JC McCairn: A Rustic Cottage Life…

JC McCairn uses her Etsy shop as an outlet to sell the gorgeous, one-of-a-kind jewelry and hair accessories that she creates from shed antlers, and this is how I first discovered her.  But I soon learned that her repertoire extends far beyond these hand-hewn beauties; JC’s life on the prairie provides an abundance of creative outlets…

[All photos courtesy of JCMcCairn.etsy.com.]

KC:  Could you tell us a bit about yourself?  How did you become involved with antler carving?

JC:  I’ve always been a compulsive creator! Like most children, I loved tinkering with cast off “treasures”. I would stretch out the black film from a broken cassette tape into cord for making knotted bracelets or fashion a safety pin into a successful fishing hook. Oh, I forgot to mention that I grew up on the mission field in a very poor third-world country. We had very little and I think it was necessity that honed my ability to transform and manipulate old things into new cooler things!

In high school I discovered that I could paint and sew but when college came around I played it safe and got a degree in the medical field. When I married the rough and tough man-of-my-dreams, we started having kids right away. We have three gorgeous kiddos, they are such a delight to stay home with (thank you honey)! That’s when I discovered etsy and my creativity found a canvas again. My husband makes beautiful custom knives with antler handles and had antlers scattered all around in his shop. He had suggested that I make buttons or something with the pieces he cut off and didn’t use. When I took a closer look at the antlers he was working with and I noticed their elegant curves and unique textures, I was completely smitten by their beauty! I immediately asked him to teach me how to carve them into the creations that where flooding into my head. I have always loved playing around with hair (especially since I started doing civil-war-reenactments) and when I first thought to make a hairpiece from antler it was such a perfect fit, I could almost hear dramatic theme music playing in the background!!

My creative process begins when I see the structure of each antler and start thinking of what I can make out of its unique shape. I then start cutting– I don’t use any patterns, instead, I follow the natural shape of each antler as my only guide. When I have the shape I want cut out, I start the long sanding process to make it smooth enough to slide through my hair. I try not to over-work the antler so that I do not take away from it’s natural gorgeous texture and look. The final step in the creation process is coating the piece with sealer to protect it from moisture.Because I have three kids ages three and under, my creative process takes place early in the morning or late at night when the little guys are asleep.
It is so satisfying to me to take a forgotten piece of antler and transform it into an unexpected statement piece that captures the adventure of the wild and can inspire me wherever I go.

KC:  What are some of your other creative endeavors at the moment?

JC:  When I’m not working on antlers or some other totally random and weird project I enjoy gardening, canning, sewing costumes for civil war reenactments, making soap and feeding animals. Yes, I’m a huge fan of old-fashioned living, it’s a wonderful way of life that makes me feel closer to God.

My creative binge right now is creating an entire wardrobe for myself and my family in mid 1800’s style clothing to wear while doing living history at our local historic fort.

KC:  How do you determine the styles you make–are you researching then creating your own patterns or finding pre-made historical patterns? And what types of fabric do you use?  I’d love to hear all about it!

JC:  The period we will be representing is from the 1840s-1860s. The Fort has a library with great patterns and fabric reference books, but I also get together with good friends and we draft our own patterns based from museum dresses (mostly from The Metropolitan Museum of Art). Cotton, silk and wool were the most commonly used fabrics and we really just scrounge all over to find these fabrics at affordable prices. I’ve also been working on some pieces made from bone (I recently started carving cow bone after being commissioned to create a bone prop for a film production) to add to our reenacting kit since bone was a widely used resource at that time. So far I’ve made some crochet hooks, corset stays, a hair comb and I’m working on belt buckles. I have some related images on my pinterest ( http://pinterest.com/jcmccairn/) for anyone interested. It’s all such a great excuse to play dress up while hanging out with good friends and passing on some Kansas history!

Visit JC’s Etsy shop, JC McCairn, or stop on by her blog, My Rustic Cottage Life, to read more about her adventures and inspirations…

[Studio photo courtesy of JcMcCairnscottage.blogspot.com]