A Name for the Bone Collecting Community?

So, it all started because I’ve been thinking a lot about tattoos lately and with hearing my coyotes the other night, I started dreaming about my Micoa/Melahuac tattoo again.  Then I remembered that when I found Micoa, there was also a vulture that had been hit and killed by a car who was presumably trying to scavenge him.  It was sad to see, but it’s been a while and I had kinda forgotten about it.  In remembering it, I thought perhaps I could add vultures to my coyote tattoo, or at least have the vulture beside Micoa in order to honor the poor scavenger.  I was about to tell someone my idea when I accidentally hit the “c” key instead of “v” when it hit me.

Vulture Culture.

I was so excited that I immediately felt my heart race because it was so perfect, especially because it went so well with Naturepunk’s recent suggestion that a vulture should be the mascot of the taxidermy community (which, even though I’m not a taxidermist, I feel like it kinda applies to us bone collectors too).  Aside from deciding that I definitely want a vulture tattoo with the words “Vulture Culture” to honor the poor vulture and my bone collecting “hobby” (if I can even call it a mere hobby anymore), I realized its potential as a term for us as a community.  I was waiting to say anything about it until I had drawn up a design to debut it with, but after this fiasco with the “Bone Queen” issue and being encouraged by Watserbones to release it, I felt that perhaps now would be a good time.

So there you go.  Maybe it’s weird that it originated as a tattoo idea and maybe not everyone will like the term but in my opinion, it seems too awesome not to share with everyone.  So from now on it’ll probably be a habitual tag of mine and hopefully I’ll find myself with enough spending cash in the next year or so to actually get this tattoo.

My raven skull and spider web.

Eeee my first merch design! Available on Redbubble and Society6.

Tumblr is the first place my art started gaining followers so I feel like you guys deserve a special thank you for your support. I’m honestly grateful. And thank you to everyone who has ever asked me about prints, commissions or shown any interest in buying my art in one form or another. It took me way too long to get around to setting my stores up but now they’re finally here. <3

Vulture culture aesthetic

A pile of skulls ~

White backed vulture skull (top) and Himalayan griffin vulture skull (bottom).

My piece for the @monoceroszine project! Was a pleasure to work along side some amazing artists and writers!