Feejee Mermaid and Stuff

One of the few problems with how much time my jewelry business takes up out of my day is that I don't have as much time to create full sculptures as I would like. So when someone commissions me to make a sculpture for them it's great, an excuse to spend time on a big project instead of the usual hour or so a day I spend on personal projects (which is why those always take months to finish).

My latest commission was a Feejee Mermaid. The original feejee mermaids were taxidermy fakes in sideshow carnivals (P.T. Barnum supposedly had the original but it was lost when his museum burned down), they were made with paper mache, the upper body of a jevenile monkey, and the body of a fish. I based mine on a dogfish and (loosely) a juvenile rhesus monkey. I sculpted the mermaid from polymer clay. To make it a bit more fun and interesting I added spines and rabbit fur to the head and back. After painting the whole thing was put in a large glass jar and submerged in the same resin I use for my Perma-Pets.

Her happy owner has named her Salma. If you're interested in requesting a custom sculpture or any other custom work drop me an email or contact me through my Etsy shop.

I've also been working for the past 6 months or so on a piece I'm tentatively calling the Coral Siren. If you want to see more of my works in progress follow my WIP blog on Tumblr it's where I post quick snapshots of what I'm working on when I don't want to write a full blog post.

In somewhat unrelated news I'm trying to pick up extra cash since I need to move when my lease is up in May. I like the place I'm living but I can't afford it on my own and while my ex-boyfriend and I are still good friends it's a little awkward living together. So to that end I've joined Fiverr which is a site that lets you set up little mini jobs that you can do. So if you are looking for someone to make an Etsy banner, proofread your listings, design a business card, or edit your product photos for you you can hire me to do it.