Monday, July 28, 2014

Jangles The Raccoon...

   I'm having a hard time justifying a blog post about this...as I wouldn't classify this as fine art. However, this was a fun project...and part of my 10 Awesome Things that I'm doing this summer. If you want to know more about that, just ask me...I love talking about it.
   Adam and I have been spending a lot of time at estate sales here in north Jersey. Every Saturday we spend our day digging through peoples junk, often times finding amazing a bizarre treasures mixed in as well.  About three weeks ago I found a box of animal bones in the basement of an old home in Clifton...


   I assumed there was a mixture of different animals in this box...considering the random large jaw bone.  But after sifting through them for a bit I realized it may be a complete skeleton.  Probably a raccoon or fox.  The only thing missing was a skull.  But then something serendipitous happened...


   The following weekend while visiting an estate sale at a 200 year old barn, right on the front table, was a raccoon skull.  Are you kidding me?!?! This was perfect.  I went home and starting figuring out whats what. 


   After spending a few days studying skeleton articulation I got started asap.  I knew that if I didn't start on this project right away it would sit in my closet for years.


   Learning about the spine was so much fun...but putting this thing together was huge challenge. I arranged the bones on a wire, connecting them with epoxy that sets in about eight minutes.  AKA...the spine took an entire day basically.


   Then came the scapulas and legs, which required drilling small holes and attaching wires through them, to reinforce the epoxy.  I was basically terrified that once the skeleton had to stand up that it would fall apart.

Me and Jangles. 


   At this point I started thinking about how I was going to display my new treasure.  While walking around Manhattan on Saturday I found a gorgeous piece of discarded wood on the street.  There you have it...my base.  I didn't want it to look polished, and basically left it as is...even the nails.


   A week after starting my project I attached the skull and mounted my raccoon.  There were no tail bones or phalanges in the box of bones, but I'll keep my eyes open for them in the future.



   Pretty cool right?  This was the second of my TEN AWESOME THINGS that I'm doing this summer, and I can't wait to share the rest of them!!!