Recycling Roadkill and Porcupine Quill Jewelry

I make jewelry with porcupine quills. I started in 20012 while house sitting for my friends in the Alaskan Interior. He is a bush pilot and she is a teacher. Since her summer was free she decided to join him on a goose banding mission. I stayed in their home on top of Becker Ridge with two hunting dogs. After a while one can run out of things to do all alone. So I acquired some quills and began making jewelry. I was inspired by the jewelry the native Athabascans make but my designs are my own.

Every once in a while I get a snarky comment or email about killing porcupines. (Insert eye roll)  I am not a hunter. The last quills I acquired I gathered myself. It is certainly not my fault Porkie did not successfully cross the road in Juneau. But since he met the Grim Reaper that sunny day last summer I made use of his quills.

Here I am trying to be nonchalant while someone else is heading ‘out the road’ in Juneau and driving by. “Don’t mind me, I’m just standing by roadkill.”   And on the right I am trying to neatly extract some quills so I can make more of the jewelry without yaking while doing so.  At the last Art Scene I was armed with these pictures. If anyone dared to inquire I showed them these. Yes i did. hmph

The only dangerous weapon I own is a bagpipe. hahaha

Porcupine quills and an Inuit pendant I got in Juneau on a hoop necklace

So there you have it, I am not a porcupine assassin.

and note I did try to blur the pics of the deceased porkie so no whining.

Scenes from Alaska

Flat Creek Slough

Off they go on their way to Cordova

My friend working at the goose banding station near Cordova

Walking the dog

I saw this on Chena Hot Springs Rd

Porcupine Quill Earrings I made

Pioneer Park in Fairbanks.  My quill jewelry is sold here at Just Originals

The Critic

This is Ilsa. Ilsa hates porcupines.  Really hates them. The last time I house sat for her owners I started making quill jewelry. She charged into the house like she was hunting for a monster back then.  Not gonna lie, had me a bit worried that since I left the door open something WAS in the house.  Nope.  She just scented the quills. And as you can see from this picture she still thinks I’m crazy for using them. Crazy or not they are sold in stores in Maryland,  DC, Illinois,  Alaska,  and even a zoo. And of course Etsy

Back in Alaska Again!

I’m house sitting for Heidi and Troy again. Here they are as they leave for Cordova.  It’s a banding year again for the geese. 

Heidi just sent this picture.  What a view from the helicopter! 
Keep your eye on my blog.  I’m sure I’ll have more to share. I return to the lower 48 August 2nd.

Gypsy on the Move

My fourth of July was spent piping at both the Kirkland Illinois parade and for Rockford Illinois.  Then it was off to O’Hare and destination Miami.
I’ll be here for a week then I’ll be returning to Alaska so you can keep your eye on my blog for Alaska pix and stories.
While here I spent an afternoon at Pompano Beach.  There were several sea turtle nests. Very cool.

Nature quite often inspires my jewelry creation. And as many of my friends know I started making porcupine quill jewelry while house sitting for a bush pilot in Alaska.  I brought a small kit here and after seeing the sea turtle nests made these.

They are listed on Etsy 🙂
Tomorrow I’ll be at Deerfield Beach and will meet up with an old client/friend. Sometimes it’s fun to see how many of the people on my facebook friends list I can see in person in a year 😀

Miami Zoo yesterday in the rain

I’ve been having many adventures with food. Lots of Columbian since my s/o is Columbian. But yesterday I tried Chupe de Camarones

In regards to Alaska – yes I’ll be house sitting again but not for the whole time. And yes I’ll be taking a boat again but instead of sleeping in my tent on the deck as before I got a bunk! Living large!!
Goodbye for now.

Gypsypipergirl.com

Sleeping in tents ~ Alaska 2012

The last time I went to Alaska I decided to be really adventurous. I traveled via The Columbia. This is where I slept for three nights. Yeah, it was chilly but what an adventure. You do not have to sleep outside. There are some cabins. I was going for the whole summer so saving money factored into my decision to travel this way.
But check out the scenery!

I spent some time on Douglas Island.

But then I headed to the Interior. I stayed in that tent for three weeks. That’s me waving from the deck. The bush pilot, whos home this is, was doing a flyover and his passenger snapped this pic.

Now it was my turn to be passeneger while he practiced touch and go water landings! Exciting!

They call Alaska The Land of the Midnight Sun. This is taken from my spot on the deck on the summer solstace at midnight. The day the sun does not set.

When the pilot and my buddy Heid, an awesome teacher, went on a trip to Bend to have helicopter repairs I watched over the homestead and the hunting dogs. This is Ilsa. She cracks me up/

I started to make porcupine quill jewelry while house sitting there. I had no idea that Ilsa hated porcupines. I left the door open during the day, as instructed. And the day I aquired quills she ran around the house frantically searching for the porcupine (minion of Satan) that was in her house!!! Of course I did not know what she was looking for and worried a bit. You know, when you grow up in the Midwest with nothing but cows things like bears are a little worriesome. :O
Bear evidence from Douglas Island.

Here is a pair of my quill earrings made with Alaskan quills. I sell at festivals, Etsy, fairs, and a few stores on the East Coast and in the Midwest carry them. Click here to visit my etsy store.

I also got to sleep in a tent in Denali! Another item I can cross off of my bucket list. Road trip to Denali- hiking, camping, awesomeness!!!


I have lots more I can, and will, write about my Alaskan adventures. And will hopefully be there again this summer!

A Word A Week Challenge : Mountain

Here’s one of my more adventurous mountain pictures. This is in the North Slope Borough above the Arctic Circle in Alaska. The mountains are the Brooks Range. The ice you see is called auffeiss.
My friend Heidi and I drove the Dalton Highway – also called the Haul Road. You may know it from Ice Road Truckers television show. We were camping, hiking, and exploring. We climbed to the top of one of those lumps. Walking on the boggy tundra was very challenging! And we got a speeding ticket in the middle of nowhere 😦

Random Alaska pictures

Mendenhall Glacier Juneau AK

11 pm in the land of the Midnight Sun. The Alaska Range is in the background.

Fireweed in the Arctic Circle

The Treadwell Pump House

Turnagain Arm July 5

Denali National Park

Clearwing moth
Ready to book your trip to Alaska?
🙂

The diversity of Gypsy Piper Girl

Gypsy Piper Girl

I just know that my middle sisters must occasionally sit at their desks at work and wonder what their eldest sister does all day.  Actually it probably sounds more like ‘ “what does that fruitcake do?” . Well let me tell you.  I am self-employed so  it varies. Currently I am house sitting. And it is very nice here. For example there is a coffee station. I tried having one of those in my tent once but it was  too crowded. (jk) I even downloaded a pdf manual so I could operate the espresso machine! HA!

Today after my coffee  I listed a Vintage Dehen Althletic Coat in Green Bay Packer Colors. And I  put a pair of skull earrings I made on e-bay. Just cuz.

Skullz & Mermaids

On Etsy I listed a vintage pair of seal skin boots made in France.  Apparently e-bay considers that ‘banned vintage’. I read so on another bloggers page and since I try to avoid having e-Bay yank my listings I tried Etsy instead.

As I was contemplating my next move  I noticed that Baconfest 2012 needed servers for the VIP event. Free t-shirt and food tickets. FREE BACON!! I’m in.  After talking with the organizer I realized I needed a white dress shirt to complete the ‘waitress’ look. Remember I am house sitting so  that means I am living out of a suitcase. No fancy white dress shirt in there.  Ironically I had two Bagpipe performances over the weekend but I wore a black dress shirt for those. Tartar sauce as my daughter used to say.  So I jumped in my ole truck and went to my office.  Office is a loose term I use for the space I rent in an old, very old,  building that once was a vacuum cleaner factory. I have space inside that I store e-Bay merchandise, flea market items, and my enormous collection of tents! I love tents. Some chicks love shoes. I love tents.  Luckily I had a spare white dress shirt there ! It’s not a band uniform shirt and I tried using it once when my white parade shirt was MIA  but the Pipe Major gave me a dirty look. In my defense  we were only playing at the local speedway for the school bus races.  Fun but not formal.  

Here I am at tonights  Baconfest with the Bacon Queen! She who is the Queen of all that is bacon!! Who also happens to be a frequent travel partner for yours truly.

Girl is covered head to toe in bacon. Bacon hat, bacon belt (hermetically sealed), bacon bracelet….  I wouldn’t put it past her to have bacon undies. snicker

I mentioned that we travel together. Her first time in a tent was with me in El Paso Texas one December long ago. But that is a story for another day.

 Yesterday I made extra cash working for an antique dealer. She had owned an antique store up in Northern Wisconsin and had odds and ends left. I helped her price them for a garage sale. It only took me three hours.  She and her husband were thrilled.   I had time to go home and make five more pairs of porcupine quill earrings> which is good because I sold four pairs at breakfast yesterday. I have a craft fair next Saturday so i better build up more inventory. I keep selling it. Good and bad at the same time.

Tuesdays I always have Bagpipe Band practice from 7pm until about 10pm. We play concerts, parades, special events, and compete. I skipped competing this past summer since I was up in Alaska. This Tuesday before band  I dashed to a friend’s house and traded a fast computer fix for dinner. That’s right. I will work for food. heehee  

Speaking of competition, did you know that pipe bands compete at Highland Games? Here is a snippet of video  of the band I am in. This dates back to 2007? As always, I am the short female piper 🙂

On Mondays I work as a colorist at a salon. But I often take the show on the road. Yes, I am a traveling hairdresser. While I was in Alaska I did the bridal parties hair for this wedding. Ten heads of hair. Then a mad dash to throw n my dress, grab a Coke from the fridge, and race down the mountain to the airplane hangar for an  Alaskan wedding. The Coke turned out to be an Indian Pale Ale. I drank it anyway.

The most interesting wedding I have attended and have done bridal hair for. The bride was flown in by her Bush Pilot father and the entire wedding party is barefoot.

I am also trained as a theater wardrobe technician both for pre-setting and quick changes., I will say that the oddest thing I had to do in that line of work was to be David Copperfield’s errand girl.  That was a while ago but it involved dashing off to get anything and everything he needed for a period of 48 hours. He was using the managers apt in the old Vaudvillian theater to edit video for a future television performance. I have no idea when the man sleeps. One errand was to go to the hotel and pick up the professional that was doing the actual editing. They told me ‘ do not take him to the airport if he asks you.’ He did ask me. I felt bad.   I have not done a show lately and will happily leave that for younger people who enjoy being stressed.

So e-Bay, etsy to sell my porcupine quill jewelry, house sitting, bagpiping, cosmetology, and odd jobs is how I support myself. Every day is different and I enjoy that.  If I make enough to travel and see something cool or do something fun then I am happy.

ow

Bacon Queen took this picture of me. I had a really good idea. There was a snow storm in the Chihuahuan desert and I thought it would be fun to sled down a sand dune on this cardboard box. I was mistaken.