out completely unfolded; looks more alive that way.

While the eyelids were still soft, I inserted artificial eyes, which were basically laquered polymer clay balls. Using a glue such as contact cement and a toothpick, replace the eyelids in a natural pose over the eyes. Usually, you should insert the eyes inside the head form, but since I only stuffed the head without using any pre-sculpted form, I prefered to install them at the end of the process.

It is then simply a matter of waiting for the specimen to dry by placing it in a warm, dry place and waiting a few days. Check every day for any bad smell or sign of mold; if caught soon, these problems are easily fixable with the same mixture of salt and borax we used earlier.

If necessary, prepare your mount's support; I used a cheap plywood base bought at the dollar store, stained and varnished.

Once the rat is dry, you can then use the wires sticking out of its extremities to attach it to the base; remove any unwanted wires, brush the fur, and add a little color to the fleshy parts using diluted oil paints.

You're done!

Bob the Scientologists

2011-01-20T20:24:00.001-05:00

ARGH! MORE VIDEOS???

Yup. Shot this with my buddy Mitch a couple of months ago; I just got around recording the narration and making the music. If I'm not too lazy, I'll put english subtitles on that bugger. Until then, just enjoy the handsome gent that is Bob the Scientologist.

To those who may be offended (probably only scientologists will be, but I digress.), this movie wasn't made to make fun of scientology in itself, but was rather inspired by a gentleman of around 25-30 years old who spends his days distributing scientology pamphlets near my flat. He is an always smiling, alwas well dressed, always friendly fellow, but seems a bit naïve and overly optimistic in general. And he's DAMN persistent. Not that it is a problem, but it made me inspired.

Treachery at lunchtime

2010-12-19T09:29:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know, not another video link! But guess what? That's the last "creative" thing I did, other than a bit of writing for another project, thus endure. It's because I love you and you'll thank me when you'r older.

Imagined, shot and edited in one day.

School's over!

2010-12-16T09:56:00.000-05:00

YAY!

No more school. Done. well, for this trimester, at least! I start the second trimester at the end of january.

While we're on videos...

2010-11-04T10:53:00.002-04:00

Here is a video I discovered via a friend's facebook page yesterday. I personally loved it and cringed terribly while watching it; reminescent of old italian snuff films. It is very straightforward; a guy maiming himself with a spoon.

Be warned that it is very, VERY disturbing. I mean it. It is gross, unhealthy, wrong in oh so many ways, and gory as hell. Please don't watch it if you just ate, plan to eat, or do not enjoy gratuitous violence and extreme gore.

The Man who Falleth Down the Stairway

2010-11-04T10:05:00.002-04:00

Short stop-motion experiment done for college with buddies. Shot in 6 fps as requested by the teacher.

Movember - Manly solidarity.

2010-10-31T20:14:00.002-04:00

This year, I'm participating to Movember, an annual month-long mustache-growing event which's goal is to raise funds and awareness to support the 1 in 6 men suffering from prostate cancer and their families.

Not enough people take time to think about prostate cancer; a man growing a rapist mustache to help men's junk be healthy isn't as attractive as teams of athletes wearing pink for boobies, of course. However the cause is a very serious one, and every penny will help. If you wish to support me, feel free to donate to the cause! After all, I'm shaving my beloved goatee and letting myself grow a 'stache for god sake's. And I'm ready to contribute financially myself, even though I'm a broke-as-hell student, living on cheap food and old clothes.

Here's a link to my profile if there is a dollar or two you could spare. as I said earlier, every penny can help.
http://ca.movember.com/mospace/838106/

New Camera!

2010-10-06T19:39:00.003-04:00

I ordered a few days ago a Nikon D3000 camera and it arrived today. I'm in love with it, dammit!

Expect much better pictures than what I usually take in future how-to's.

WANT - Burton & Elfman music box

2010-10-04T23:00:00.000-04:00

For the 25th anniversary of their collaboration, Danny Elfman and Tim Burton are releasing a beautiful, whimsical working zoetrope music box full of goodies including 16 CDs of Burton artwork, unreleased music & expanded soundtracks, a DVD of a conversation between Burton and Elfman, a 250+ pages hardcover book, and a USB flash drive.

A limited number of 1000 will be made, and they'll come with a hefty price tag of $499,99.

http://www.burtonelfman.com/

Naturalization of Insects - Bis

2010-09-28T13:58:00.003-04:00

Hello again dear friends!

It's my pleasure to present you another insect naturalization and framing project. This one is a bit more ambitious; I have inserted 6 magnificent specimens in one large shadow box.

The way I proceeded was the same as in this earlier tutorial: On Mounting and Naturalization of Insects

However, I decided to use a new kind of frame, which is much larger, and opens from the back, not from the front like the first frame I used.

Thus, here begins my marvelous journey.

First off, you probably recall the process of relaxing insects; it is very important so that when you "pose" the specimen, parts of it won't, well, fall off.

Here you can see a magnificent specimen of Dorcus Alcides sitting in the relaxing chamber. I simply added warm water and a bit of bleach to some paper towels underneath the critter; when the chamber is closed, the ambiant humidity softens the insect's articulations. It takes a while, though; and with very large beetle, one can simply drop them in boiling water for a couple of seconds. Don't do it with more fragile specimens though, or else they might break.

It is then simply a matter of installing the specimens on pieces of foam or whatever pinning board you have at hand, and pin them in the position you wish to keep them. There is more details on the post I linked to earlier.

While your specimens dry (which can take a while too), don't forget to eat! Nothing excites more the mind and taste buds than the fresh smell of Naphtalene. Thus, making yourself some wet burritos in the same spot you prepare your insects is simply essential.

Once your belly is full and your insects are still drying (told you, it takes a while! they'll be ready when the limbs will become stiff.), it's time to work on the frame. Here you can see the frame I used, a shadow box priced at around 10$ of a large enough size to accomodate all my specimens.

To prepare the frame, all I did was sand it lightly so the stain has some pores to grip.

Since we'll be staining the wood but not the glass, it might be time to protect the glass with some good old tape.

Now you just have to choose, stir, open and use a can of wood stain of a color suiting your palette. Some brands of wood stain recommend the use of a brush, but I found using a slightly damp rag to apply the stain is much more satisfying. A couple of layers will probably be necessary, depending on the color you wish to achieve.

Afterwards, the frame backing must be prepared; after all, your specimens will be pinned down, and a piece of hardboard isn't the easy thing through which one can insert pins. Thus, I strongly recommend cutting down a piece of foam (be it polystyrene, extruded, or plastazote foam) to the size of the boxe's inside, and gluing it down to the frame's backing.

Here you can see I used extruded foam. Now you will probably all agree that this naked pink foam is an absolute horror to the eyes, so we shall hide it. I simply glued to the foam a piece of bordeaux felt, bought for 50¢ at a craft store. Then, you can try sliding the panel inside the box and see if any adjustments are in order.

Looks pretty good doesn't it? you can see I also added a couple of layers of varnish to the wood. Makes the color and the grain pop out. Afterwards, it is simply a matter of writing down the specimen's names and provenance, by hand on a piece of fine paper, or in a text editing program, choosing a font which strikes your fancy and also stays readable. I tried two different fonts, and finally stuck with the cleaner, more official looking one. I then cut out the labels, and gave them a nice tea bath to give them the nice "antique" look you see there.

And then, the fun part: all that is left is to place the (Hopefull) now dry insects on the pinning board, by their labels, trying to find a pattern that is pleasing to the eye.

It is generally at this moment you'll realize your labels are too big/small or that the font isn't as readable as you thought. Feel free to adjust accordingly. Afterwards, simple close the frame and gaze thoughtfully at this marvelous work of art nature has helped you create.

On that which hides in the darkness of Quebec City

2010-09-02T16:48:00.000-04:00

I recently went on a photo shooting spree in my town. All in all, I took around 350 pictures; after cleanup, I ended up with 68 of which I was proud. Here, I shall share a couple of those 68 pictures. Enjoy!

Finished small projects - Steampunk Skull and Memento Mori

2010-08-24T00:23:00.000-04:00

Hey there you jolly ghastly bunch o' fun!

Just finished two smallish projects I started earlier.

You might remember the steampunk skull

(part 1 - part 2 )

Well, it's done! Finally, it's not very steampunk... for the sake of practicality (I use the skull as a model when drawing or sculpting), I decided to forget about over steampunkish accessories, and went with the plain & simply. I was satisfied with simply aging the skull, changing the teeth, and replacing the shiny steel hardware with something less new-ish.

Unfortunately, I dropped the skull's lower jaw once. Over stone tiles. A lot of teeth were knocked off, and I was too lazy to glue em back in. Instead, I used my trusty rotary tool, and drilled holes where the teeth used to be. Afterwards, I slopped the same wood stain I used on the rest of the skull on the jaw, and gave it a dip in dust & ash to make it look old & grimy.

In this picture, you can also see the new screws I stuck into the jaw. They are of a blackish, old oxydized steel, with brown and blue "highlights".

Of course, just sticking in screws is boring, so I glued on the exterior of the jaw a few tiny bits of metal, to make it seem like it was old rusty bolts held on with brass nuts.

I then added thick red rubber bands to hold the jaw to the skull. It'll break more easily than springs, but it is easier to replace, and I didn't like the look of stainless steel springs.

Now, other then that, I finished a small "memento mori" shadow box. Memento Mori simply means remember death, or more precisely, remember that you will die. That was a perfect sentence to go with a human metatarsal I had laying around in my appartment (don't ask.)

I used a cheap balsa shadow box I bought at the dollar store. Not satisfied with the natural wood finish of the shadow box, I went to work.

I wanted a black frame, but I didn't have any black paint left (gasp!). Looking for a solution, I recalled a few pieces of furniture I saw somewhere once, which were made with scorched wood, coated with resin for protection. I decided to try it out on my frame.

This is what I started out with:

I simply took out a propane torch, and scorched the wood of the frame, being carefull not to burn too deeply so that the frame still had a certain substance. You don't want ash, you want a fine layer of cracked charcoal.

This is what I ended up with:

In this close-up shot, you can see more easily the texture of the wood. Keep in mind that I covered it with epoxy resin so it wouldn't crumble or stain everything it touched.

Afterwards, it was simply a matter of adding a black felt background, cutting a banner from aged paper, writing the wanted sentence on it, and gluing everything down (including the metatarsal) with more epoxy. I used 5 minute epoxy from the dollar store, but you can use whatever you want.

That's all for now, peeps! I ordered a few insects from my favorite seller on ebay, so be ready for more insect mounting pictures soon!

see ya later.

Oh, by the way

2010-08-06T11:47:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to share this picture of the street I'm currently residing in.

Links zwo drei vier

2010-08-06T11:45:00.000-04:00

Hey there! long time no see. That's because I moved out july 5th to Quebec City, and I just got Internet. I don't have much to offer you craft-wise, unfortunately (although I plan to do a wee bit of taxidermy and entomology mounts after pay day), so you'll have to be satisfied with a couple of links.

Playing with Dead Things: The owner of Ironcircus.com presents a walkthrough of her dead pet rat's mummification. Rat guts ahead!

11 Old and Grungy Film Textures: Scans of Daguerrotypes in high resolution to be used as textured layers in photoshop or whatnot. Very useful!

160 Old Paper Textures: Exactly what it sounds like!

Guide to Synthetic Hair Extensions: Lots of info about synthetic hair, most notably how to make and insteal fake dreadlocks.

Monsterlist of Halloween Projects: Lots of tutorials on creating halloween props, costumes and effects. Lovely, and huge!

That's all for now folks. I'll try to share more later on.

Ugh

2010-07-03T12:32:00.000-04:00

I just accidentally deleted my Analytics account. Gah.

Transi: A (Final?) Update

2010-07-01T18:28:00.000-04:00

If you looked through my whole blog, or have been following me for quite some time, you might remember about the Transi, a small figure I sculpted in oil-based clay a while ago. Well, to put things plainly, I fucked up. My plan was to mold the sculpture in a latex skin, then create a plaster mother mold over it; bad idea. Latex will have a hard time curing when it's brushed on oil based clay. I should have made an alginate mold, then a resin or plaster cast, and THEN create the latex mold over the resin or plaster copy.

But what is done is done; I acted without thinking thoroughly and ended up with a sloppy mold, on which lots of detail was lost, and the original sculpture isn't in good enough condition to create another mold.

I wasn't going to let all this work go to waste, though. Thus about two days ago, I decided to try casting a plaster copy using the crappy mold I made. The casting process went absurdly well considering how bad I am at making molds & casting stuff. If it hadn't be for the poor quality of the latex impression, I would have had a perfect copy of the original sculpture.

Here's what I ended up with:

Lots of the original details have been lost and the copy is covered in bubbles, cracks and what not. I didn't know what to do with that; I first thought about simply aging the plaster copy and call it a day, buuuut after reflexion, I decided to try my hand at creating an antique bronze faux-finish.

Once the plaster was flint dry, thus, I mixed gold paint and burnt sienna paint together to get a copper-ish color, and diluted it with pleeenty of water; the plaster being very porous, using a watery paint is the best way to cover it. I then coated the cast completely. The fluidity of the paint and the absorbent nature of the plaster made it very easy to get into all the holes and crevices.

Once dry, all was left to do is create a patina to give the illusion of old, weathered bronze.

For this, I added a small amount of sap green and burnt sienna paint to india ink, and once again diluted this mixture with plenty of water. On this picture you can see how the patina makes the details jump out:

Covering the whole sculpture took a matter of minutes; the patina flowed in every nooks & crannies, darkening the details of the cast.

It's not looking thaaat good yet, though, as you can see. All that's missing is a few verdigris washes for that little touch of authenticity. For this, I mixed sap green, cobalt glue, and titanium white paints together, and diluted it with the ink-tainted water I used to clean my brushes. This gave me a very nice grayish turquoise that I let flow into the cracks and dripped all over the plaster. I then let clean water drip over the head & shoulders of the sculpture to complete the weathering. Here are the results.

All that is left to do is find a nice polished wood base on which to attache the sculpture, and it will then be ready to show off on my bookshelves.

On makeup, wounds and bruises - A short walkthrough

2010-06-03T01:39:00.000-04:00

Today I took part in a very fun boredom-busting rainy day project with my best buddy and his girlfriend. Basically, I did the makeup for a gory photo shoot. The goal: beat up a bit the girl and hang her with fish hooks going through her skin.

Now, being obsessed with body modifications & piercings, if I was the model, I would've filed the barbs off the fishhooks, pierced myself with a sterile piercing needle and run the fish hook through it. But the lovely Mirenda isn't as masochistic as me, so I had to find a way to do this without harming her. It was pretty easy.

First of all, take a before shot of your model. Having a kitten in the picture helps attracting your audience. Promising a kitten at the end of the post helps keeping your readers hooked. Thus, keep on reading, and you won't see one, but TWO pictures of cute kittehs.

Here's what I started wif:

Cute girl, cute kitteh, everybody's happy. Now lets get to work. To stick on the fish hooks, all I did was lay a layer of liquid latex on her skin, when dry I dropped the hook on it, I put a latex soaked piece of toilet paper over this, and smoothed everything out.

Once dry, it was just a matter of applying makeup. I started with a flesh base color, and added a bit of orange, yellow, green, brown, black, white and purple to give a nice bruised look. I use grease makeup, the cheap pallettes you can by at walmart around halloween, and apply it with my fingers to heat it up so it blends well.

As you can see, I also used a toothpick to put a bit of darker, burgundy makeup (a mix of black red and purple) where the hooks came in/out to add "volume".

Ok, I might have overdone it! It'll look better with fake blood. My fake blood is easy to make; I stick corn syrup in a small glass bowl, add lots of red food coloring, instant coffee ground (ONLY USE INSTANT COFFEE!), a bit of soy sauce and corn starch (for opacity). It creates a thick, opaque, vivid fake blood, which is also comestible, so don't be afraid to stick it on your actor's face.

Now that's getting closer. Not enough blood, though. We'll correct that later.
For the moment, I applied the eye makeup. Lots of runny eyeliner first. Then, using purple, yellow, green and black, I created bruises on her face, arms and legs. I used a mix of brown and black, lightly scratched on her face, to make her look dirty.

I then applied a thin layer of liquid latex to her lips; once dry, I rubbed it so pieces of it got torn off and stuck together, creating a very convincing chapped lips effect, which will be made even better with the light application of brown and dark red makeup.

Looking better already, huh? I then finished the makeup by applying fake blood to her nose, and spraying her face with water to make everything runny and dirty.

Pretty nice, huh? and the wounds looked even worse when we ripped off the hooks.

Tasty. Now here's our last kitten!

"Oh god please help me what did I do to deserve this oh my oh my mommy!"

Shameless self-advertising

2010-05-22T21:03:00.000-04:00

I've got nothing to talk about right now (lotsa stuff in progress, but being the eternal procrastinator, nothing's getting done), so I'm gonna show off my stuff. You've seen the crafty side of me, but I also dabble in fine arts, now and then.

Thus, here is an embedded slideshow of my deviantart gallery. There's pretty mediocre stuff on there, but a couple of works are pretty decent if I may say so myself. Please feel free to take a look, and say hello if you've got an account there!

Book Reviews - a couple more

2010-05-04T09:30:00.000-04:00

Time for five new book reviews!

This time, I only cover novels; mostly fiction, except for Dharma Bums, which is kind of a romanticized autobiography, if you will.

So hey, let's start with this one, just after the jump!

Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

A truly wonderful book.

I started reading it just after a breakup and almost devoured it! Few books can claim to having changed someone's perception of life, and for the best, but this one is one of them. It is the kind of book which makes you want to take as few belongings as possible in a backpack and leave your home and job to go trekking along unknown roads, meet new people, and find inner peace.

It teaches you to be happy with life no matter what happens, for all you need to live is a bit of food, a simple shelter, just enough clothes to keep you warm and safe, a heart full of love and an open mind.

Not the best written book, in fact the story telling is by times a bit clumsy, but a very inspiring and enjoyable read nonetheless.

The best one I read for quite some time! I can't wait to read On The Road, Kerouac's best known novel.

The Long Walk by Stephen King, as Richard Bachman

The story of this book is pretty straightforward;

The main character and 99 other boys participate to a walk. In this walk, you cannot stop. You cannot slow down. You have to walk a steady pace 24h/24h. Everytime you stop or slow down, you get a warning.

After three warnings, you get shot in the head.

The walk doesn't end until there is only one boy standing; and the one boy left will become rich and famous for having completed the walk.

If this makes for good TV (at least in the text), imagine what a good book it is!

This story was simply incredible; One of the best of King's works.

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

A classic story that revolves around egotism, morality and karma.

This is such a classic that you surely know what it's all about; A beautiful and brilliant young man gets his portrait made. This portrait is not any average painting, though; the young man will never (physically) age nor get ugly. Everytime he acts immoraly, the portrait gets uglier, but the protagonist stays beautiful. It is, in some way, a mirror for his soul.

The evolution of the character, from a dashing, innocent young gentleman to the most revolting of libertines, forces you to think; what evil deeds would you do if there was no consequences at all?

Le Président Mystifié et Autres Contes Licencieux by the Marquis de Sade

Oh my.

Monsieur de Sade. What more can we say.

Probably one of the tamest of the marquis' works, this book is a collection of short, perverted stories.

I read it in french, and you won't enjoy it as much (probably) if you don't. The reason is simple; One of the short stories, for example, is about a priest sodomizing a young boy, while the young boy himself rapes a younger girl. All this to teach the boy the principles of the holy trinity.

Did I mention the word Sadism comes from the Marquis de Sade? :p

Anyways, this is an awful subject matter. But it is written so exquisitely, with such a colorful and delicate choice of words and figures of speech, that one surely will giggle and blush instead of being offended. A true work of art.

If you want to read something written by a true french foppish libertine, this is a good way to start.

La Malvenue et Autres Récits Diaboliques by Claude Seignolle

I won't review all the tales in the book, only the major one: La Malvenue.

Seignolle has a way of portraying rural France in a way that makes you feel cold and damp no matter how warm the room you're in is. Very close to what we could call french folklore, this novel is brutal in its simplicity. To truly understand the unwholesomeness of the story, you've got to know what it is to stay a couple of cold, rainy nights in an ancient rural house, far from technology, at the mercy of your surroundings.

A twisted tale of possession and haunting, revolving around the severed head of a statue, a haunted swamp, and a very strange but seducing young lady, born in bizarre circumstances, unaware of her fate until it's too late to prevent tragedy.

I read it in the original french; I don't know how good the translations are, but I'm sure translating it affects the feel of the book. If you can, read this in french.

------

Ok, so that's all for today! I'm going to stuff my nose in Foucault's Pendulum for a while, now.

The sentinel - a video

2010-05-02T23:39:00.002-04:00

The always incredible Tom Banwell has posted a video of one of his most popular creations, The Sentinel, in action on youtube. The video itself isn't particularly interesting, but what is interesting is to see the texture, feel, weight and fit of this creation; something harder to gauge in pictures.

Link to the post

Just so you know

2010-05-02T23:30:00.000-04:00

I'm working on two different projects and contemplating two others, so you'll see more interesting posts pretty soon. Since then, links and reviews will have to do!

But I'm trying not to be lazy. I don't work in a very inspiring and creative surrounding, and I'm a lazy bastard. These two things take their toll on the quantities of stuff I might create and document. I'll try not to slack off too much, though!

Here's a couple of teases to keep you interested though:

Deviant Moon Tarot

2010-04-19T20:23:00.000-04:00

I received earlier today an order from Amazon.ca. Inside this order was hidden what I was the most expecting; a copy of the Deviant Moon Tarot by Patrick Valenza.

To put it plainly, this tarot deck is fucking gorgeous. Slightly twisted and surreal, with warm, earthy colors, the characters basking in the glow of the moon.

It came in a larger box which contained a beautiful tarot spreadsheet.

Inside this box was nested the smaller one, containing the cards.

And the cards themselves are jaw-droppingly awesome.

Similarly to the Rider-Waite tarot (and unlike the tarot de Marseilles), each card from the minor arcana is filled with symbolisme, making this deck easier to use for beginners who don't yet know by heart the meaning of each and every card.

But most of all, this tarot deck has something my 2 other decks are severly lacking: an interesting back design.

All in all, this deck is probably the most haunting and beautiful I ever held. A true work of art.

Deviant Moon Tarot's official website

Amazing video

2010-04-08T22:32:00.000-04:00

I'm sure this is what'll happen when something goes wrong at the CERN!

PIXELS by PATRICK JEAN.
envoyé par onemoreprod. - Films courts et animations.

New blog... yet again!

2010-03-27T20:48:00.003-04:00

I just started a new blog showcasing my "less politically correct" side, on which I might also post a few pseudo-philosophical thoughts now and then. There's not much now, but I should fill it out eventually.

I'm Going To Hell

One day short of friday the 13th

2010-03-12T10:06:00.000-05:00

I didn't have anything to write about so I wanted to share the only LARP-type activity in which I would accept to indulge, which is related a bit to good ol' zombie walks.

Every friday the 13th, there is an event called ZV13 (an acronym for zombie vendredi treize). I wasn't aware of this event until I met a fantastic guy, now a good friend of mine, Carl. He takes part of the organisation of this event, in which hundreds of people turn up for a whole night of zombie killing and human biting.

The scale of the thing is pretty impressive; Last time (I unfortunately couldn't make it, though), they managed to rent a whole school. You're basically locked inside the venue, with paintball guns (without ammo, we wouldn't want to hurt someone!), and the goal is pretty simple: survive for the night. If you get "bitten", you go to the makeup room and you end the game as a zombie. If you're a zombie and you're shot in the head, the game ends for you.

The crew responsible for the game also has complete access to the electricity controls of the building, to add a bit of piquant.

I've yet to try it out, but from what I've heard from plenty of people, it is something a zombie fan MUST experience once in his life. Although the explanation I made is pretty basic, you've got to keep in mind that the players are what make the event enjoyable.

I'm not sure of the next venue, either a factory or a small shopping mall, if I remember well, but you can be sure I'll be there.

Traileeeer:

The security guards of the venue; they won't let you come in without a ticket,

but they won't let you come out until morning.

Resting a bit before the attack

Carl, in all his rotten glory

Link to the event's official website

Book Makeover

2010-03-06T09:56:00.001-05:00

Rev. Marx at MRX Designs recently shared a clear, simple, to-the-point tutorial on reinforcing an old, tattered paperback's spine and rebinding it in hardcover with leather, using a french groove hinge.

The results are truly beautiful, and I am quite fond of the book he bound using ~~the leather from a bomber jacket~~ a leather of a color described as "bomber jacket" (thank you for correcting my mistake!)(illustrated above). The texture and color of the leather adds so much character to the book!

Take a look at the tutorial

The Music of Erich Zann

2010-03-03T23:10:00.000-05:00

From the youtube description:

"Die Musik des Erich Zann (original german title)
A stop motion movie based loosely based on H.P.Lovecraft's novel.
Creepy and with a lot of atmosphere made by Anna Gawrilow at www.trickfilmnoir.de"

A nice, creepy short indeed. I enjoyed it very much, even though the fact that they replaced Zann's viol by a piano. It is still very fitting, in my opinion, however, and let's keep in mind that it is described by being only loosely based on Lovecraft's short story.

Prayer of Exorcism

2010-03-01T17:03:00.001-05:00

Here's what I've been up to today:

The text is a latin prayer of exorcism taken from the Rituale Romanum written under Pope Paul V in 1614.

You can buy this lovely little thing on my etsy shop by clickety-clicking here

Stuff for sale! yay!

2010-03-01T15:30:00.000-05:00

Got a shop on etsy. Up to now, there's not much in it, but feel free to go take a look! More will probably be added later on.

buy my crap! now!

New formspring account!

2010-02-17T19:47:00.001-05:00

The title is pretty self explanatory. I signed up on Formspring, so now, you can ask me whatever you want easily, using the widget stuck in the right bar of my blog, over my followers and under my ugly mug.

here's a direct link, if you wish to go to my formspring profile and see what I've answered to other questions.

I found a new favorite bookstore!

2010-02-08T16:50:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, a friend and I went to a small market at about 15 minutes from his apartment to buy ourselves some beer. This small market actually has the largest beer selection in town, with many beers coming from small local microbreweries. It is there that I found my favorite beer ever, L'Aphrodisiaque by the Dieu du Ciel brewery; a rich cocoa and vanilla stout. A real dessert.

Anyways, while we were walking back with our beer and a couple of landjäger, we came across a large brick building, probably an ancien factory, with the windows completely boarded up. Except for a small part, which contained the most charming green wooden storefront. This huge, scary, abandonned building housed a small used bookstore. Unfortunately, it was closed that day, so today, I went to take a look after work.

There's an amazing choice of dirt-cheap paperbacks and old library-bound books, with crates filled with pulp novels and 1$ vinyls. Around the walls, though, there were huge antique cabinets with locked glass doors, behind which was a large collection of antique, leather bound books.

I saw a huge leather bound book from 1939, of which only 230 copies were printed, dealing about religious art. The 225$ price tag was a bit too much for me, though.

Anyways, I found myself a book on Dada for 5$. A bit steep priced for an old paperback, but I just couldn't exit empty-handed. I'll probably go back and take a more thorough look someday.

Botanical items for your perusal

2010-02-02T13:06:00.001-05:00

Recently, while looking around in my room, I noticed something.

There are paintings on the walls, skulls on the shelves, a shrunken head and a dead mermaid now and there, a full library and wardrobe, a few bottles of spirits and musical instruments, a couple of dry insects pinned on a frame, but damn, there's no life in there!

No room should be left without a living thing in it. While I'm contemplating buying myself a few fish or some amphibian, bug or reptile, such a creature might need more care and light than what is available in my modest dwelling.

Thus, I shall probably add a plant or two, to freshen the air, add color, and make the place a bit less gloomy. I'll probably put a terrarium and a couple of succulents, for these are easy to care for, and my green thumb is yellowish and slowly turning to black, if you know what I mean.

A couple of links I found interesting during my research for the perfect vegetation, after the jump!

Garden Crypt : An interesting website full of information about the darker, gothier side of gardening. Not much information about indoor gardening, but many suggestions about weird, dark and amazing plants, and things that grow in the shade.

Terrarium Man : A website dedicated to the creation of terrariums. Very thorough, with lots of great ideas. It covers everything from small terrarium made in conch shells, to terrariums filled with carnivorous plants!

FlyTrapCare : If you are like me, you probably owned one or two venus fly traps when you were younger, just to see it wither away and day because you didn't care for them properly. This website will answer every question you have about growing strong, beautiful venus fly traps.

Wicked Plants : The most amazing book dealing with plants ever. Almost every dangerous, vicious plant is covered in this book, filled with magnificent illustrations with an antique flair.

With these links, I should easily find something very interesting to put on my shelves. Hopefully I won't kill my plants too soon with all this info!

Creepiest cartoon ever

2010-01-26T14:41:00.001-05:00

They just don't make cartoons like this anymore.
via Miss Cellania

Wow... just... wow.

2010-01-24T22:16:00.006-05:00

Amazing, hot guitar duel between Stochelo Rosenberg and Eric Vaarzon Morel. If you enjoy flamenco guitar, gispy guitar, or simply amazing displays of virtuosity, take a look. It's crazy.

Of sideshow gaffs & taxidermy

2010-01-21T21:19:00.007-05:00

After the success and interest that was bestowed upon my last creation, namely the Feejee Mermaid (from Borneo), I thought about sharing to you a few pieces of information on taxidermy and the art of sideshow gaffs.

Gaffs are simply tricked exhibits. The most famous of them all, of course, is the mummified "mermaid" body exhibited by P.T. Barnum during the 19th century. This creature, dubbed the Feejee Mermaid (from the original spelling of the Fiji islands), was of course nothing more than a hoax.

P.T. Barnum's Feejee Mermaid

More info and pictures after the jump.

Beautifully crafted from the lower body of a fish and the torso of a primate, sewn and mummified together with their junction seamlessly hidden with papier maché, the gaff attracted thousands of visitors during the 20 years it was exhibited. Most of the visitors knew the doubtful nature of the creature, but paid to see it merely by curiosity. This first masterpiece opened the way for many other ingenious artists and showmen who made their fortune by exhibiting such artificial monstrosities to gullible fair-goers.

The mermaid is a classic, but there exists many more sideshow gaffs. Another classic is the Cardiff Giant, a huge statue carved from stone, which William Newell (and Barnum, who possessed a copy) claimed to be the remains of a petrified giant.

Other popular gaffs are called Bouncers. They're basically fake versions of pickled punks. To those unfamiliar with sideshow term, pickled punks are merely human fetuses and embryos preserved in alcohol or formaldehyde. Nowadays, pickled punks aren't legal to show on most fairs, so bouncers are much more popular.

You can also count the good ol' jackalope mount as a gaff; this popular object is simply made by attaching small antlers to a preserved hare's head.

Many people collect and create such oddities nowadays, and you can find some on eBay and etsy at prices going from 30$ to 3000$ and more.

One of the most famous sideshow gaff artists was Homer Tate. His creations were purchased by grindshow owners and curio collectors all over the USA during the 40's and 50's. created from whatever Tate could get his hands on, such as animal bones, human hair from the barbershop, paper pulp, animal glue, newspaper and shoe polish, these were very affordable, and all lovingly made by hand.

Oddities made by homer tate

They weren't the most realistic gaffs around, but still many people fell for them, and they are now priceless collector's items.

Nowadays, taxidermy is still used with great effect to create sideshow gaffs. These are not merely hoaxes anymore; they have become true works of art. One of my favorite taxidermy and gaff artists is Sarina Brewer.

This artist from Minnesota creates not only gaffs, but quality traditional taxidermy mounts for collectors and museums, jewelry, and sculptures from animal parts. I have the utmost respect for this woman, who manages to make something cute, humorous and horrific all at the same time, from naturaly and accidentally deceased animals, and without wasting a part of the original creature.

Flying monkey by Sarina Brewer

Another gaff artist of interest is the Prof. Burnaby Q. Orbax. Orbax is a talented canadian sideshow performer, who also founded Fiendish Curiosities, a small company who creates wonderfull oddities using special effects techniques, advanced casting techniques, and taxidermy. He can create everything from freakish animals, to cryptozoological specimens, to abnormal human remains. His work is amazing, and some of the smaller pieces are very affordable.

Alligator Boy by Fiendish Curiosities

Orbax's work is delightfully creepy and dare I say... slightly disgusting. Truly amazing.

A member of Craftster.org recently made me discover another very talented artist. Alex CF is an AMAZING artist, who's work has a certain stempunk or fantasy aspect to it. I'm not very familiar with his methods, but his websites truly deserves your attention.

Dante's descent into the pit by Alex CF

Finally, for more info about sideshow art and creative taxidermy, I strongly suggest you take a look at these two websites:

Sideshow World, which covers everything, past present or future, that there is to know about sideshows

Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, which is an association dedicated to presenting, sharing and preserving the art of creative taxidermy.

The Amazing Feejee Mermaid! (From Borneo.)

2010-01-20T18:18:00.006-05:00

Here's a picture of the finished product.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

If you ever try to follow my instructions and make your own mermaid, please let me know! I'd love to see what I managed to inspire!

For those who landed directly on this post, here's links to the whole tutorial:

Part 1: In which we discuss the flaying of the fish
Part 2: In which we discuss the mounting of the skin
Part 3: In preparation for the application of skin
Part 4: In which we add flesh to the beast
Part 5: In which we finish the job

Here's also a link to a tutorial on how to make the manuscript you see on the left of the picture

If you enjoyed this, please let me know!

Cheers

Taxidermy: In which we finish the job.

2010-01-20T17:57:00.005-05:00

Hello again.

This time we'll deal with the finishing touches; coloration, antiquing and wall mounting.

First of all, it is important to support the dry mermaid for the painting process.
I used a wire coat hanger which I bent out of shape and slid under its arms.

For painting the body, I mixed a small quantity of paint matching the fish's color; I used burnt umber, burnt sienna, sap green, black, and gold paint to give a slight shimmer to the color.

I then mixed 1 part paint to 3 parts latex, and watered down the mix a bit so it goes on more easily.

Don't worry if the resulting paint is pale, it'll dry much darker. The great thing with this paint is that it won't be uniform; since it's translucent, there will be some natural variation in the color. This is a good thing if you want a realistic paint job. Also, cover the whole fish, not just the body.

More pictures & info after the jump.

Here's the mermaid once the paint is fully dry:

As you can see, it's dark and shiny. Not very convincing! We must thus add a certain amount of patina to the whole body. This is made easier by the fact that dry latex is quite sticky; to age it, I simply rubbed it thoroughly with ashes.

Now, as you can see, it's perhaps a bit too light, and too uniform. So, using a large horsehair brush (the same one I use to shine my shoes), I brushed the excess ash off as much as I could. I then lightly sprayed the mermaid with my trusty hair spray. You can use any fixative or matte spray varnish to do this job. Don't spray it thickly, or it'll soak through the remaining ash and you'll lose the dusty look.

Once this is done, it should look nice and mummy-like.

Now that the coloration and patina is done, It's officially finished! you only need to find something to hang it.

The best would be a large, shiny trophy plate. But I'm poor, so no varnished mahogany for me. Instead, I took a small piece of plywood, and nailed a brass sawtooth hanger behind it. I then drove in two long nails, which I bent in a hook shape.

All you have to do is stick the "hooks" into the body to support it.

However, I changed my mind and decided I wanted my mermaid hung vertically. This proved to be much simpler. I just took a length of thick wire, and bent it into a double pronged hook shape. I stuck this into the mermaid and all I had to do is hang it to a wall with a nail.

Voilà! All done, and ready to hang in your Wunderkammer!

Easy, drugless hallucinations! yay!

2010-01-20T12:35:00.002-05:00

These are a series of easy ways to experiment basic hallucinations. I'll try a couple of these in the next days to see how it works out!

via cracked

New Blog

2010-01-19T00:57:00.002-05:00

I've decided to start a new blog, focusing on a totally different subject.

Chucks and a Derby will be a blog in which I'll share my love for shoes, quality menswear, and bargains.

If my sartorial musings interest you, feel free to go take a look!

Taxidermy: In which we add flesh to the beast

2010-01-18T12:20:00.004-05:00

Greetings, one and all! We are getting close, dangerously close, to completing the amazing feejee mermaid. This time, we'll see how one can apply a realistic, strong skin to the upper body to make it look like the dessicated flesh of a mummified corpse.

This part is my favorite. It's fun and messy, and doesn't require much talent nor concentration; it's impossible to make it look bad.

To add flesh and skin to some bone or armature, I like to use a combination of materials to achieve maximum strength and realism. For large areas, it's simply a matter of layering. For highly detailed zones, such as the hands or face, it's almost like sculpting with papier mâché.

Read the full tutorial with pictures after the jump.

To give you a general idea of the techniques I'll be using, I'll refer you to these websites:

The classic « Snot Rag » paper & glue method, except that I'll use latex instead of glue

The always ressourceful Cobweb's method, which uses nylon stockings and rubber cement

And last but not least, 3 simple techniques explained by gore galore to create different degrees of « fleshyness »

These three pages will be very helpful if you want more info, but I'll try my best to explain my methods thoroughly.

First, the materials!

You need absorbent stuff. I used toilet paper, cheese cloth and nylon stockings. Paper towels, old fabric pieces and cotton batting all work great too. Don't be afraid to experiment!

You'll also need some kind of goo to hold it and smooth it all together. I used liquid latex, which I strongly recommend, but it can be replaced with carpet adhesive, rubber cement or white glue (which is what I generally used when I didn't have the money to buy latex. It looks great, it's realistic to the touch, but it's a lot more fragile than latex.)

However, the great Homer Tate used shredded newspaper and powdered horse hoof glue to create his oddities, so as you can see, everything goes.

fish girl by Homer Tate

Now you need some way to support your dead fish chick. I drilled a hole in a couple of layers of plywood and stuck the mermaid's spine wire in it. I removed the head to make it easier to work on it and to reduce weight.

I started out by rubbing a bit of latex over the whole armature to make it sticky. Then, using pieces of cheese cloth dipped in latex, I smoothed a bit the shoulders to hide the fact that it's just a bunch of wires. I then slipped a piece of stocking over the torso, and glued it down with more latex.

I also made the spine stick out more with a piece of toilet paper soaked in latex and twisted into a long, thin snake.

What's fun with the latex soaked paper is that you can shape it with tools, like you would do with clay. Creating indenations for the vertebras and smoothing one part into another is thus very simple to do.

Simple using a nylon stocking could work with the torso, but I like to have a bit more stiffness, texture and depth in my dead bodies. Thus, I plastered the torso with a layer of toilet paper squares. That's when the « snot rag » mache technique comes in handy.

Be careful to blend the edges in the fish body correctly, or it'll look fake.

A good trick to make the edges easier to blend is to tear up all sides of the toilet paper. A torn edge blends into its surroundings better than a smooth one.

In the last picture, you can see I already covered one arm. Of course, as you can see, the arm is much thicker than the wire of its armature. To add bulk to the arm, I used cheese cloth. I simply wrapped the whole « bone » of the arm with the cloth until I was satisfied with the thickness, and glued it down with a bit of latex. In the next picture, you'll be able to see the arm covered with the cheese cloth.

Once satisfied, I cover the arm with a skin of toilet paper & latex once again.

It's now time to work on my nemesis: THE HAND.

It's quite simple, actually, but still, it's a real pain in the buttocks to do.
I start out with a piece of nylon stocking to make the webbed part of the hand.

After this, it's just a matter of using the toilet paper soaked in latex once again to build up the fingers, just like I built up the spine earlier.

Now it's my favorite part: making the face.

Using a toothpick, my trusty toilet paper and more latex, I built up and sculpted the features as realistically as I could.

Do you see the ressemblance with Ramses II?

I then stuck the head back on the body, and built up the neck the same way I did the arm.

All done!

Now let it dry overnight. We'll do the finishing touches later.

Taxidermy: In preparation for the application of skin

2010-01-17T19:12:00.006-05:00

This entry will be short. It is simply an update before I start the good ol' "corpsing" process, during which flesh and skin will be applied to the top part of the mermaid.

First of all, once the fish was completely dry, I applied a couple of thin layers of latex to the tail and fins, so that if chipping occurs, the chipped piece won't fall off the fin. After this, many layers of spray varnish or fixative (I used Tresemmé extra strong hairspray) are applied to the whole fish to protect it, since it is quite brittle, prevent the scales from falling, and seal it from humidity.

More after the jump!

After this, I started sculpting the skull with Crayola's Air-Dry Clay, a soft, easy to work with white clay, which air-dries to a hard, strong mass, with minimal shrinking and cracking.

Keep in mind that the skull will be completely covered, and is only serving as a base on which we will create the facial features. Thus, as with the skeleton, details aren't important, although you should be very carefull with the proportions of the head. It doesn't need to be 100% human like (I made the calvarium proportionally small, so it looks a bit more "fishy").
The head is then placed on the body by piercing it with the spine wire, and left to dry overnight.

See you in a day or two for the next part!

Best show i've seen in years

2010-01-17T18:41:00.005-05:00

I came back 2 hours ago from the best show I've seen in the last couple of years.
Alegria, by the Cirque du Soleil. DAMN it was fantastic!

I can only name 3 negative points:
1- We were seated on plastic folding chairs and the view wasn't great
2- It wasn't the original show, but an adaptation made for arenas. Actually, it's the same show, but y'know, it's not the same feeling then when you see it in the great, big, yellow and blue tent.
3- IT'S TOO SHORT! 2 hours just aren't enough. Gimme more magic!

Otherwise, I was sitting on the edge of my seat and my jaw was hanging loose 90% of the time. Last time I saw the Cirque du Soleil, I was a 7 years old kid (It was Saltimbanco, under the big top at Ottawa), and I couldn't believe my eyes. Now, at 19, I still can't believe how talented these acrobats, clowns and musicians are.

2 thumbs up to Guy Laliberté, Franco Dragone, René Dupéré and all the people who were behind this amazing show. They made me feel like a li'l boy again.

Taxidermy: In which we discuss the mounting of the skin

2010-01-13T18:17:00.004-05:00

Greetings.

Last time, as you can recall by scrolling down to my last post, we dealt with skinning a fish for the purpose of stuffing and mounting it as a fishing trophy. You may also recall that I clumsily tore out the cheek of the fish, ruining its head. Thus, I cut it off.

The body of the fish still has a purpose, though; I shall use it as the bottom half of a taxidermy gaff representing a mermaid, as, for example, the feejee mermaid made famous by Barnum.

See how I did this after the jump!

So, while the fish's skin is pickling, take out the outline you made of the body earlier, and copy it on a longer piece of paper. Take this as a guide to design the general body of your soon-to-be dead mermaid. It doesn't need to be perfect, as long as the general measurements are accurate.

Then, take a piece of thick wire. I used an old metal clothes hanger. Use this piece of wire to make the spine of the critter. There is a natural curve in the human spine; try following it, it'll add authenticity to your beautiful work of art.

Here, you can see my sketch, and the spine. Add a smaller length of the same wire, cross-wise, where the collarbones will be placed later. This will add some much needed strength to the skeleton of the mermaid.

Now, all you need to do is take various materials of your choice and build the skeleton. I used 14g and 20g wire, with a lot of masking tape to build mine. You're on your own on this one, although it should be pretty simple.

A good anatomy book is very handy at this step. I personally use the book Human Anatomy for Artists: The Elements of Form by Eliot Goldfinger. A great book, it is.

Here's a couple of pictures showing how I made my skeleton:

As you can see, I removed the left arm. That's because I'm too lazy to make 2 hands. Hands are a real pain in the arsch.

Don't try to make it perfect, it's only a base on which the body will be built. You'll be able to change the pose, add stuff, etc. later on. What's important is that the proportions are right.

Also, you probably see that I didn't make a head. That's because I want to make the skull out of polymer clay, but I don't have any left. The head can wait.

Once the skeleton's done, it's time to take out the fish skin out of it's brine.

Rinse it in cold, soapy water and lay it flesh side down on a couple of layers of newspaper to absorb the excess liquid. Then, wipe of as much residual slime as you can from the skin with paper towels.

Let it dry out a little bit (but not too much) while you mix together salt and borax. I used a 50/50 mixture. However, you can get a bit creative. I added silica gel (Working in a shoe store means I have easy access to this crap), and following the info that the always awesome Mrs Knickertwist gave me, I added some rosemary leaves and orris root powder (not shown) to help with the smell and with bugs. I also stuck some cloves in it, just because I like the smell. This is facultative, of course. Salt & borax works very well all alone.

Once that's done, put the skin flesh side up on your work surface, and rub your mix thoroughly into the skin. Get it in every nooks and crannies, and add some specially on fleshy areas. This mixture will bring out the water from the skin (what we, french folks, call Dégorger) and make the fish dry faster, thus with less chances of rotting or getting mouldy. The borax is a mild disinfectant.

So, up to now, we let the fish marinate in brine, we rubbed it thoroughly with spicy seasonings, and we cleared the skin of it's excess water with salt. Hungry yet?

Ok, so now that's the skin is soaked in salt, you have two choices: either you slip the skin on a form you previously made, and then sew it together, or you sew it shut first and then stuff it.

I went with the second option.

Sewing something together shut is pretty easy, so I don't think you need me there. Only, here's a piece of advice: use waxed thread (I rubbed normal sewing thread with a candle), and a thick needle. Fish scales are tough. I broke a needle that was too thin while trying to sew this sucker up.

Once it's all sewn back together, stuff it. Don't use cotton. The best is excelsior (also called wood wool). I didn't have any so I used raffia; it did the job pretty well. However, keep something in mind: The effect I want to achieve is this:

(picture from http://www.cryptomundo.com )

not this:

(picture from http://www.taxidermy-uk.net/ )

If you want the sleek, smooth look shown in the second picture, a pre-carved wood or foam form is the way to got.

I left a bit of skin unstuffed at the top to leave me some working space.

Once it was stuffed, I poked the bottom of the « spine wire » down the fish until it cam through the tail. It was then just a matter of placing the skin correctly, sewing it in place and adding stuffing where it was needed. I then stapled the fins and tail open on pieces of cardboard so they'll keep their shape while drying.

All is left to do (as long as the fish skin is concerned) is to let it dry completely in a warm, dry area, which can take quite a few days. I sped up the process by sticking it in the oven at the lowest setting, but the smell of warm fish slime is not very pleasant, so I took the soon-to-be mermaid out of the oven and hung it over a radiator in a room where no one ever goes. Once it'll be dry, I,ll smoke it thoroughly with Nag Champa incense to get rid of the fishy smell and replace that with a weird, exotic aroma.

See ya in a couple of days for the rest of the process!

Taxidermy: In which we discuss the flaying of the fish

2010-01-10T19:45:00.007-05:00

Why, hello there, my tsantsa loving, guitar refinishing, spider web framing honey bunches of oats! (You know you are. My blog's stats can't lie.)

Today, we'll skin & gut a sea-dwelling critter! Yay!

You see, my uncle brought me a beautiful, HUGE red trout specimen, fresh from the waters of Chibougamau, located in the barren, frozen lands of eastern Canada. And my uncle, being a fun, quirky guy like me (ain't I great?), gave it to me. Not so I can stuff my face with it, but more so I can stuff the fish itself.

I'll try to give you step-by-step instructions concerning how I did it., after the jump.

First of all, you need a fish. Not a soft-bodied fish, though. A good ol' scale covered slimy bastard that's tasty battered and deep fried served with a beer. Here, I have a beautiful specimen of red trout.

Notice that it isn't red anymore; after a while, the fish's skin will lose it's color. It is normal, and at the end of the process, it shall be painted back to it's former glory.

Your fish doesn't need to be fresh. Mine was frozen. If it's the case, just let it thaw. However, be warned that you must skin it as soon as it is thawed.

You'll also need borax, and alcohol & salt can be useful.
A couple of blunt tools for scraping the flesh, plyers and forceps can also be handy.
Access to clean water is a must
you'll also need a sharp knife or scalpel. I used a craft knife.

First, a good idea is to trace the silhouette of the fish on a piece of paper, just to have a size reference for later, when you will stuff it. Also, I strongly recommend taking detailed pictures for the same purpose.

gooorgeous

Once it is done, rinse your fish with cold water to remove as much slime as possible. Use paper towels to absorb the rest of the slime. A strong solution of alum can also be used, but personally, I'm alright with water and towels.

Now, wet the surface on which you'll work so the fish won't stick to it. Then, gently lay the fish, show-side* down, on the surface.

You must then make an horizontal incision from under the gill cover to the tail.

It's hard to see, but it's there.
Afterwards, make another incision, vertical this time, at the tail articulation, such as this:

It is important to make the incision shallow; you want to cut completely through the skin, but not through the flesh, or skinning will be quite a chore (and believe me, it's quite a pain already)

Here you can see I've already skinned most of this side. Try using your fingers, and go slowly, or you'll rip the skin.

You can also use a blunt tool to help you out, and scrape the flesh that sticks to the skin.

Start by skinning the top part, and when you reach the dorsal fin, stop, and skin the bottom part next. Once it's done, work with your finger to free the skin around the fins, and cut the bony anchor retaining them to the body. Here, you can see the ridge of the dorsal fin sticking out from the skin. Cut this ridge as close to the skin as you can.

Afterwards, it's just a matter of freeing the body from the other side of the skin. By pulling and scraping gently, it should be done easily.

It is then necessary to sever the tail joint from the rest of the body.

Afterwards, it's just a matter of pulling and snipping to remove the body from the neck. You must sever the spine and the oesophagus as far inside the head as you can. Strong shears will do the job quite well.

Be carefull not to remove the tongue or the gills; they are cartilaginous, so they'll dry out without rotting.

Then, you have to do the horrible job of removing the flesh from inside the head. Remove the eyeballs first, you'll then have access to the meat hidden behind the skin of the face. Use your fingers and small forceps to remove the flesh from the cheek area, working from the inside of the eye socket. Work gently or else you'll...

oops.

I tore out the cheek.
Fuck.

And it was the show-side of the face, dammit.

Oh well, for an inexperienced taxidermist, it's not the kind of thing that can be repaired easily. I guess I'll just snip off the head. It'll make the final defleshing easier.

So, if you're done removing the flesh from the inside of the head (can't help you anymore about that, sorry!), scrape the remaining flesh from the skin of the body so it's as clean as possible.

Rince the skin thoroughly, and let it macerate a couple hours (or overnight, like I'm doing) in a strong solution of Borax. Add as much borax to the water as you can. You can stop when the borax won't dissolve anymore.

If your skin has a tendency to lose its scales, add a bit of denatured or pure grain alcohol to the solution. You can also use salt. Personally, I used both. Better safe than sorry!

Ideally, the skin should be completely flat, not folded over itself, but I'm experimenting, here.

As you can see, taxidermy is quite a hard job, and it doesn't come out perfect often when you're a beginner. But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

Thus, since my fish is now without a useable head, instead of covering the creation of a fishing trophy mount, next time, we'll discuss the creation of...

the amazing
FEEJEE MERMAIIIIIID!!!

Who needs a head on their fish, anyways? ;)

__________________________________________
*the side which will be displayed later on; the less damaged, or the most brightly colored, your choice.

In which we discuss "the room with the circulatory like they are glowing in the bodies exhibit"

2010-01-08T12:21:00.005-05:00

So, today I was taking a look at my analytics page, and fell upon this gem in the list of adwords from which one can end up on my blog.

"why does it look like in the room with the circulatory like they are glowing in the bodies exhibit"

Because I'm, like, helpful, like I'll answer this question.

There is a light under the specimens.
The room being dark, and the liquid (or air) in which the specimens are floating being devoid of color or impurities, only the specimens end up glowing.

there you go.

The joys of ebay

2009-12-21T15:27:00.004-05:00

Inspired by the XKCD comic above, I decided to do a bit of good ol' shopping on eBay. I gave myself a budget of $50.00 (although I ended up spending the astronomical sum of $52.89, shipping included), and ended up with plenty of interesting stuff.

Here's what I bought myself with these 52 bucks:

- a pair of Florsheim Imperial brogues (my size! yay!)
- a 20'' leather cat o' nine tails (don't ask...)
- a silk tie with matching pocket square and cufflinks
- a sterling silver ring with an ornate fleur de lis on top of it
- a red, vintage looking t-shirt for the 2010 vancouver winter games
- a mistery gift (can't wait to find out what it is!)
- silver & rhodium triangle cufflinks
- black and stainless steel cufflinks sporting a sphinx's face
- a pair of 00g plugs made out of 3 different kind of exotic woods
- a sleek stainless steel ring with a cross design
- a lot of 20 sterile, individually wrapped piercing needles going from 18g to 12g

not too bad, right?

Secret santa can suck it

2009-12-20T21:01:00.003-05:00

For the "virtual gift swap" organised by Cobwebs, I was assigned Tala, from Cryptstitch.

My gift to her is the beautiful work of taxidermy pictured above, by one of my favorite artists, Sarina Brewer. This work of art is unique, beautiful, and reminescent of years past. Perfect in my opinion for such an interesting blogger, who shows interest in a wide variety of topics.

The Goat

2009-12-18T00:47:00.002-05:00

Here's the music video of The Goat, by Sopor Aeternus & the Ensemble of Shadows

If you never heard of them, I strongly advise you to take a look. The gloomy nature of their music is not for everyone, however, but those of you who can find beauty in darkness, the words and voice of Anna-Varney Cantodea, which uses her art as a form of catharsis for her depression, and the beautiful, neo-classical music of the ensemble of shadows are a thing to behold.

Touché

2009-12-17T01:37:00.003-05:00

Being a pipe smoker myself, I understand perfectly both of these fellows. Oh, the mirth!

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

The Passenger

2009-12-06T21:41:00.003-05:00

Johnny Cat from Neatorama posted this amazing animated short today.

I love it!

This work by Chris Jones must have taken so much time and talent. Beautiful, funny, and deeply enjoyable.

I framed myself a new bug!

2009-11-21T00:25:00.004-05:00

I just finished framing a 7'' female Nephila Maculata from east java.

This time, I made the shadow box myself using an old frame and styrofoam. Pretty happy with the results. I unfortunately don't have pictures documenting the process.

cute bat doll

2009-11-20T12:19:00.004-05:00

Isn't it adorable?

Heather from HELLOmynameisheather posted the pattern for this beautifull little bat sock doll on her blog. I can't wait to try it out!

Take a look!

via Shadow Manor

Nanowrimo

2009-11-04T18:37:00.002-05:00

Nanowrimo! it has started! and I'm behind schedule! AAAAAAAAH!

I only have about 4000 words written right now. and I have to write 50 000 before the end of november. Gah!

Oh, btw, in case you don't know, NaNoWriMo is the National Novel Writing Month, the month of november, during which writers all over the world try to write a novel of at least 50 000 words.

It is my first year and I'm quite excited!

Go take a look at the Website

Meh

2009-10-30T21:46:00.002-04:00

No halloween party for David.

Gah, and my neo-victorian vampire costume is so fucking PERFECT!
Instead of being covered in dirt and alcohol, it'll be gathering dust until I need it for a photoshoot with my friends.

What a sad life for a costume.

Fairy corpse tutorial

2009-10-15T10:59:00.003-04:00

The always interesting Cobwebs at Shadowmanor recently posted a great, fun tutorial on how to create a mummified fairy corpse using a twist on basic corpsing techniques (techniques that I shall soon cover in depth for your instruction and enjoyement).

The results, as you can see, are great, the tutorial is easy to follow, and it'll look terribly good in your wunderkammer!

go take a look HERE!

Val Jalbert

2009-10-10T19:51:00.003-04:00

Look at these pictures. It's a ghost town called Val Jalbert (Jalbert's Hollow) lost in the woods of Lac-St-Jean, about an hour from my town.

This village was deserted about 85 years ago. Many of the most important buildings and of the hundreds of houses are still standing, although there are many ruins here and there. Beautiful, but you'll admit that it looks quite eerie.

Now imagine the same setting in fall, when the trees are without any leaves and stand naked and dark against the buildings and the desert road.

Imagine this village at night, lit only by the moon and a couple of lamp posts, the woods dark and ominous, and the buildings standing out bluish and ghastly from the shadows.

That's downright creepy, huh?

Well, that's great, because that's where I'll be spending my halloween night, getting drunk and partying for hours with my friends and a bunch of people I still don't know yet. Hell yeah!

Got my DVD!

2009-10-10T14:47:00.003-04:00

I finally received and watched Christian Hanson's DVD "Make your own Scratch Built Corpse"!

I have to say that I can't wait to get started on my own corpse head.

His methods are simple, inexpensive, and terribly detailed. Everything is clear and precise, you don't need much artistic talent to pull it off, and the materials are very easy to find.

I'm especially impressed by the way he makes teeth for his corpses. Terribly simple, but so realistic! I think the DVD is worth it's price just for this simple trick.

I'm not fond of the not-so-subtle acting and comedy skits between the different chapters, but it's nonetheless a very usefull and high quality product.

Great for movie makers on a budget and home haunters!

Oh, and Hanson sure is handsome with his rockin' friendly mutton chops.

Steampunk skull - Deuxième partie

2009-10-09T21:02:00.005-04:00

Hey there, lovely little bilge rats!

I thought I'd show you the progress on my skull.

Nothing very complicated, I just played a bit with its finish, and removed the crappy ol' single piece teeth and installed brand new, shiny, strong, acrylic choppers.

Here's the teeth before I started:

As you can see, they are the same color and same texture as the skull, they're short, they're cheap, they're made in one piece and our friend mr. skull has a nasty underbite.

This shall be fixed!

To start, I simply dremeled out the original teeth. I used a sanding disk attachement, but some kind of router bit would probably do a great job too.

As you can see, it now looks quite geriatric. I honestly like this; I'll probably by a plastic skull some day and make it look edentate like that.

Once clean and sanded, I was ready to attach the new teeth.

Acrylic teeth, the kind used to make dentures, come in little plastic trays, separating the top, bottom, front and back teeth. Very pratical; you don't have to guess which tooth goes where (although mouth anatomy is fairly simple).

I bought mine on ebay; it cost about 20$ including shipping from china, and I have 6 complete sets of teeth.

I started out with the lower incisors, and gradually covered the whole lower and top mandible by gluing the teeth one by one from behind with drops of hot glue. It's not the strongest bond, but it's quick and easy to use. We'll strenghten the teeth later.

As you can see, it doesn,t look good from behind; In my case, though, it's not a problem, since the skull won't be manipulated much.

Upper teeth done

All glued!

As you can see, I corrected my buddy's underbite. I even gave him a slight overbite, for more realism!

Once this was done, I added 5 minute epoxy between and behind the teeth to hold them strongly in place. Although not necessary, this will add some durability to the skull.

Of course, I couldn't let these teeth all clean and shiny and white looking freshly flossed, when the rest of the skull looked freshly dug up! So I brought out the walnut stain again, mixed it with a bit of yellow ochre paint to tone down the red tones, and got this mix in every nook and cranny of the teeth. I wiped the front clean so they still had a bit of shine, and did a little trick that also gave a smooth, old and dusty look to the skull.

I rolled the whole thing in ashes while still tacky. I then dusted the excess off, and fixed it with matte spray varnish. This step really brings the whole thing together, and can save a poorly done stain job.

Voilà, mes amis! beau comme un sou neuf.

Link to part 1

A few words of apology

2009-10-05T18:43:00.000-04:00

Sorry to my almost non-existent readers if I've been a bit lazy posting lately, I'm working crazy hours, I have a couple of side projects, and I broke up with my girlfriend of 2 years so I've been a bit overwhelmed by everything that was happening around me.

I'm already working on some new stuff to post; just today I installed newer, better acrylic teeth on my plastic skull, it already looks a lot better. I'll keep you updated as soon as I'm done.

Making your own scratch built corpse

2009-09-18T19:05:00.003-04:00

From Christian Hanson, a talented sculptor and FX artist comes a DVD filled with the holy grail of halloween decoration and propmaking; Detailed instructions on how to build a gruesome, realistic, full-size corpse from scratch. I haven't seen the DVD yet so I can't give a full review, but I've seen the corpse heads made by some of his customers and I'm in awe. They look awesome, they are cheap to make, and they don't require expensive plastic skeletons or liquid latex to create.

I just ordered my copy from the Monster Closet and I can't wait to try it out!

Gotta love corpses.

Cogitz - Incorruptible Corpses

2009-09-15T14:55:00.002-04:00

While the preserved remains of mummies are generally found in states of rigor mortis-like petrifaction, incorruptible corpses are pretty pliable. Their skin is supple, even years after their deaths. They appear, for all intents and purposes, to be sleeping or only recently dead. What’s more, these corpses don’t show signs of having been embalmed

This is a quote from a fascinating article about incorruptible corpses, or bodies of religious figures apparently preserved by godly intervention. This article, published on Cogitz.com, is very interesting and presents quite a few pictures and videos about such bodies.

I'd suggest taking a look at the other articles on the website if you have time, they all present weird and macabre stories, which are sure to delight the gothic and the curious.

Transi sculpture finished! yay!

2009-09-12T17:25:00.003-04:00

I'm done sculpting my transi. There's still a little smoothing to be down here and there, but otherwise, it's done and ready for molding.

I'm still debating about the molding process... I'll probably do an alginate mold, from which I'll cast a resin copy, which I will use to create a reusable, stronger mold out of latex.

I could do a latex mold right ahead but i'm not sure if the oil from the clay would halt the curing process of the latex... I need to do a bit of research.

Here's some pictures of the finished sculpture and one taken besides my shoe to give you an idea of the size of the future candles.

Transi update

2009-09-10T13:20:00.003-04:00

I've been working again on my transi sculpture. I added flesh to the face, made the ribs stick out more, and started making a shroud hanging from the character's hips.

Just a couple hours more and I'll be ready to mold it. I can't wait!

Transi - Work in progress

2009-08-29T20:14:00.002-04:00

I was feeling the urge to sculpt, so guess what I did?

exactly! I satisfied this urge!

The project I'm currently working on right now is a small oil-based clay Transi. A transi is a type of funerary monument which were most popular during the XVth and XVIth centuries, however examples of this type of monument started to appear during the XIVth century.

Unlike the popular gisant, which is a life-sized statue of the deceased in a peaceful, sleeping position, the transi presents the deceased as it truly is; A horrible, decomposing corpse, its skin tightly stretched over dry bones, in an eternal skeletal grin.

I absolutely ADORE this type of funerary monument, for it presents the true horror of death, without romanticizing it as with the gisants.

Of course, I'm not yet ready to do a full scale transi; my idea was to make a smallish sculpture, mold it, and cast candles from it. The symbolism of the body slowly melting and burning away as the candle burns goes hand to hand with what the traditional transis symbolizes.

To begin, I needed clay; I used the same type of clay with which I made my tsantsa, a cheap oil-based clay sold for 2$/pound. This type of clay won't dry, is very firm when cold, and softens as it heats up, making it perfect for detailed sculptures.

I use very few tools during the sculpting process; A small "ribbon" tool (I don't know the english name, but it's called a mirette in french), a knife, a wooden modelling tool (called an ébauchoir in french, I don't have any idea what it's called in english), a brush with alcohol to smoothen the clay, and a few toothpicks and needles.

I also fashioned a stand out of thick scraps of wood so I don't have to bend down as much while working on the sculpture.

Reference when doing anatomical work is also very important; During the sculpting process, I refer to the fifth edition of Gray's Anatomy. My copy is from 1870, but new editions are easy to find on ebay and amazon. However, I don't recommend this book if you're not familiar with human proportions, as it does not contain full-body illustrations.

As you can see, I'm also using a skull replica as a guide; the fact that it is in 3D makes it more practical.

Here's an example of what kind of illustrations you can expect to find in gray's anatomy. Although very detailed, only smallish parts of the human body are represented.

Once you've got all your tools, pictures, anatomical models and whatnot, you're ready to start!

Sculpting is like drawing; it's easier if you do a sketch first. There's no hurry to work on the details.

Here's a view of the front and back of my "sketch". The goal is to simply map out the pose, shape and proportions of the body. As you can see, I've left the head out. I personally prefer to work on the body first. There is also no legs nor arms; I'm not planning to add any, I only want a torso and a head.

Once this is done, you'll want to start working on the musculature; filling up some parts and removing clay from others to make it actually look like something. Knowing what to add and what to remove is a matter of practice, actually; most beginner sculptors will be afraid to remove too much clay, and end up with blocky results.

This, however, is a bit too skeletal for my tastes. I added small pieces of clay using my anatomy book as a guide to plump up the sculpture a bit.

Here, you have a shot of the back. Another common mistake is to work damn hard on the front without caring about the back, which can cause distortion and other problems in the finished product.

I've worked a bit more on the general shape of the body, and added a lump of clay on the neck so I can begin the head. Since the lump of clay I used for the head is still soft and warm from being kneaded, I let it cool down and harden a bit before working on the skull.

Here, you can see the skull slowly taking shape.

I still have a lot of work to do, but this still can give you an idea of what the finished product will look like.

I'll keep you updated when I finish the sculpture, with info on sculpting the details.

Happy plane makes me happy

2009-08-25T21:32:00.000-04:00

You just gotta love this picture.

Steampunk skull - part 1

2009-08-25T15:46:00.003-04:00

Here's the situation: I just ordered a plastic human skull from ebay, and let's just say that I could be more satisfied with its looks. Its jaw is slightly too wide, it has a little underbite, its teeth were filed down too short and some of the detail has been lost.

However, for 17$ bucks, I can't expect much better.

Before I gather some cash to get myself a quality replica (which can be between 100$ and 300$), I plan to experiment a bit with this 17$ skull and see if I can make him look like a thousand bucks.

The process will be like this: I'll stain the skull, hinge its jaw with brass hardware, and fashion a brass and wood stand to support it.

This should be enough to give it some much needed flair and a slightly steampunk aura.

So let's start out with the staining, will-we?

This process is really simple; it's just a matter of having the right materials.

read it again. The RIGHT materials.

I didn't read it enough, personnally, since I disregarded all the info I found on the subject of staining plastic bones and bought the first kind of walnut stain I found instead of trying to get gel stain.

So here's the materials you need:

- A plastic skull
- A rag
- GEL wood stain. (A dark walnut or antique oak looks great)

There you go. Now the process is quite simple. With your rag, apply a liberal coat of stain all over the skull. Be sure to get it in every nooks and crannies.

It's hard to see, but I realized why I should have used gel stain about at the time I took this picture.

The stain I'm using lacks opacity, and is RUNNY AS HELL. Also, it's oil based, so it's not easy to clean up. But I digress. back to topic.

Once your skull is covered, let the stain sit a few minutes, and simply wipe off the excess with a slightly damp rag.

Here's the results. I'm not 100% satisfied; It's not as smooth as I wanted and I was expecting slightly less reddish results. However, all is not lost; I'll try giving it a white wash to smoothen the color a bit, and will go over with a nice golden oak stain to bring out the yellowish tinge of the skull. This combination of colors will probably do the trick.

Stay tuned for the next part!

UPDATE: Link to part 2

The Wolfman - Trailer

2009-08-25T10:33:00.003-04:00

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG
I'm almost as excited as when I saw the trailer for Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Go watch the trailer HERE

And take a look at the official website HERE

Found it on Cryptomundo

Molding Skulls

2009-08-21T10:27:00.004-04:00

I just found a great tutorial for molding a plastic skull and casting plaster copies. There's lots of pictures and detailed instructions. The most expensive part is the liquid latex (if, of course, you already have a nice skull at home), but the 20-30$ it'll cost you in materials is well worth the massive amount of skulls you'll be able to make!

from The Creepy House Next Door, which also contains many more interesting tutorial revolving around creepy halloween yard decoration.

For painting the skull, I strongly suggest this step-by-step demonstration, by Dave the Dead from The Shadow Farm. He uses an urethane skull, but there's no reason why it wouldn't work on plaster. I'd suggest applying a coat of sealer to the plaster first, however, so it doesn't soak up all the paint.

Making a hardcover out of a paperback

2009-08-14T22:02:00.004-04:00

Rev. Marx at Marx Designs posted a great tutorial on how to cover a cheap paperback with boards to give it the look of an antique hardbound book. It's quite simple actually, and his instructions are more than you need to figure out how to do something like it. Definitively worth checking out.

Link to the tutorial

Found on Propnomicon

It's time for book reviews!

2009-08-13T22:21:00.004-04:00

Is there a better feeling than sinking into a comfy couch a dark and stormy night, resting your feet on the tanned bear skin's head in front of the fire place*, opening up many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore and reading 'till you nod, nearly napping?

Well yeah, there's better feelings, but this one's pretty darn nice anyways.

That's why I read a lot, and I thought I could share my recent findings(in terms of litterature) with you. There's some old, there's some new, but it's all good.

1. Paint It Black - Voltaire

A guide to gothic homemaking, he says. Damn right, he is! Although this little gem is a bit too tiny to my likings, it's filled with great info and ideas for transforming the most boring dorm room into a somptuous gothic den. From modifying toys to covering walls with draperies, you can be sure this book will help you. However, it's a quick read; a few more projects should have been included to justify the asking price (about 15$cdn on amazon).

2. Brothers Karamazov - Fyodor Dostoievsky

Every one needs to read a good russian realist novel now and then. Although a big piece to chew, Dostoievsky's masterpiece is definitively worth your time and concentration. The story is about three brothers, who's father is assassinated. It covers every subject from love, money, honor and fraternity, to murder, justice, depravity and religion. And these russian names sound awesome!

3. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories - Franz Kafka

Oh man, Kafka is awesome. I mean, really, he is. After Stephen King and Eddy Poe, he's probably my favorite author.

Just go read this book and tell me you liked it (I won't believe you other wise). It is filled with short, witty, surreal stories, which makes you think as much as it entertains. A salesman waking up as a giant cockroach (or whatever it is)? yup. Jackals asking a white man to kill a few arabian guys with rusty scissors? It's there. and there's many more stories present. If you like surrealist tales, you'll like this book by Kafka.

4. Dieu et Nous Seuls Pouvons - Michel Folco

If you can read french, it is one of the most enjoyable novels you can read. This book tells the story of the Pibrac, the greatest (fictional) family of french executioners. The story is told with great attention to historical accuracy, with a touch of dark humor. definitively a 5*****.

5. Secrets of the Sideshows - Joe Nickell

If you have any interest in the world of the sideshow, this book might just quench your thirst for knowledge. It covers every topic from natural freaks to sword-swallowing tattooed hotties. It also explains a bit how different types of sideshows were organized, and how certain stunts were performed. A must-read for the sideshow enthusiast.

Ok, so that's about it for now. I might give a short review of more books later, since I still have to go through a pile of unread volumes. If you want to know more about any of these books, just ask!

Tsantsa; from clay to shrunken head

2009-08-10T23:41:00.007-04:00

I love shrunken heads. I really do. These little guys are creepy, look great, and have that mysterious tribal vibe to them. And let's face it, they are damn cute. And after reading my 1925 copy of Up de Graff's Head Hunters of the Amazon, I decided I just HAD to have one.

Of course, buying a real shrunken head is out of my price range, but I wanted my own little tsantsa, and there is no better way to get something than to make it yourself.

Using sulfur-free oil based clay, I had a blast sculpting this little guy over a few hours. I won't go into details with the sculpting process; with a little bit of artistic talent, it's quite easy to do. The sculpture done, a mold must be made. It shalt be made out of plaster, said I!

I made a dividing wall with thin aluminum pieces (the bottom of a pie plate), and covered the head with plaster and strips of burlap. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of this process, so you'll have to imagine. I then sloshed some liquid latex inside the mold, following by the lengthy process of letting it cure, then removed and powdered the latex cast with baby powder.

I gave back a little color and tackiness to the skin using brown and orange grease makeup (applied thinly so that the wrinkles and pores aren't filled out), and following the information I had about the methods used to make shrunken heads, I blackened the head with charcoal.

I then applied a good layer of fixative. I personally like to use ultra-strong TRESemmé hairpsray. Following this, I sewed the lips and the back of the head shut with thin cotton rope, which I dyed a yellowish brown with coffee earlier.

I still have to decorate it a bit more and find a way to put hair on it (punching hair into slip latex is quite difficult; I'll have to find another solution)

However, I'm quite happy with how it looks like right now! It was quite a simple process, with plenty of info that can be found online, but if you want to try something similar and need any help, advice is just a comment or an email away!

Here is a great website about shrunken heads

and on here you'll find a friendly community willing to answer most of your questions about molding and casting latex props

Bottled specimens

2009-08-10T00:19:00.004-04:00

Here's a great tutorial for making fake, antique bottled specimens by the folks at Propnomicon: Clickety-click!

HERE is another one by Baron Von Fogel at Indy Mogul.

Both would make great props to store in your wunderkammer. (you DO have a wunderkammer, don't you? if no, I might elaborate on the subject later.)

Necromance

2009-08-04T21:24:00.004-04:00

I just found via The Steampunk Home a great shop, located on melrose avenue in LA, called Necromance.
It features an eclectic assortement of natural history items, curios, antiques, books, jewelry and other amazing stuff.

Definitively worth checking out; their online catalog is full of great objects of all kinds, with great prices!

more details here

Wax anatomical model making

2009-07-30T20:38:00.005-04:00

Wax has been for a long time the most used material in the creation of anatomical models. At wellcomecollection.com, a video has been put online showing briefly how Eleanor Crook, a modern wax model maker, creates her beautiful works of art.

WATCH IT NOW!

This video gives us just a peek of what is to come at the wellcome collection's art show "Exquisite Bodies", showcasing antique and modern anatomical models. Definitively worth a visite; too bad I can't afford the trip!

100 must-read books

2009-07-26T10:44:00.003-04:00

I wanted to share with you a post from the always interesting Art of Manliness.

It is a list of 100 books that every men (or women) should read in their life; although I don't agree with every book in the list and I feel others should be included, it's still a very interesting and complete list.

If you ever wonder what you should read next, take a look at that list; there's a short description of each book, making it easy to choose something you'd enjoy.

head to the Art of Manliness now!

On Mounting and Naturalization of Insects for Study and Exhibition

2009-07-15T12:10:00.010-04:00

Today, freaks & spooks, I'll show you how to prepare creepy crawlies to hang on your bedroom walls! yay!

This project is quite simple indeed; it is just a matter of relaxing, posing and mounting some bug in a shadow box. The result is beauty where you'd least expect it; mounted properly, any garden spider or dust mite can look great. It's just a matter of knowing what to do.

First of all, you need your insect. I, personnally, used a whip scorpion. A great way to get FABULOUS insects without going hunting in tropical areas is using ebay, or looking through an entomological supply shop. My whip scorpion came from ebay, and cost around 7$, shipping and taxes included. When ordering, be sure to always check if the insect specimen is in A1 condition; this means it isn't missing any part or isn't broken in any other way.

Now, I know that a whip scorpion is not an insect but an arachnid, but for the sake of simplicity and generalization, I'll call it the bug, the insect, or the specimen. please bear with me.

You have to remember here that you do NOT want soft bodied insects; caterpillars look great but they can only be preserved in liquid (ethyl alcohol or formalin).

Your insect will most probably arrive in a lil package such as this:

However, if you order a butterfly or moth, or in some cases, a dragonfly, it may come in a little glassine paper enveloppe. However, lepidopterae need to be prepared another way, thus I won't cover how to mount them today.

Usually, quality suppliers will stick the insect's data sheet to the package. This is to ensure that the specimen preserves all its scientific value, so don't lose that info; you'll need it later.

In my case, the supplier didn't identify the specimen correctly; it's not a species of stygophrynus, but rather a species of thelyphonidae.

Once you get your insect, you'll realized that it is in quite a cramped position. However, don't try to put it in a more natural pose yet; it is so brittle you'll only able to break it if you try to change its posture.

The secret to having a nicely spread specimen is to let the insect relax. Of course, for this, you'll need a relaxing chamber!

Here you can see the relaxing chamber I used. I personnally enjoy using bruschetta containers, but anything that is airtight will do. All you need to do is to cover the bottom with an absorbent material. I used paper towels. Once it is done, you need to dampen the material with a mix of water and some kind of mold inhibitor; ethyl acetate or crushed moth balls work quite well. Next, you simply plop your insect in the box, cover it with another layer of damp material, and close the box. A good idea is to put squares of paper or cardboard under and over your insect, if it has hair or scales; otherwise, it might get damaged.

All you have to do now is wait a few hours for small insects, or a few days for larger ones. If your insect is tough, like some larger coleoptera, you can use a bit of heat to speed things up. Big fat beetles can even be dropped a few seconds to a few minutes in boiling water, which would relax them almost instantly. However, more delicate insects would be destroyed if dropped in boiling water.

While your insect specimen relaxes, you should start working on the frame.

I used a small shadow box I bought at the dollar store; it's quite cheaply made, but for 1 buck, what can you expect?

Of course, plain balsa like this doesn't suit my palette much. Thus, as Voltaire (the singer, not the french genius) wrote in his book paint it black, I painted it black! with gloss black spray paint, of course.

When the frame is dry, you need to think about the backing; Since your insect will be pinned there, you need something soft but firm at the same time; something like foam!

The best you can use is the plastic foam used to hold fishing flies. However, a thin layer of styrofoam or cork will do. I used styrofoam.

Since by itself, styrofoam is quite ugly, I covered it with a nice, shiny, deep red satin.

Beautiful, gothic and functional.

Now remember when I said that the data sheet of your insect was important? now it's time to use it. Print a label with the species of the insect, the place it was collected, and the date it was collected. Of course, 2007 doesn't sound very vintage, so I changed that to 1907. The fonts I used are called Telegram and Typewriter New Roman, and are freely avaible online.

A bit of coffee later, and it looks like it's quite a few years older.

a spot of glue under the label and now and your frame's ready!

Now, wait a few hours again. You want to be sure your insect really is relaxed before starting to mount it. you'll know it is when you can freely move its legs; as if it was still fresh.

When it is relaxed, plop it on a block of styrofoam, soft balsa wood, cork or whatever you can stick a pin through.

The next thing you want to do is to pin it down. Drive the pin through the thorax, a little bit at the right from the middle. the pin must come out between two legs.

On this picture, the pin going through the thorax is hard to see, but believe me, it's there. It'll be clearer in the final pictures. As you can see, I already started to pin the legs. Don't try to make the pins go through the legs, use them simply to support the legs in the position you want. don't be afraid to use a lot; it'll keep it the way it should be while it dries.

Here it is almost fully posed. You can see how it looks much bigger and alive than before.

Here you can see more clearly how I used the pins to lift up some parts and hold down others. It is now fully posed and ready to dry.

Usually, it takes 1 or 2 days to dry fully. Once it is done, just remove all the pins, except for the pin going through the thorax of the specimen.

It should now be stiff and ready to mount!

The last step is quite simple. Just push the pin through the foam/cork you put at the bottom of the frame, hang the sucker, and you're done!

you can see the head of the pin a little more clearly here. Since it is at an angle, it looks more at the right side of the specimen than it really is.

Hope you have fun sticking pins through defenseless little critters!

-----

Helpful links:

Spreading and mounting butterflies and beetles
Entomology and other supplies and equipment
Unmounted and mounted insects of all kinds

Bodies - The Exhibition

2009-07-07T11:14:00.005-04:00

Quebec City has the chance this summer to welcome a most interesting and unusual exhibition. Bodies, The Exhibition, is organized by Atlanta-based Premier Exhibitions Inc. and features a large number of plastinated, dry and wet preserved human specimens.

As with the famous exhibition Body Worlds by Gunther Von Hagens, Bodies presents the human body as the beautiful and complex machine it is by installing various full bodies and body parts in artistic poses revealing how the body works.

It is as intriguing and strange as it is beautiful, and I had the chance to go take a peek yesterday.

The skeletal, mucular, nervous and vascular systems are all covered, as are sexuality and pregnancy, various diseases, and how medicine can heal, repair and modify the body.

The room presenting the circulatory system is alone worth the visit. On a few models, only the veins and arteries are preserved, and colored a bright red. The room itself is plunged in darkness and these specimens are brightly underlit, giving them the appearance of glowing lace. Absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing.

If such an exhibit takes place near your town, do yourself a favor and go see it, it is well worth the price. Watching pictures on the net or seeing wax or plastic models can't be compared to seeing the real thing!

Bodies - official page

Painted Hog's Skull

2009-06-30T18:45:00.010-04:00

This winter, I stuffed a pig's head for a friend's short movie. This experience in taxidermy didn't turn out very well; I didn't degrease the skin correctly so it didn't cure fully. However, it worked great for my friend's movie;

As a result, I had a pig's skull laying in my basement. I finally used it in a sculpture made for a class in college:
Giorgio by *ars-anima on deviant ART

At the end of college, I couldn't bring that tall thing home, so I just ripped off the skull and threw the rest away.

I was once again stuck with that skull, without knowing what to do with it.

Inspirationg struck two days ago while I was bored out of my skull (HAHA A PUN! YES! I ROCK!). This skull SHALL BE PAINTED, proclaimed-I!

Thus I began ripping all the lights, silicone, wire and urethane out of it.

This done, I started painting the skull without any sketch or whatever. I used Delta craft paints; the opacity and fluidity of a quality craft paint makes it perfect for such a job. I didn't try to follow any ritual or traditional pattern; I just painted following as much as I could the natural shape of the skull. (sorry if you have to turn your head 90°, I'm too lazy to rotate the pictures)

I tried to use mainly bright colours to give it a gipsy or voodoo appearance; of course, just a few icons painted on leaving lots of the natural color, or a darker theme would look just as good if not better.

Once the main painting job was done, I sanded the hell out of the skull using a coarse grain sandpaper, and also a very fine one to give it a polished with us texture. Afterwards, I applied a nice coat of stain made of coffee, acrylic paints, white glue and varnish. Wood stain followed with a coat of varnish would have worked just as good if not better, but I didn't have any at hand.

There ya go!

old, dirty, and ready to hang!

If you wish to try your hand at skull painting, you can find already clean skulls on Ebay, or go take a look at The Bone Room or Skulls Unlimited. Be warned though that professionally cleaned bones tended to be expensive; If you're not squeamish, cleaning the skulls of roadkill or of heads bought at a slaughterhouse is a damn cheap option. The whole hog's head I used, who's meat was turned into great headcheese by my wonderful mom, cost just 10$ at the slaughterhouse.

P.I.S.S.

2009-06-25T13:04:00.002-04:00

I will never go to school performed by P.I.S.S.
(For the sake of stating the obvious, the original video is "I was made for loving you" by KISS)

Creepy Cherubs

2009-06-25T11:20:00.003-04:00

If you're looking for inexpensive, creepy statuary, instructions on how to make the cute little devils on the picture above have been posted on Indie Shopper:

"I’m recycling this project from a couple years ago since things are kinda hectic around here. Being 30 weeks pregnant puts a bit of a damper on getting in the Halloween spirit. Between figuring out cloth diaper patterns and deciding on a car seat, it seems like my mind is going 100 mph lately and I, unfortunately, have no room to think of fun crafty Halloween projects. I sound like such a bummer already!

So I apologize if (for some strange reason) you’ve been reading my blog for the last two years and are bored with this project. If not, I proudly present….

Creppy Cherubs

Materials:
ceramic cherub (thrift store/dollar store), Sculpy, Oven, Spray Paint (Black & Gray), Acrylic Paint (red & black)"

Go take a look at the rest of the instructions on Indie Shopper!

Framed Spiderwebs

2009-06-25T10:56:00.005-04:00

Cobweb from the Art of Darkness posted a very interesting little tutorial on how to frame spider webs.

"A friend sent me a link to Whirled Wide Webs, which sells mounted spider webs. They’re lovely, but a tad pricey for what amounts to a glorified science fair project. With a little practice, you can easily make similar mounted webs for next to nothing.

If at all possible, make sure that the spider is done with the web before you collect it; even though they can rebuild a web pretty quickly it still takes them time and energy to do so. If you come across a really lovely web that’s still occupied it’s probably okay to collect it as long as you don’t keep bothering the same spider over and over again.

Materials:
Spray paint
Stiff paper in contrasting color
Spray adhesive (hairspray will work in a pinch)
Spray varnish or craft sealer
Scrap cardboard
Frame"

Go watch the rest of the instructions at The Art of Darkness!

Antique manuscripts: Faking it

2009-06-25T00:46:00.003-04:00

An interesting thing to add to any gothic decor is an old, worn manuscript, framed on a velvet background, hung on the wall.

This, by chance, is one of the easiest projects you can do.

Antiquing paper is easy and fun, and it gives charm to even the most banal piece of paper. In my case, I used a roman catholic prayer of exorcism, found in a book of prayers (where else? :p ). Anything significant could be perfect, since more often than not it will be looked at instead of read.

The fonts I used are free and are called Rothenburg and Hartwig-Schrift.

I inserted a woodcut clipart found on Godecookery.com and printed it out on ordinary paper. I used a laser printer and you should too, other wise the ink will disolve in the watery dye you'll use later.

Once it is printed, crumple the sheet, tear it, burn it, do whatever you want to make it look tattered. Afterwards, you'll need something to dye it. For beginners, I suggest coffee. Soaking the sheet of paper in strong coffee will give it that old, crisp, sunburned parchement look.

Personally, I like to use watercolors, mainly yellow ochre and burnt umber. Adding a few dabs of crimson, sap green or prussian blue, gives a more authentic look to the page. However, be careful not to make it too colorfull!

All that remains is to let it dry and hang it. I inserted mine in an old black frame I had laying around, and I cut a piece of red velvet from a santa suit bought at a thrift shop as a background.

Refinishing your guitar

2009-06-24T23:57:00.006-04:00

Ok, so you've got an old dented, scratched, sticker covered guitar. And that guitar cries, sometimes, at night. Cries because it wishes it could be beautiful. Cries because you neglected its looks for too long. It's time to take the matter in your own hands and refinish that baby.

Before I go on, however, I must warn you; there's danger involved.

DISCLAIMER: REFINISHING YOUR GUITAR MIGHT RUIN IT. DON'T DO IT UNLESS YOU'RE SURE OF WHAT YOU'RE DOING. I WON'T BE RESPONSIBLE FOR DESTROYED INSTRUMENTS.

thanks!

No let's go ahead.

I started out with a 2 year old Epiphone Les Paul Special II. It's a 200$ guitar, so I wasn't very afraid to break it. I wanted to give it a bit of personality so I painted some swallows on it with craft paint.

bad idea.

To make this story short, let's just say that I felt a refinishing was necessary.

What I did was that I stripped off the body of everything. I took off the strings, unbolted the neck, screwed out the electronics. It may seem daunting but it's quite a simple task. At the end of this post, I included links to websites that might help you around with this.

Once this was done, I used paint stripper to remove the paint, and sanded the wood very well, until it was as smooth as a casket. Afterwards, the painting begins.

In my case, I stained the wood instead of giving it an uniform color. I used acrylic washes instead of commercial wood stain; it doesn't work as well but it did it's job.

Afterwards, I painted the designs on using high viscosity acrylic paints (craft paints would work just as well)

Once the paint was dry, the real work begun.

Over the course of a few days, I applied a huge number of coats of gloss spray varnish. The trick here is to apply very thin coats, so the varnish doesn't scratch off easily and you don't end up with a huge amount of dripping. I applied a whole can of varnish this way, and should have applied a few coats more, but I didn't seek perfection.

Once the varnish was applied, it had to dry for a week or two to harden fully and lose it's stickyness.

The varnish dry, I wet sanded it with different grits of sandpaper. I started out with a grit of 220, and progressed gradually to a grit of 1500. It is important to sand until the pebbled texture of the varnish is smoothed out.

Afterwards, the elbow grease came in. Using a polishing compound and a rag, I polished my guitar until it got all shiny, by hand. A buffing wheel would have been terribly helpfull, but the results were great anyways.

REFERENCE:
If you're interested in modifying your guitar, go take a look on these webpages. They were really helpfull.

Project Guitar
Paint your Electric Guitar

An introduction

2009-06-24T23:36:00.003-04:00

Good evening, friendly freaks!

I hope you're doing well.
In my case, I'm absolutely glad to start this blog, so even though my ass is a bit sore from sitting a bit too long at the computer, and I long to drink a nice cold glass of absinthe while watching the stars, I find myself to be quite happy.

This blog has been started a bit out of frustration, to be honest with you. You see, I am an avid reader of blogs and websites dealing with the gothic, punk and DIY ways of life, and tend to accumulate a lot of interesting information that gets lost.

How many times have I searched through the whole wide web to find a small parcel of information I saw once but didn't have time to write it down! how many times have I wished to have a list of those interesting blogs and websites that quench my thirst for knowledge!

Also, I was slightly frustrated by the fact that most goth and DIY webpages are more interesting to women then men. There's nothing wrong with this, of course, but I'd rather learn how to build a coffin shaped display cabinet than how to crochet a bat-shaped doily.

In this situation, the best I could do is, of course, start my own blog, in which I would share my own projects and these little jewels I find on the internet that might interest readers with the same ideas as myself.

Be aware, however, that this blog is not all about craft.

Visual arts, litterature, film, performance art, music, the bizarre and other general knowledge are very important for me. Thus I see this blog as a place to share different kinds of information with you, readers. I am completely open to suggestions, as long as you are open to bear with me when I follow a post about making chocolate cupcakes with a post about Lucio Fulci's Zombie.

I won't bore you with my life any longer, parts of it will be released to you soon enough on this blog anyways.

Oh, by the way, If some of my sentences aren't grammatically correct, or if I do spelling and vocabulary mistakes, please bear with me. I'm french.