Friday, February 06, 2009

New claws

I recently mentioned refreshing my claw collection. Well, here are the new additions, which include an entire eagle's foot -- replica, of course. No eagles dismembered in the making of this foot.
Why a claw collection? It's [ostensibly] for my school visit for elementary grades; part of the presentation is on the character names in Dreamdark, and why I chose them, what they mean, and what they say about the character they represent. Well, my warrior prince is named Talon, so there's a portion on claws, and while I can't really bring a whole magpie to school with me to display the main character's name, I can bring talons. And besides, claws are cool.

I think having a whole raptor foot, especially one of this size, conveys far better than just a single talon the damage these could do. If I hold it up to the side of my face it goes from my chin to my forehead -- an eagle this size could flay a face open. Eek! And not only are they sharp -- they're strong. The larger eagles can crush the skulls of large mammals like humans, wolves, sheep, sloths.

Speaking of sloths:
That looong top claw is a three-toed sloth claw. Wow, no? Here's a hand skeleton:
I guess they need some crazy claws to haul themselves around the way they do:


The claw beneath the sloth claw comes from (well, you know, not really, being replica) a giant anteater. Want to see something really extraterrestrial-looking? A giant anteater skull:
Not part of my collection. My only skull (so far) is a beaver skull that Jim gave me for Christmas, and it is way cool. I imagine that there will come a time, when we live in a bigger house, that we will possess more skulls. I'd like to have some cool museum display cases, like this one from Anthropologie:
Isn't that beautiful? It would go so well with our Ikea glass-fronted red bookcase.
(It's the "Linnarp," by the way; we have one but want more.) I would love to have a big library-ish space some day with high ceilings and room not only for books but strange collections. Skulls, feathers, claws, birds' nests, shells. Little bits of the faerie kingdom.

I also think it would be insanely cool to make marionettes with skulls for heads. Weird skulls, like owl monkeys and anteaters. And dress them fabulously? Can you imagine?

Have a fabulous weekend!

13 comments:

Amber Lough said...

I've always sorta wanted a museum display case in my foyer (whenever I have a foyer) with a dinosaur egg and other archaeological dig findings.

Glass-fronted bookcases are a good idea. I wish I had some...it'd keep the occupants intact and unbroken when smallish humans are nearby.

S R Wood said...

Glass-fronted cases filled with unexpected things -- you have just described the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford!

http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/

It is an amazing place, claustrophobic and dark, and crammed with treasures from all over the world. Bone jewelry, feather-capes, Clovis points and ancient rope baskets, on and on and on....

Anonymous said...

I felt yesterday like you were looking at me in an errie, extra penetrating way and now I know why-you want my skull as the central masterpiece for your collection. I want you to know that along with my magic leather chair I bequeath to you my skull. But not right now... Later!

Anonymous said...

"Why a claw collection? It's [ostensibly] for my school visit for elementary grades"

Why does the "[ostensibly]" part make me a bit nervous? :)

But you're right, they are pretty badass.

Jon

Laini Taylor said...

Amber: good point! Also good for dust deterrence. Plus, they just look classy!

Seth: I love weird museums, and natural history museums, so some day I must go there.

Alexandra: thank you for your generosity. Your skull will be a good addition to the "Abi Normal" selection :-)

Jon: ha ha. Yes, "ostensibly." Maybe I'm making claw-gloves out of them, with which to fight crime? Really, the kids are just a good excuse to have a nerdy collection!

Stephanie Perkins said...

Eek! I was just oogling that red museum display case five minutes ago on someone else's blog! And I've been wanting those red IKEA bookcases foreeever. You are so lucky to have one.

Sigh! Pretty red furniture!

I think I might paint my dining room chairs red soon. I'd planned on painting them black, but . . . BUT . . .

Ooo, and I have the library fantasy too. Jarrod and I are going to turn our upstairs hallway into one (that's the best we can do). Did you see Chuck's apartment on Pushing Daisies this year? She had lots and lots and lots of pretty, crowded bookshelves. Man, I want to crawl into those sets so badly!

Love the sloth claw.

Elise Murphy said...

Love the claws! Hmmmm . . . I have a glass fronted case where I keep treasures. Twin One keeps the clippings from the goat's hooves,and their broken horns, but that's not quite as exciting as claws! (Although they do make *very* original show and tell items for school!)

Lexi said...

Pretty, pretty claws and skulls!

I think for next year your Christmas craft should be the mini marionettes with skull-heads. Those would be super classy and go down well with everyone.

tone almhjell said...

Yes, yes, my dear, keep it up and you'll be the scary old lady with the freak show house and I'll be the sad old lady with the gazillion cats. And we'll live on the same street and convince the neighbourhood kids that we are mortal enemies and frequently use black witchcraft on each other, but then we'll meet for four am coffee on your porch (mine is the territory of feral cats that I feed very expensive liver paté), because we're too old to sleep anyway. I'll bring biscuits that smell just a tad too strongly of butter and you can show me your latest claws.

Anonymous said...

I love your growing collection of claws and your book cases. I want to redo my writing room this summer. Looks like a trip to IKEA for me.

Amy said...

Those claws are completely awesome. I can't think of anything more fun for kids than taking a break to see those claws and talk about the damage they could do to someone's face! So cool.

Christine Fletcher said...

I have drooled over that exact same display case in Anthropologie! Ooh, it's nice. But then I'd need a new house to go with it. :)

The repro eagle's foot is too cool! Wow.

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