[Jewelry making - Article 00427] - Re: [Orchid] Strange Customer Requests

[R . E . Rourke]

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i can't believe I forgot this one:

    during vietnam there were P.O.W. bracelets for sale with names
    ,branch,rank and maybe where the person was from on them.Many people
    owned and wore them - admittedly,,I had a couple silver ones myself.
    Anyway, I had a studio/shop in the French Quarter / Vieux Carre in
    New Orleans back then.It was nothing like the Vieux Carre of today:
    no T-shirt shops, many antique stores, three blocks of stores
    selling nothing but garnet jewelry most of which were antique 18th
    and 19th century pieces, many european pastry shops and tea rooms,a
    pharmacist and perfumer that had held shops there since the late
    1700's continuously and in the same families respectively, only
    about 10 burlesque houses, three of which were transvestite shows
    exclusively nestled between restaurants also dating since the late
    1700's, a few true confectioners, what we would call upscale gift
    stores,a number of jewelers, goldsmiths and watchmakers from Bavaria
    & Dresden and only one voodoo store-the real deal tath sold pre-made
    miniature to mid sized caskets,chickens feet, barrel upon barrel of
    oranges,cigars,rum in gallon vinegar bottles and all the usual goods
    of "true voudounsi",Lafitte's blacksmith shop est.1721 and still
    exists to date , and a myriad of classic French and Spanish Creole
    restauranteurs and hoteliers with bars ..It was a different place
    before the tourist trappings and east Indians bought up most of the
    real estate for crude bars,strip joints and bad sex toy shops....(
    as opposed to good ones?!) 

    Anyway- this old creole man came in one day holding a plain brown
    paper bag..He asked if I did custom work and if I was a religious
    person...I said in fact, I do custom work. but didn't think it had
    any bearing on religion.He seemed at ease. 

    He pulled out a severed hand-disgusting shriveled,dessicated,bluish
    green,and putrid,two chicken feet with polished toenails, some hair
    that looked like horsetail or bison,some obviously human hair,glass
    eyes -as from an old doll, a red doll sized dress, and some baby
    teeth looking things...and a pow bracelet... 

    He asked me if i could make metal "armature"for the base ( so he had
    a clue about sculpture) and could I cast lead arms and legs and a
    head shape that all these pieces could be attached to,the chicken
    feet being the "piece's" feet.. 

    I asked him what was it he thought I could do with the "hand"..he
    opened a greek style purse ( in the 60's they were all over -open
    top and decorative tapestry on the two panels and a shoulder strap..)
    and pulled out a foot long (called medium in New Orleans) casket
    painted black with a purple cross on the top-two brushstrokes of
    purple enamel...He wanted me to put the bracelet on the hand and make
    silver nails to seal the casket closed..he wanted that first.. 

    then a week or so later he would pay me and pick up the "doll"...I
    told him to come back the next day and I would think about it.. when
    I got to the shop there was brick dust on the steps and a basket of
    mandarins..he showed up about noon...we discussed the terms,and he
    agreed no more vodoun on my entrance way I made 200 bucks cash....bet
    100 at the race track and won 1200.00 on a horse named Laveau's
    Prize....with 24:1 odds.. that tops em all for me...
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