Flea market extravaganza!

I can't help but feel that "flea market extravaganza" is redundant, because when is a flea market NOT an extravaganza?  Like saying PIN number or ATM machine.  The thing is the thing, y'know?  The word is part of the name, it's not like you have to say the last part of the phrase at all because

[PARAGRAPH OF PEDANTRY REDACTED]

Anyway.

We went to a giant (extravagant?) flea market a couple weekends ago, to find new things for the shop and possibly for ourselves.  We picked up a bunch of sweet vintage skeleton keys for ya'll, an old test tube rack, and another microscope.  We saw, oh, about $300 worth of antique books that we wanted, and that's probably lowballing it.  This one in particular was fetching:

WE CAN HAZ?

As a matter of fact, no, we could not haz, because we could not locate the booth person it belonged to for the life of us.  So, they lost a sale.  And frankly they were lucky we didn't just walk off with it but we have MORALS or something so we restrained ourselves.

 We also saw some skulls:

The one behind my arm is a cougar skull, the other two magnificent specimens are bear skulls.  Bear skulls, in our experience, tend to run at around $100 or so, and these were about that much.  I guess that's actually not a bad price for an f'ing bear skull, but as yet neither Rachel nor myself have been able to commit the money to getting one for ourselves.  We have discussed going dutch and sharing custody of the skull in some sort of 6 months on, 6 months thing, but I believe bear skulls for each of us is a likely eventuality, at some point in the nebulous, far off future.  Because sharing custody of a skull would be weird, obvs.


Oh, and then there was this:

I mean, what the hell.  What is the deal with freaky-ass teddy bears at antique markets?  Compare this with another teddy I saw at an antique mall in Pennsylvania last year:

Quid pro quo, Clarice

I can't even.

How about ending this with some lovely vintage tins to look at so you can scour images of disturbing children's toys from your brain!

Yeah, those are pretty.

Keep an eye out on the shop, we'll be adding some new curiosity collections in the next week or two, and if you're into vintage science-y stuff, we've got some exciting test microscope and test tube type things coming down the pipe.  So stay tuned: same bat time, same bat channel!

New collection: "The Huntsman"

So!  This is new:

Inspired by our a) excitement for the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman in general and b) our excitement about the wonderfully large Chris Hemsworth as said Huntsman in particular, we put together this woodsy, sort of masculine collection of curiosities. 

We're enjoying the look of all the sharp points in the lower level of the box; rest assured that the porcupine quills do not joke around.  Also, I'm pretty sure Rachel and I have both stabbed ourselves more than once on honey locust thorns over the past few months.  The thorns are from a grove of honey locust trees in the woods near my house, which I came across last fall while bone hunting.  Although actually, when I say I "came across" the grove, what I mean is that I "nearly impaled my entire body on a tree covered in 6 inch thorns because I was watching the ground and not what kind of tree I was about to walk into."

Also, obviously, the raccoon skull (with all its teeth!) and that incredible antler fragment are just really bringing it.

We are also especially fond of the coyote teeth and claws we picked up recently.  You can see them next to each other in the back row there.  Can you imagine that claw sinking into your flesh?  (Probably, if you have cats that are anything like Rachel's, who like to give me a friendly clawing to remind me to keep petting them when I visit.)

Go check out "The Huntsman" collection in our shop and see all of Rachel's lovely photographs, which do not have my MSPaint scribbling on them!

Inaugural post: Behind the scenes at Feather & Moss

Official shop texting discussion re: a recently acquired tarantula exoskeleton.  Concerned about Rachel's creepy-crawly phobia and the high-octane nightmare-fuel nature of the exoskeleton, I offered her some options:


Vanessa:  I'm gonna cut the exoskeleton into parts.  I think we can extend its use if we put the legs in vials, and it might be easier for you to work with... Unless you are interested in viewing it whole?

Rachel:  I'm not sure.  what do you think?

V:  I believe you would have a hard time dealing with it up close.  It's softening up enough to where I can stretch it back out, i can send you a pic and you tell me if you want it in pieces when i bring it.

R:  ok

V:  [pic]

R:  jesus!!!

R:  how can you hold that???

V:  It's like the cicada shells

R:  fuuuuuuuck no it's not!!!

V:  It's creepy but inert!

R:  *wtf wtf wtf wtf*

V:  Yeah i'ma go ahead and cut it up.

R:  yep.