Scraping down to the clean bone with no trace of hair or meat
I had no idea we’d have a head-hunter in our family. Just goes to show ya never know what kind of in-laws you’re gonna get. Heads come to him by way of ancient road kill, hiking trails, friends and family who drop them by the door or ship them to him, or he orders heads off the World Wide Web. When I first met him a few years ago, I thought he was just the lead singer in the band, Knucka and a house-painter on the sideline. Then last year when I visited my daughter and he, I saw sculptures on the walls I wasn’t sure about – I’d never seen anything like them; where were these from? who made them and how?
What's cooking out there in 20 degree weather?
It’s a New Year. Chris Haas was itching to get to work on another new sculpture, but there were no clean heads available. However, he had a few heads sitting out back that needed to be cleaned, so he fired up his black cauldron. So what if it’s 20 degrees out there? You gotta do what you gotta do!
Very, very old left overs
He boiled the heads for a few hours until the hardened skin became workable. Every piece of hair, skin and left over meat must be scraped clean. Using a sharp, strong knife, he wears thick leather gloves and stands up wind from the steaming cauldron. Kids, don’t do this without supervision.
Kind of smells like something's stewing but don't want any, thank you
Hold on now, just about done - just gotta clean behind the ears
Enlightened heads bask in setting sun
Want to see what these heads will look like once Chris is done with them? You must check out Christopher Haas’ new website at Haastyle Art. In fact, if you come across any heads you’d like to see put to creative use and supports a young family, Chris is a fair headhunter and accepts donations or will pay a fair price.