On a Dare...

I've never kept a blog before. 

I'm doing so on a dare, under the condition that I keep at it for at least 6 months and see where it takes me. I don't know if I'll be able to stay persistent enough to maintain much of a following, but I do know that my life is far from 'normal', and should therefore prove to be somewhat entertaining. 

For starters, there's my job. I'm a freelance artist with a focus in taxidermy. I use recycled animal parts to create all manner of unusual and unique items, and I find my job very rewarding. 

It's an opportunity to give "new life" to an animal which has passed on, though I refuse to support trophy hunters or fur farms. It's hard for some people to accept, I know, but the way I see it, letting any part of any animal go to waste is disrespectful to that animal.

I guess it started as a personal interest in claws, teeth, and bones. They tell stories if you know how to read them. When I began making jewelry out of them, I would often make more items than I could wear, which is why I turned to eBay in an effort to sell my wares. But eBay was expensive and complicated and there was no sense of community there, which is why I eventually opened a shop with Etsy instead. 

From Etsy, my business began to expand, allowing me to delve into new projects using various different materials. Today, I specialize in making animal skin headdresses and fur tail keychains, though I often have a few claws, teeth, and photography prints in stock, as well. 

Full black wolf skin headdress commissioned by a friend. 

Working with wildlife parts is not only rewarding in that it's fun business. You can also gain an intimate understanding of the animals whose bones or skin you're working with. I can tell what species a fur coat was made from just by the texture of the hairs, even if it's been dyed or sheared, and can identify the difference between a fake tiger tooth and a real one just by looking at a picture of it. I've actually considered a career in wildlife forensics as a result, which is one of the main reasons I chose to attend Southern Oregon University in Ashland. 

As a result of my job, my life is very closely-intertwined with nature, wildlife, and death. I spend much of my free time running around in the Siskiyou Wilderness, photographing wildlife, and meditating on life in general. But I also allow myself to have a bit of fun with my job, which is why I sometimes show up at the 7/11 across the street at odd hours of the night with a coyote pelt on my head to buy all their beef jerky. I've even snowboarded with a wolf on, and was once questioned by police while sporting a mountain lion headdress.

Aside from my strange job, there's also the fact that I have a neurological condition called Synesthesia. To put it simply, I see colors in my head for various triggers such as numbers, letters, days of the week, and months of the year. I also see colors for personalities, music, and even orgasms. It's apparently rather rare, though I tend to think more people have it than are aware of it. After all, I thought it was perfectly normal to see these color until I was 17, when my physics teacher briefly mentioned it during a lecture on optics. After that, I began to focus more intimately on the colors in my head, and have now identified that I've got at least thirteen different forms of the condition. 

What I see while listening to the song "Goodbye Blue Sky" by Pink Floyd. 

Commissioned by David Coalburn

Then, there's the travel. I've done a lot of it, visiting and living in such places as Jakarta, Malaysia, Lombok, Singapore, England, Wales, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands. Along the way, I've met many fantastic people and animals, and it has certainly changed who I am as a person. I don't think I could ever stop travelling now that I've got a thirst for it, which worries me in some ways and keeps me excited in others. Being in college now, travel is not something I have either time or money for, yet I somehow manage to seek out adventure nonetheless, often in the form of camping excursions and road trips with friends. 

In short, my life is rather quirky and unique - often playing out like some kind of adventure novel. I have no idea how I've been so lucky to experience all the things I have, but I do know that I never want it to stop. I'm having too much fun already, and I'm nowhere close to running out of steam!