specimens ~ a work in progress @ the taxidermy motel

My friends are always sending me surprises in the mail- tiny boxes fulled with delicate dried critters they have come across. Sometimes creepy, sometimes pretty & sometimes just crazy! This in addition to all the dried bugs I find on my adventures through life, makes for quite the collection. I used to keep them all in a jar praying they wouldn't lose a wing or a leg or two as I pulled them them out to embed in resin jewelry.

Then one day a few months back I got this huge shadow box at an estate sale for 75 cents. It was huge and gorgeous, but I had no clue what I was going to do with it. It sat here for a long time taunting me with ideas that never felt quite right. Then this Sunday- that' when the shadow box finally let me in on it's true calling! It demanded I get some pins out right then and there and fill it with my dried specimens in the jar. Now I can pin them in and pluck them out as needed for my artwork. The real plus is I now get to enjoy their beauty as inspiration during their brief stay with me.