Wonderments and Atrocities: The Finger of Paul Daniels

The latest addition to my collection of wonderments and atrocities is The Finger of Paul Daniels.
This idea was the result of reading a shocking news report back in January that claimed “Magician Paul Daniels cuts off finger with circular saw”. Like many reading this heading I was very concerned but thankfully it wasn’t quite as bad as they had made out! Much like the time he had supposedly been blinded by Sooty it was just another example of the press exaggerating the facts…Thankfully the man himself was able to give an accurate account of what happened on his blog… “True, the saw did rip through the top knuckle area of my left forefinger but it never came right off and it is already healing up. The little finger of the left hand has a tiny bit missing from the tip but it never touched the nail. The middle finger is untouched. The worst bit is that I have lost the top section, the part that had the nail on it, of my ring finger.” Relieved and reassured my mind started racing! what magical powers would the forefinger of the great Paul Daniels weald?! I was reminded of Galileo's finger displayed in Florence and started to put some ideas to paper, playing on the notion of what if the finger had been cut, retrieved and put on display? So here it is the Finger of Paul Daniels for all to marvel at!

 ©Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

Wonderments and Atrocities: Mus Digitatus

Getting to grips with this new look Blogger has caused a slight Blogger Blockage! I’m getting the hang of it now so hold on to your hats you are about to witness a deluge of threads!
Right, You will recall that last year I had a Womble (Womblus Wimbledon Vulgaris) stuffed, mounted and displayed. Not long after, I added another creature to my collection of wonderments and atrocities Mus Digitatus more commonly known as the FingerMouse.  Another creature I remember fondly from my childhood that I simply had to have in my possession!  Still trying to retain that Victorian taxidermy look he stands in a glass case along with some plants and a butterfly. Clues as to how this animal came to occupy the glass case can be better explained when observed through the right side of the case…

Additional: I have had this specimen in my collection for several months but decided to keep it under wraps until he could be unveiled at this year’s Waltz on the Wye event. I was packing him for transporting to said event and discovered that a money spider had also inhabited the case all this time! He was carefully removed and placed in a more suited location but his delicate web was left undisturbed.

*UPDATE* 03/01/2013 - "Yoffy" himself Mr. Rick Jones approves! He sent me a delightfully encouraging e-mail and then shared with his Twitter followers.   

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

RIP Maurice Sendak

I was saddened to hear of the death of Maurice Sendak yesterday. I like a great many others around the world I grew up reading Where the Wild Things Are his work was a wondrous source of inspiration. I’m fairly confident that it was one of the very first books I ever read, I remember how it used to poke out of the line of books on the classroom’s books shelf and draw you in by those magnificent illustrations. 25 years later I was able to enjoy the book again by sharing it with my daughter who found it equally enthralling!
Thank you Mr. Sendak.



© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

My Personal Art Collection

I not only create art, I collect it as well. I have several splendid pieces in my collection that are displayed around the house that I shall try to photograph and post on here over the coming months.
This one was obtained back in 2009 on a trip to Paris.
Because I own the original you might like to replicate a fake for yourself, Simply obtain a wooden frame from a charity shop, remove the existing picture and wallpaper paste a poster bought from www.panicposters.com over it and allow to settle over night. Once dried, apply several layer of yacht varnish in various consistencies to achieve a layered look and allow to dry then pop it back into the frame hang, and enjoy.

   © Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

The Easter Egg Brain

Even though Easter has been and gone I thought I would share this as its not often I get to show off my creative culinary creations! Seeing as chocolate eggs seldom live up to my expectations, this year I decided to melt a few down and start over and create my very own chocolate egg, a chocolate egg brain! Just like ‘normal’ chocolate eggs this brain variant can be broken into two sections so you can familiarise yourself with the contours of the brain as you gorge yourself on the chocolatey goodness of the other half. Once it had set I wrapped it with recycled gold foil adding one of my brain logo stickers in the process.

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

Monster Memories: 'Spooky Chews'

Way back (circa. 1983) I collected ‘Spooky Chews’ badges I have absolutely no memory of the sweets themselves but the badges were firmly etched into my memory. Each badge represented a classic monster Dracula, The Frankenstein Monster, The Wolfman, The Mummy etc. these little badges mark the early beginnings of my fascination with all things monster related. Fast forward three or four years later and the badges were long gone, lost to the mists of time but one day as I played in the garden I made a chance discovery! To my amazement I discovered a single badge under the grass! Somehow a Wolfman badge had survived the elements and several years of mowing and I now had it in my possession again! It’s a vivid memory, as I held it in my 7 year old hand I remember thinking, “I’m sure they used to be bigger!” Despite being pleased with my discovery I’m afraid to say that history repeated itself and I lost that badge again.
Onwards to 2012 I was browsing on eBay and was amazed to find that Wolfman badge again! CEREAL PREMIUMS TOYS KELLOGGS FREE GIFTS MONSTER BADGES MUNCH CRISPS SMITHS ???’
I am happy to report that I won the auction but naturally I then had to acquire the complete set, not easy because if they came up for auction at all they would either be over priced, sold separately or in an expensive group lot made up of many doubles. But here they are all 13 of them! Dracula, Wolfman, Frankenstein Monster, Mummy, Hunchback, Skeleton, Ghost, Ogre? Two-headed man, Viking- troll- man and slime monster and all of them lovingly mounted and framed and hanging in my studio and I simply adore them! Being ever enthralled by nostalgia these items hark back to a simpler time that saw me sitting in front of the television set watching The Munsters, The Groovie Goolies or The Real Ghostbusters eating something endorsed by the Honey Monster, the Chewits Monster or the Monster Munch Monsters! Which leads me neatly to the next item on the agenda...

The re-vamped amalgamated banner courtesy of FixMyPhoto

Monster Munch! As the main site approaches completion I am attempting to amalgamate my other sites, first up is my Monster Munch Collection site. As you may have guessed this site is devoted to all things Monster Munch… For those of you who hadn’t guessed Monster Munch is a brand of baked corn snack (or crisps as we call them in the United Kingdom). Launched in the late 1970’s and aimed primarily at children the crisp manufacturer Smiths produced many items of promotional material ranging from fan clubs to television adverts and to someone like me that is both interested in design, relishes nostalgia and loves monsters these items are simply delightful. Despite being a long term Monster Munch fan it wasn’t until 2003 that I embarked on this strange hobby, I hadn’t intended to embark on a mission to acquire all things Monster Munch related but the first item I bought was a Blue Monster glove puppet! I had no idea it even existed until I had found it on ebay but it fascinated me and from then on I have been collecting ever since. I created the site in 2010 as an attempt to catalogue the items in my collection and highlight these wonderful examples of 1980’s – 1990’s promotional designs and provide a back story on them and since creating the site I have had people contacting me, thanking me for bringing back fond memories for them (an unexpected bonus). So do please check out the site for yourselves and see what nostalgic memories it conjures up and feel free to share your monster memories!

© Arfon Jones 2012. All images are copyrighted throughout the world

New Book! The Life of the Air Kraken

In my last post I mentioned an up and coming stall on the Mechanised Market at this year’s Waltz on the Wye. Well I’m pleased to announce that the event will also see the launch of a new series of books that will be written by James Richardson-Brown and illustrated by me!
‘The Brajj’s Guides The Life of the Air Kraken’ will be the first of several guides created for steampunks about the various species that they might encounter on their adventures!
As the title suggests this book tackles the Air Kraken! With 31pages featuring 11 full-page illustrations and recounts man’s historic struggle against this fearsome beast up right up to ‘present day’ also discussing the science, physiology and social effect of the Krake Volanti!

Priced at £2.50 in paperback or £1.50 for the electronic version, this book can be pre-ordered right now! Anyone pre-ordering the book will also be sent on a quest to discover a dark secret about the Air Kraken! And on the 18th of April one randomly selected person will receive a free copy of the book signed by James and myself, along with a goody bag of assorted artefacts!
And that’s not all! There is a second competition open to all that buy the book who simply complete this sentence “I think the next Brajj’s guide should be ______ because _____.” The winner will receive a very special prize, namely the opportunity to be immortalised, (in text and illustration) as a character in the next guide!

Here’s a preview page...
As a life long, armchair Cryptozoologist I have found illustrating the guide to be a real treat. As a child I grew up reading ‘The Unexplained Magazine’ and watching television shows such as ‘Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World’ ‘Michael Aspel’s Strange But True?’ along with anything presented by the Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe! So to be able to bring this ‘mythical’ creature ‘to life’ along with James, (who as far as arch-nemesis go is actually quite talented) has been delightful, I look forward to seeing you all and hearing your feedback in May!

© Arfon Jones 2012 All images are copyrighted throughout the world.