Roll out the red carpet!

It has been a whirl of activity this week..... work has been crazy busy as we got ready to host the very first Ffennell Festival. Ffennell is the name of the chap who owed the Hill End site - leaving it for the further enjoyment of young people. It is nothing to do with the vegetable! Though Ffennell soup could have been on offer maybe?

The Friday was a chance for Primary schools from Oxfordshire to come along and join in with loads of activities on offer. I was on the World War 2 experience 'bit'... meaning I got to dress up as Peggy the Landgirl once more.
Saturday we were open to Joe Public. I got to pose about by our 1928 Austin 12/4 and frighten people off trying on the gas masks! The magnetic mine proved a draw (see what I did there?) and I had an interesting conversation with a military archaeologist who promised to send us some more military goodies (most of which I had no idea what he was talking about but it all sounded most exciting!)




If it wasn't for the mini's in the background we could almost be in the 1940's!






 The other highlight of the week was...tadaa.... the premiere of Sherlock Holmes and the Stolen Emerald. This was the short film that DD and I were extras in earlier this year.
We travelled to the Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel dressed in our finest premiere going outfits. (we seemed a tad overdressed for Whitechapel Nando's but hey!) The cinema is beautiful - the site goes back to the 1870's as the Paragon Theatre - seeing such stars as Charlie Chaplin appearing there.

My iPhone couldn't really capture the grandeur of the place :-(

One of the amazing costumes from the film.

 

 

The evening was brilliant. Apart from the all important viewing of the finished film (which was fabulous) there was question and answer sessions from the lovely Celine Terranova the director and other cast and crew plus assorted Sherlock aficionados. We also heard from Carla who curates at St Barts Pathology Museum, a  really funny talk.

DD and I left before the shmoozing got underway as it was a LONG journey home and I had to be back at work for 7am... oh the life of a lovey! Should you want us, please contact us through our agent :-D

 



Get Stuffed (a tail of our visit to London)

Well, the day finally arrived. Kathy and I were off to London for our taxidermy class. Nerves were definately showing, luckily we had each other to cling to!

The 'famous' Sherlock Holmes phonebox.

 

The class took place at St Barts pathology museum, where I had recently spent the day twirling in front of film cameras. We had some time to kill and so checked out the local scenery. There's a monument to William 'Braveheart' Wallace, complete with Sainsburys flowers (nothing says hero worship like a £5 reduced bouquet) and also a decorated phonebox. At first glance Kathy and I thought it was resplendant with assorted cards from ladies of the night which, clearly, warranted a closer look. Instead it was an array of 'I believe in Sherlock' cards and pictures (also one which asked John to buy some milk, a code for something?) One Google later and we discovered this phonebox is on the actual site where TV Sherlock jumped to his possible death. One YouTube later and we could watch the actual action in front of the actual building. Actually quite surreal!

But the day was to get weirder!

Now, this might be the moment to discuss morals. I fully understand that taxidermy is not for everyone and people do have issues with stuffing dead animals. Amanda only uses roadkill/natural death/reptile food animals. As I own a snake and so have a freezer of dead mice I am in no position to argue the morality of using such animals. But I do see both sides of the argument.

The class was led by Amanda of Amanda's Autopsies and her fab assistant, they demonstrated each stage in the procedure and then gave help as needed. I have to say that Kathy and I were quite nervous, several of the other students (trainee stuffers?) seemed very confident. Still, we managed to get through the skinning with no problems, it was strangely therapeutic in fact.I did have a slight intestine mishap but nothing that a paper towel couldn't cover! Music was provided throughout the day, a heart inspired playlist meant we rocked out to Feargal Sharkey and Billy Ray Cyrus (shudder).

One rat, sticky side down!

 

Stuffing was done with cotton wool and wire for articulation. Getting cotton wool and wire into the skin and sewing it up to look vaguely rat shaped was an art in itself, adding the bead eyes and shaping the face was even more tricky! Once finished, however, we got to add our Valentine props. My rat, christened Mervyn, was to be a steampunk Cupid. I had spent all week making metal wings from tomato puree tubes. DH kindly made a steampunk shooter which sadly would not stay in his little paws :-(

Mervyn...wistful look and crossed paws clearly deliberate!

 

There were some fantastic end results, Kathy's Percy was lush with his felted balloons and our taxidermy neighbour, Mr Whiskers (a lovely chap who had been bought the class as a birthday present by his equally lovely fiancee) presented his rat in a fab tux!

 



St Pauls...

 

A pleasant walk back through London allowed us to clear our heads and ratty whiff before our journey home. We resisted the urge to get the rats out on the coach, but did talk about them a lot!

Pictures of the whole experience are available on Amanda's website http://www.amandasautopsies.com/?page_id=2379 Huge thanks to her for a great day!

I have to say I look petrified in all my pictures, but Mervyn looks awesome!



Pride of place on my dressing table!