Six Six Sick: Zodiac Kidz

The Libra Zodiac pendant, featuring a baby's head on one side of the scale, and a pile of dismembered wee hands on the other.

Could this blog get any creepier right now? I know that my interest in weird deformed babies and dolls has started to scare my husband, so if this is too much for you, say uncle. I've come across Karen Yost's line, Anomaly Jewelry, several times before, both on blogs and in downtown boutiques. While they have always caught my eye for the incredible wax carving skills of the designer, often they haven't really differentiated themselves from the oversaturation of castings and pendants on the jewelry market. That is until yesterday, when I was down at The Dressing Room trying to sell off a couple of bags of my unwanted threads. The buy/sell/trade shop, which doubles as a bar, has a couple of cases of beautiful jewels (and I'm quite a snob), including an assortment of Anomaly's creepily altered baby dolls, cast in sterling silver and strung on necklaces as pendants.

It's funny. When I was a child, I was totally freaked out by doll flesh, hated Barbies, and even reviled the look of my rather sweet looking Cabbage Patch Kid. Nowadays I can't get enough of it, and am completely fascinated by Yost's half-horrorshow take on the usually Q.V.C.-styled Zodiac Sign Necklace. All twelve signs are rendered with Yost's signature sweet-meets-scary touch, and while the fish-tailed Pisces merman is quite cute, the conjoint twins that represent Gemini look like something straight out of an exhibit at the Mutter Museum. My favorite piece though is the beautifully crafted set of scales that represents Libra, with a baby's head on one side, and a pile of tiny hands on the other. Creepy? Perhaps. Expertly rendered? For sure.