Alligator Boy Hatchling for Sale

The talented Steve Cotroneo at Autumn's Oddities currently has a gorgeous, creepy alligator boy gaff for sale on Ebay.

According to the listing, it is made of latex, polymer clay and urethane foam, and comes nestled with an authentic ostrich egg inside its wooden crate.

At 350$, it's a bit too expensive for a broke student such as me, but considering it's a piece of original art, it's still quite a good deal!

The Hand of Glory - Part 2

The hand of Glory is finally finished, looking all pretty in its shadow box, and ready to... hang! (BWAHAHAHAHA! HANG! like, it's already been hung? y'know, hand of a hangman? no? someone?)

If you stumbled here first, I strongly recommend you to read Part 1 of this tutorial, 'cause we're jumping to the finishing touches right after the break!

The Hand of Glory - part One

In the good old days where you could be accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake for the simple act of living past 40 years old (Caveat Lector! I may or may not be making this up.), the european continent was riddled with strange and creepy beliefs.

One of those was the Hand of Glory; the mummified hand of a criminal who died at the gallows. It was believed that lighting a candle, made from the fat of the same man, or each individual finger, depending to whom you ask, would plunge a whole household in a deep sleep, which would last until the flame had been snuffed, either with blood or milk.

This made the Hand of Glory the perfect tool for burglars and other sly folks with crime on their minds.

Following the reading of this post by the good spirit behind Propnomicon (Is it a man? a woman? an unspeakable horror? who knows!), I decided to make myself a mummified hand. Not only that, I was also going to make it with some ghetto-ass materials.

Tsantsa: the finishing touches

Well, hello again to the three people who still read this blog!

Today, we will start where we left yesterday, and transform the yellowish latex skin into someting worthy of being called a shrunken head. If you just stumbled upon this one blog post, I strongly recommend reading Part One first.

If you're too artistically challenged to sculpt a head and would like to try your hand at painting & decorating one, or if you just have trouble finding the necessary materials, I may be able to sell you a blank latex copy; contact me if you're interested and I'll try to work something out.

Now, onto the "tutorial"!

Of sideshow gaffs & taxidermy

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.

The Amazing Feejee Mermaid! (From Borneo.)

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