Hayden Peters is one of the world’s foremost collectors of “mourning jewelry,” and he showcases “memorial, mourning, sentimental jewellery (sic) and art” on the wonderful Art of Mourning site. There are photos and descriptions of art, jewelry, accessories, textiles, and ephemera from many different periods and cultures. The site also has a nice resource section, including a discussion of common symbolism, a list of books on “funeralia,” and contact information for several vendors who handle such items.

This is a fantastic resource for funeral artwork and mementos mori, and it makes me wish I had the kind of disposable income that would let me collect this stuff. It’s just gorgeous.

Bonus Link: Collectors Weekly recently did an interview with Peters, discussing the history of mourning jewelry and how he got started collecting it.

(Hat tip to pdq)

Naked Mole Rats! (Of course.)

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo recently acquired a baby Giant Pacific Octopus and touted its OctopusCam in press releases. It turns out that the zoo has a whole load of live animal cams, including ferrets, gharials, and Naked Freakin’ Mole Rats.

Many of the other cams look out onto empty space much of the time when the animal is elsewhere in its enclosure, but the NMR cam seems to nearly always be aswarm with the squirmy critters. If you need a little lift during the day, go take a peek at ’em.

Now we just need to figure out whom to lobby to get a webcam in the bat enclosure.

(Title shamelessly stolen from this Pharyngula post, where the comments are also highly entertaining.)

Letters to Dead People is exactly what it says it is: Celine Song writes short, sometimes puzzling, letters to famous dead people. They have to be, in her words, actually dead:

No physical heartbeat. Emptied bladder. Dilated pupils. No consumption of air. Even if their metaphorical hearts have stopped and their metaphorical bladders are emptied, if they are physically breathing, no letter for them. Sorry!

Some of the letters are funny, some are rather moving. She accepts letter submissions (with a couple of caveats), so if there’s something you’d like to tell a dead person, this might be an excellent forum. The “morbid little project” is a lot of fun!

(via The Presurfer)

UK-based company Natural Legacy is taking green burials to a whole ‘nother level, with sustainable coffins made of wool. What makes it even more wonderful is that this site was sent to me by alert reader Linda, who found it in one of her knitting magazines. As she put it, the coffins were featured in a “‘now you CAN take your stash with you!’ kind of way.” I sort of love the idea of knitting your final resting place.

The site also offers woollen cremation urns, organic cotton shrouds, and coffin handles made of jute. The handles in particular amuse me more than they probably should.

But anyway.

The coffin and urn exteriors appear to be felted wool, and the site says that the frame is recycled cardboard. If you’re a fiber artist and like to do felting, a DIY urn might not be out of the question.