I have long been a huge fan of the work of Rachel Denny. This taxidermist-of-sorts creates magnificent works of art called Domestic Trophies that remove the macabre from your traditional wall-mounted hunting-lodge finds.

Working with forms wrapped in knits, she makes me wish the creatures she creates were from beautiful woolen beasts that were still alive in their cabled or crocheted forms, roaming through some forest of pure magic. Alas, it’s all a bit out of my price range, but I have longed to get the look somehow.

I came across this papier-mâché deer head, I knew I had to give it a cosy knit covering of my own. But I wanted this to be a permanent fixture and not a Christmas decoration that would sit in a box for 11 months.

Knowing the limits to my skills, I grabbed a gorgeous ball of yarn, some glue, and prayed for the best as I wrapped (and wrapped and wrapped) the yarn around the form…

This was super messy and my fingers looked a bit like they belonged to a hobbit by the end of it, but the result actually turned out so much better than I hoped. The perfect trophy for a bit of messy work.

Tags: Rachel Denny, wool taxidermy

This entry was posted on Monday, December 12th, 2011 at 6:44 am and is filed under needle&thread, scissors&glue, update&decorate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.