fur is flying

furpieces
Originally uploaded by crunchcandy.

I've been playing around with fur and leather, and i'm not at all sure how it makes me feel. A friend of mine had a load of old off cuts of leather donated to her, and a box full of fur pieces from the 1940s. I am very anti fur, and queesy about leather, but I couldn't let this stuff slip through my hands. Some of the fur pieces are silk lined wraps which look amazing (I think i'll be returning these to my friend because I can't honestly find a use for them that i'm happy with)- they are all packaged in newspaper from 1941. Other pieces (the ones I am keeping) are tails and feet of some mystery animal- I suspect the tails belong to something like a fox, but the feet are tiny. I don't know anything about fur (other than I think it should stay on animals) so I have no idea if any of this is worth anything, or what animals it comes from. I feel very conflicted about using this to make art, but at the same time I am very anti waste, and the thought that these might just end up in the bin makes me feel like I need to do something with them. I wonder why the thought that they might end up being worn by someone feels worse to me than them being turned into art. What would it mean if I made brooches from the leather and...no idea what from the fur, and they then became objects that people wore- would I feel ok about that? I'm with Alys in that I think that any use of fur as a fashion accessory is wrong (and how sickened did I feel by the spread in September's Vogue magazine that was dedicated to promoting fur), and yet...and yet I still crave a house full of taxidermy and can't bring myself to be outraged about this haul of feet and tails that I have recieved.

edit: I've been thinking some more about this, talking it over with friends, getting opinions from people I respect and looking at websites. I think (99% sure) i'm going to donate it all to "Coats for Cubs" instead of using it to make anything new from. I feel that I can't bring myself to throw it away, I don't feel happy about using it, and this seems like a nice option. I'm also super impressed with the speed with which they answered my enquiry about accepting donations from the UK.