Black skull

This skull and crossbones atop a handmade glass marble was commissioned by the missus for me as a holiday gift. It was made by our friend Jeremy at Holder of the Stone, who has made several nice commissioned pieces for us over the years, including a one-of-kind (decorative) glass fishing lure for my father-in-law. This guy here is about 1.5" across (the marble) and has a cool swirling vortex effect inside.

If you like glass jewelry and sculptures, just check out Jeremy's work. I've watched it increase in complexity and quality over the years. Photos fail to bring out the depth of the glass.

An odd duck...

No really. It is.

This is a hand carved wooden duck, in flight, and is reportedly from the Philippines. He's well over a foot long from bill to tail, and is about the same width from wing tip to wing tip. He was called a "mold" at the weird old store where I found him, but I'm not sure what one would "mold" with this. As I understand it, a mold is a cavity into which something is pressed/cast, and this guy has no cavities that I can see. Anyway, the little fishing line visible in the image is so I can hang him up from the ceiling - he balances quite nicely and looks alive.

Happy tiki

I made this guy many years ago as a sort of totem. At the time, I had taken a keen (if misplaced) interest in shamanism. He is made from a hunk of bald cypress wood that I found washed up on a beach. The feather is probably that of a hawk or an owl - also found on a beach but illegal to possess. Technically, any non-game bird feather is illegal to possess in the U.S. is illegal to possess without a permit, including blue jay, flicker, and seagull feathers, among others.

This law makes every kid who sticks a gull feather into his or her sand castle at the beach a federal criminal. Thus, I call for the immediate trial and incarceration of these delinquent miscreants post haste. Let us fill Fort Leavenworth, Kansas with their evil, plotting criminal minds and rid the world of this ongoing threat to our security and well-being.

Hello Kitty...

This little bronze tiger is pretty cool. He's only about 6" long, and appears to have been part of a larger assemblage, or at least attached to a base since the bottoms of two of his feet have little holes in them. This guy reminds me very much of Oasis (or "Sis"), the resident Siberian tiger at the Plumpton Park Zoo. When you stand near her cage and she's purring, you can almost feel the low frequency vibrations in your chest. This is not a creature I'd want to run across in the wilds.

On the other hand, I woke up to my regular house cat's ass in my face this morning - he put his bung hole on my nose like someone chalking a pool cue. Maybe a tiger would be better.

This guy...

..sure has bad ass taste in head gear. He's bronze, and appears to be holding a drum of some sort. His costume looks decidedly non-American and his expression implies considerable - er - medicinal - influences. I don't know whether this 6" piece is 300 years old or made as some junior college art project 10 years ago.

Somehow, it seems like I should be swapping him for a bag of sand in a booby trapped temple somewhere in a South American jungle.