Real Road Kill Bracelets by Metalsmith, Jeweler and Taxidermist Lucy Jenkins.

One of the best uses of Road Kill I've ever seen. These unusual and surprisingly attractive bracelets were made by award-winning metalsmith/jeweler/taxidermist Lucy Jenkins.

The gold-plated and sterling silver Road Kill Fur bangles are lined with fur sourced from actual Road kill and engraved with the Latin name of the animal and the road from which it was sourced. The Road Kill Range attempts to create a new way of wearing ethical fur for aesthetic purposes.

Oryctolagus Cuniculus (rabbit), found on the A3052 - Gold Plate, Road Kill Rabbit Fur:




"NO ANIMALS WERE KILLED FOR THE PURPOSE OF THESE PIECES" is actually printed on the lid of the presentation box for the bracelets.


Lupus Americanus (hare), found on the B3212 - Gold Plate, Road Kill Hare Fur:



The above two bracelets were available for purchase at Luna and Curious but have been sold out.

Other bracelets from the range (not for sale):
Oryctolagus Cuniculus B3180 - Solid Silver, Road Kill Rabbit Fur:



images courtesy of the artist and Luna and Curious

Lucy Jenkins

Colorful Hand-Painted Telecaster Guitars & Effects Pedals By MWM X Chiarelli (+ 5 Other Guitar Posts)

This recent collaboration between graphics artist Matt W. Moore of MWM Graphics and his friend James Chiarelli of the Aux band has yielded 3 hand-painted Telecasters and 9 effects pedals.



The Rock n' Roll Series is not only music to your ears, but your eyes as well. With bold graphic colors in modern vector-like bursts, the guitars are available completed with Fender standard series necks, Jason Lollar pickups, and vintage style Fender hardware - each hand-painted by Matt.

"The Tele is a design that in many ways hasn’t changed since the 50’s. It is the “work truck” of guitars. Not as seductive as the Les Paul or the Stratocaster, but it is second to none when it comes to function. Joe Strummer, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Merle Haggard are all associated with the utilitarian Telecaster." -Chiarelli

"Painting the set of 9 pedals as puzzle pieces was fun" according to Matt. Each is available on it's own. But why not grab 3 in a row of different effects? Available Effects : Fuzzface, Jordan Bosston fuzz pedals, and DOD Overdrive 250.

"The pedals are hand built using true-bypass switches, high quality jacks, and NOS transistors. All of the parts were chosen for sound rather than economics. The transistors in each pedal are to the circuit board so the user can try different transistors for varying tonalities. I chose circuits that are pretty explosive sounding. For example, the Fuzzface is most closely associated with Jimi Hendrix." -Chiarelli

The Process
Pics of the process from Matt's painting studio and James' workshop:






all images courtesy of MWM Graphics

Contact for pricing and availability. *Worldwide shipping is available.

I've written other posts on some very cool guitars, you may want to check these out:

• Amanda Dunbar's Precious Rebels™ Art Guitars

• Eero Aarnio's Copacabana Guitar for Lottonen

• Wild West : Gretsch Guitars Go Americana

• Guitars That Will Stir Your Soul, Prior To Being Played: Moollon

• Gibson Guitars & Julien's Announce The Miami GuitarTown Auction

30 New York Statues Sport Cloaks To Promote NBC's The Cape (GALLERY)

above: The James Stranahan statue donning NBC's promotional "cape"


As part of a marketing push for the new NBC series "The Cape" (two-hour premiere tonight, Sunday, January 9, 9-11p.m. ET), 30 New York public statues and monuments have been cloaked in black fabric capes accompanied by a temporary kiosk or plaque that gives a brief mention of the figure's history along with the story of The Cape (Vince Faraday, a valiant cop framed for murder played by David Lyons) - linking the two "heroes".



The blue-black capes began appearing on statues all over the city on Januaray 5th. City Parks Department officials allowed NBC executives to create hype for "The Cape" by draping the frocks on sculptures of historic figures until Sunday in exchange for a $120,000 donation to maintain public art.

The locations:

NBC's interactive map tells you which statues have been cloaked.

Vickie Karp, Director of Public Information for New York City Parks & Recreation, says "The new NBC series is a novel way to remind even the most jaded New Yorker that heroes are all around us."

For those of you who don't live in New York, here's a look at some of the various "caped" statues:

President Lincoln:


Admiral David Farragut:

Frederick Douglass:

Christopher Colombus:


Harriet Tubman:

Jose Bonifacio de Andrada e Silva:

Eleanor Roosevelt:

George M Cohan:

Horace Greeley:

General Fowler:

Fiorello LaGuardia:

James Stranahan:


William Henry Seward:


Statue visitors will also be able to enter the “Hero Behind the Cape” giveaway contest using FourSquare and Twitter. Participants can enter the sweepstakes by visiting any one of the 30 caped statues all over New York City and checking in via their FourSquare account. Also, visitors can enter by taking a photo of themselves at any of the statue locations and posting their photo to Twitter. Users will simply need to direct message the official Twitter handle (www.twitter.com/NBCTheCape) or use the hashtag #herobehindthecape when they post their picture. You'll have a tough time beating Pete Labrozzi, though.


above: Pete Labrozzi has been diligently posting images of himself in front of the statues for the past few days.

You can get directions to all the cloaked statue locations here

Of course, had they cloaked Lady Liberty, I'd reeeeally be impressed.

above: digital art by laura sweet

Special thanks to the following sites and blogs for the images:
http://www.dnainfo.com/
http://online.wsj.com
http://www.nydailynews.com
http://www.brooklynpaper.com
http://www.wnyc.org
http://gothamist.com/2011/01/05/citys_statues_get_caped.php
http://emanatepr.com
http://prospectheights.patch.com/