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About
Our Heads |
| We have a
great respect for gangsters, politicians, terrorists, and
snobs, we love them so much that we would like to have
their prideful ego shrunken, boxed up and hand delivered
to you. Show your contempt with a museum quality shrunken
trophy head. With many years of fine art experience we are
proud present our heads to you. |
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We’ve given our heads proud timeless
expressions both in humor and to honor their departed
spirits - if they had been real. |
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We created three trophy
heads: Snob head, Afro head, and English Head. We used the
prototyping nicknames for our heads; only snob head
closely resembles his name, so feel free to rename them.
We call them shrunken trophy heads because of: the size of
the head, amount of wrinkles, and because of the stitched
eyes and mouth. |
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Our trophy heads took over
a year in the prototyping and design stage. The wrinkles
and the lines that they form create an interesting,
natural, yet abstract composition. The heads are hand cast
in mask latex. Next the heads are hand painted with ten to
fifteen layers of textured semi-translucent paint. The
eyes and mouth are individually stitched and tied off in
the hollow of the head. The hair and eyebrows are hand
plugged. The hair and stitches are finally locked in place
with latex. Lastly the head is filled with moss. At this
point the head is complete except for touchups. |
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About Us |
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Tena (pronounced as
Tina) and Colin Chase were both born and raised in
Northern California. |
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Our business is run from our home, which
allows us to individually communicate with our
customers. We have really enjoyed meeting new Internet
friends and artists who also work from home. It is a
great reward for us to be able to do this for a living,
some people might think it’s strange, but for us it’s a
dream come true. |
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Thanks from all of us at Chase
Enterprises. |
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The
History of Shrunken Heads |
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The
Jivaro Indians of South America, comprised of four
tribes (Ashuar, Aguarna, Huambisa and Shuar) were the
only culture to practice head shrinking.
They all reside deep in the Amazon of Peru and
Ecuador. |
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The
Jivaro are infamous for massacring 25,000 Spaniards and
pouring molten gold down the throat of a corrupt
governor until his bowels burst.
The Jivaro believed in natural spirits and
ancestral ghosts. |
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The
Jivaro warred over injustices committed against tribes
or families. Claiming
the heads was part of blood revenge.
The Jivaro believed by shrinking the heads, and
stitching the eyes, mouths and necks, the spirit was
then trapped and unable to haunt them or join departed
ancestors. |
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During
the 1850’s catalogues sold real shrunken heads.
Traders never realized the Jivaro were killing
members of other tribes to keep up with demand.
Eventually laws were enacted to stop this
practice. |
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For
more information on the history of shrunken heads click
here. |
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