Y'all loved my eel painting a lot and I've just realised I never posted the poster I did for the 2023 World Eel Day campaign!!
Eels are super wonderful creatures and deserve their own day! Some eels like the endangered European Eel really need our help, you can learn more about World Eel Day over at https://eels.cargo.site/ !!
Cool Facts- It might surprise you that the ribbon eel is actually a species of moray eel. They find rock crevices throughout coral reefs while waiting to ambush prey. They can sit still for hours before latching on a fish. As with all morays, ribbon eels have a set of pharyngeal jaws set further back in their throat. They use these secondary jaws to pull their prey deeper into their mouth for easy swallowing. Ribbon eels are naturally very skittish and use their large mouth as a warning to predators, including the photographers taking their picture. Unfortunately, ribbon eels are highly valued in the pet trade and almost always pass away in captivity.
I’ve got some loaches & ribbon eels that I finished making this week (my sister sewed them and I finished them with eyes and stuffing etc... don’t worry she gets paid).
Speaking of getting paid, I’m in a bit of a sticky situation because I can only post inside the UK.
MY WEBSITE: https://www.palaeoplushies.com/
I’ve had to stop ALL INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING for a bit, because Royal Mail (The UK’s privatised “national” postal service) got hit by a ransomeware attack and they haven’t been able to ship anything overseas since the 11th January... It’s been a huge headache. They’re apparently working through the backlog (including the previous international orders I shipped on the 10th, I think) but they’re still not accepting any new international mail.
This is gonna be a bit of a rant because honestly it’s a complete disaster for any small businesses relying on royal mail for international postage, because the nearest service by courier is a minimum of £25 postage for a parcel that’d cost £8-12 to send with Royal Mail, plus it HAS TO BE IN A BOX (most of my parcels are small packages...) and you HAVE TO FILL OUT SO MANY FORMS. It’s a nightmare.
I’m so stressed out right now. I’ve not been listing new items for a bit to wait until this resolved but who knows when that’ll be, and I really need some money to live, so if you’re in the UK and have been thinking about buying any of my loach plushies now’s your chance to grab one before the Americans come and snap them all up and make them out of stock again...
Last year, created the 2023 poster for the World Eel Day campaign. To my surprise, they asked me to come back for this year's one, too!
You can watch my process videos (it's a big gouache painting!) over here for part one, and in part two I explain what World Eel Day is and how you can take part! It's rEELy easy!