Recently in Rat Mummification Project Category

Just ask him! He'll tell you so!

Although I have to admit, knowing how to cook an elephant calf is probably pretty cool by most people's standards.

Yet another name you guys will have to remember and wonder about; Astrid Spencer, mother of Scipio. Feel free to hypothesize what kinda woman she is.

ANYWAY.

I doubt many of you are anywhere near Champaign, Illinois, but if you are, why not head on down to the Krannert Art Museum and check out some of my work in the show currently running there? The show's called "Out of Sequence," and I'm in damn good company, if I do say so myself. So even if you think my stuff is ass warmed over, there's still plenty to look at.

Also, I pretty much got the best email in the world, yesterday. I hope the sender doesn't mind me posting about it; I won't even mention names until I have permission. But... some of you guys who have been following me long enough might remember that I mummified my pet rat Beavis a few years ago, and posted a step-by-step. (Warning: Blood, guts, etc.) Well, someone found my instructions! Look at the picture they sent me!

Beavis has a playmate in the afterlife! How fucking rad is that?

maybe I oughta spend the weekend migrating my rat mummification project over to Instructables. Would they allow rat guts, y'think?

In case some of you didn't already know, I mummified my pet rat, Beavis, in a modified, ancient Egyptian, New Kingdom style a while back, and posted a walkthrough with very, very NWS photos here. Well, poor ol' Beav recently received a brief mention on the August 10th episode of thisisaknife, a BBC 4 video podcast. You can watch for him here.

I finished mummifying Beavis. Or rather, I finished the entry about him.

For those of you a little late to the game, my pet rat Beavis died in May of 2004. And then I embalmed him. Because I wanted to.

He's been a mummy for quite some time now, about a year. But I've only just now finished up uploading and providing commentary for all the photographs of the process. You can see all ten pages of my adventures in embalming, from intial evisceration to the final wrappings, here.

It's full of rat guts, so if you're sensitive, it's probably not a good idea to look. Consider yourself warned.

Done:

-- The preservation and preparation of the divine immortal body of Beavis I.
-- The wrapping and adornment of the divine immortal body of Beavis I.

Left to do:

-- The Opening of the Mouth ceremony.
-- The filling of the canopic jars.
-- The making of the sarcophagus.
-- The finding of a way to de-stenchify the hippie-stink of frankincense, myrrh, sandalwood, and cassia oil from the very goddamn soul of my apartment. Eau de Rainbow Gathering is not my favorite scent.

More pictures and details later on this weekend.

The rat mummification pictures are back up. EW!

Hey, you know who you have to thank for that? Joey. And Webcomics Nation. Yup.

I'll have a comic on WCN when it launches, in addition to my two comics on Girlamatic. If you're grateful for being exposed to filthy little rat organs, you really should show it.

How?

Well, you could always read/subscribe to Girlamatic. That would be cool, since I get a cut. Or you could wait until my WCN site launches, and subscribe to that. Or you could read/subscribe to Serializer, Modern Tales, Graphic Smash, or MT's independent creator sites, like Rumble Girls or Whimville or Jazz Age Comics or American Elf.

None of these comics suck, and you get loads on each site for less than the price of a Happy Meal. That is so awesome. And you shouldn't be eating that crap anyway.

(Er, if you do subscribe to GAM, make sure to put either me or one of my comics down as a referrer, 'kay? I HAVE TO EAT, DAMMIT.)

Anyways, enjoy. More harmful imagery later.

That's right. Mark it on your calendars, I've found some hosting and bandwidth, hopefully of the permanent variety. So the mummficiation pictures will be back up soon.

Vultures.

In other news, Beavis smells very much like iodine. He's no longer stinky and wet, but stinky and dry. That's a good thing. If everything checks out, I'll do the final mummification steps in the middle of next week. Cross yer fingers.

While we're waiting for Beavis to be well and truly mummified, we're making these.

Ushabtis were tiny figurines tucked into the bandages of Egyptian mummies. They were meant to be sculptures of servants that would magically come alive in the afterlife, and labor for whoever they'd been assigned to.

Matt and I were enough for Beavis in life, and to avoid being ritually murdered by any cabals of priests Old Kingdom style in order to accompany him to the fields of Osiris, we've made little clay dopplegangers of ourselves to ease the passage.

You have no idea how much it sucks trying to sculpt a rat's ushabti. "Tiny" doesn't even begin to cover it. I think my prescription just jumped to 20/80.

Yeah, so... about Beavis... I'm going to need another few days, folks.

I know, I know. I'm disappointed, too. But on the bright side, I took some more pictures. They're here. You'll understand the delay after a quick look.

Sorry again. Don't wander off, I'll have him ready for the final steps in ten or so days.

Glad everyone's getting their seats reserved early. Only twelve or so hours until Beavis comes out of the natron, and I know you're all dying to see what a rat that's spent forty days packed in salt and baking soda looks like. I know I am.

For everyone not in the know, the mummfication of Beavis, aside from being linked on a few other blogs, was recently showcased on The Asylum Eclectica, and it's pretty good timing, too. The most boring part of the mummfication's already over; from here on out, it's unguents, ointments, and incantations. And more pictures. You guys are lucky. I can't promise everything will go perfectly, but whatever happens, you'll all get to see it.

In any case, thanks for doubling my hits. And I'll get to all your emails ASAP, given that I probably won't have the time for 'em later today.

FYI, kids: Beavis comes out of the natron this very Saturday evening. Mark it on your calendars.

You remember Beavis, right?

In other news, things are sort of busy around these parts. But look for a better update tomorrow. It'll be here. Promise.