I went to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum in midtown Manhattan yesterday. You got in free if you brought your dog. So Pony (my dog), Lulu (my kid) and I went primarily to see a skateboarding bulldog perform live.  The museum was a little cheesy but there were a few awesome moments.  I love all taxidermy. I love taxidermy even more when the dead animals are dressed up. I was very happy to find this fancy squirrel upon first entering the space.  The other piece of taxidermy that was fabulous was this albino giraffe.  I love all albino creatures and it was awesome to see such a huge one.

Lastly, I have always been a fan of shrunken heads but strangely never seen one.  My dream became a reality in the room that held about 20 of them at Ripley's. My favorite was the one below that was a child's shrunken head. They had it mounted so you could press a button to spin the head around and see it from all angles. 

   

    I have bats on my mind. Mostly because I found these abalone bat charms when I was out buying my findings this week that I am in love with. Really they are nothing special but they just really stole my heart. Maybe it is because the bat is giving a perfect half smile. Or, because it is primitively carved. Maybe I don't care why I just love my new little bat. I think I am going to rig him up to a 14K yellow chain with some stars. I'll post the necklace when I am finished.

Inside My Studio

Here's another wall of my studio.  In the close up picture you can see my heart shaped, chalk board, memo area.  You can also see more of my doll collection scattered about.  The large altered doll above the shelves was made by the amazing illustrator, Katherine Streeter. She is also a friend of mine, and we traded this doll of hers for some jewelry of mine several years ago.

There's a new Anomaly Jewelry interview online. You can find it here in the "Buy Handmade" series (volume 16)  on the blog Veranellies. Thanks so much for asking the questions, Trisha.  Trisha also has a cute midcentury modern vintage shop on Etsy called veranellies. My pick for favorite items in her shop are these vintage mugs:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/97108663/set-of-three-vintage-stacking-mugs

Anomaly Loves

Elizabeth Knight Jewelry.  In particular, her dark horse collection.

Elizabeth Knight Euros and Zephros baracelets
images courtesy of Elizabethknightjewelry.com

I love it when hair of any species is incorporated in jewelry.  Using hair in jewelry has been a longstanding tradition and was very popular during Victorian times to memorialize the dead.

Victorian memorial jewelry

I stole a lock of my daughter's and husband's hair last year and made my own living memorial of them to wear myself.

Private Collection: Anomaly Jewelry's double sided locket
Left Lulu Yost's hair         Right  JT Yost's hair

It's hard to see from the photo, but the hair is set under glass on both sides. Creepy or cool?