Art. Biology. Curiosity.

www.ArtofCentauri.com

In February of 2014, I took an environmental science class that resonated with me to the core. I saw that if I wanted to be able to work with wildlife and understand how best to conserve it, I would need a new degree: one in wildlife biology. But at the same time, I could not bear to think of abandoning my other dream, which had consumed most of my life: art. The simple act of making, of painting and drawing and knitting, was equally important for me to develop into a professional portfolio.

Both art and animals are passions, both bring me great joy, and both have bleak employment outlooks. So I made the daunting yet satisfying decision to pursue both, and attempt to earn two bachelor degrees simultaneously.

Now you are wondering, where do the snake sweaters come in?

Well, part of any science degree at most universities is lectures. So many, many lectures to sit through, and I being a visual learner and not an auditory learner, I found myself having trouble paying attention.

No matter how hard I focused on the professor, or the plainly designed powerpoint slides, I still found my mind drifting. I needed to be DOING something with my hands, but what?

I remembered that I had brought some giant knitting needles and some yarn with me to college, given to me by my grandmother. I figured, why not?

Over the following summer, I learned a lot about yarn, needle sizes, and reading patterns. I had knitted here and there in 2013, but I never succeeded in making anything beyond a very ill-fitting sweater for my cat. It was more of a cute curiosity than a serious hobby.

I splurged a little with my summer job money, and bought myself several sets of needles and crochet hooks. Through trial and error, I attempted and re-attempted patterns over and over until I got the hang of things.

Then I saw a post on tumblr, from a biology blog I followed, where the blog owner was joking that she wished she had a way to dress up her pet snake. She made the solid point that places like PetSmart really weren't catering to her.

I replied that I could easily make a sweater for a snake, it being a tube and all.

It turned into a real commission, and I was so excited that I also made the snake (named Jorgen) several hats and a scarf. Now you can see Jorgen in all the item posts I make on Etsy - he is the lovely ball python modeling a crown and the very first Snock.

Ah, yes, what is the origin of "snock"? Well I heard my boyfriend describe what I was knitting to one of his friends as "a snake sock... except with no foot," and the word "snock" came about from that train of thought.

**I am absolutely not the first person to get the amusing idea of knitting a sweater for a snake, but I am 100% positive I am the originator of the word "snock". Just for the record.**

So now, here we are. I make snocks in my spare time, from whatever yarn scraps I have, and people use them to dress up their dear and misunderstood pets.

However, I am completely willing and capable to make sweaters for other animals too - people included! Just send me a convo and we'll see what we can make together.

When I have the time, I also take art commissions, but these are usually rare and far between due to how much time I devote to each piece.


Find me elsewhere:
Art tumblr: http://centaurii.tumblr.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/centauri_art
Behance: http://behance.net/centaurii

Society6: https://society6.com/centauri
Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/centaurii/