Artists craft unique Edmonton Oilers pieces during Stanley Cup final
The Edmonton Oilers playoff energy has several fans getting crafty.
Ashley Sinclair has been making emotional support playoff chickens for the past year, after learning to crochet while pregnant when she had to pause some of her other hobbies.
'I had terrible morning sickness so I needed something that was really slow and didn't involve a lot of moving around,' Sinclair said. 'I taught myself how to crochet and then got really into that.'
She started making blue, orange and white 'emotional support' chickens during the 2024 cup run to help ease her nerves during games.
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Crafter Ashley Sinclair croches Edmonton Oilers-themed emotional support chickens. Global News
Sinclair sold a bunch at a crafting market and word got around. Now, sales have taken off as the playoff pressure mounts for fans.
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'As soon as my son goes down to bed, I have between 7:30 p.m. and about 1 or 2 a.m. where I'm getting orders ready, sending out emails and just trying to get the chickens out to the coop.'
On a good night, Sinclair says she can get about three dozen done.
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Crafter Ashley Sinclair croches Edmonton Oilers-themed emotional support chickens. Global News
Between April 30 and June 5, hundreds of orders came in — so many, Sinclair recruited help from fellow crafters.
'Crochet is a 100-per cent handmade craft — no shortcuts, no machines, nothing. So as soon as orders started to come in, I reached out to a few of my friends in the crochet community.'
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Now, she has five friends helping. On Thursday night, she had her 1000th order come in.
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'Totally unexpected,' Sinclair said. 'When it started to take off I'm like, 'Oh maybe we'll sell like 50 chickens that'd be cool.' Then it just kept going and going and going and now we're at a 1,006,' she said on Friday ahead of Game 2.
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Crafter Ashley Sinclair croches Edmonton Oilers-themed emotional support chickens. Global News
The orange and blue plushy is filled with exactly 97 grams of weighted poly pellets, to represent captain Connor McDavid's jersey number.
'I'm in this for as long as people want these chickens.'
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Along with the chickens, Sinclair says she's also selling chicken-themed stickers. The proceeds from those are going to the Ben Stelter Foundation. So far, she's raised $400.
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Crafter Ashley Sinclair croches Edmonton Oilers-themed emotional support chickens. Global News
Other crafters are also flexing their artistic abilities in unique ways.
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Wainwright, Alta., artist Jordyn Prior paints custom cow and buffalo skulls and recently completed an Oilers-themed piece.
'Our family is die-hard Oilers fans, so it was just a natural thing,' Prior said, explaining if she were to work on just the skulls it would take about three full days of work to complete — but with her day job and farm choirs, her Oilers skull took her three weeks to complete.
'I've been doing it when I have time on and off in the evenings — they do take a lot of time to come to fruition.'
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Wainwright, Alta. artist Jordyn Prior paints custom cow and buffalo skulls and recently completed an Oilers-themed piece. Jordyn Prior
First, the skull needs to be boiled to remove any remaining fats, tissues or oils.
Then, Prior said she pressure-washes the skull and leaves it in the sun for a few days to dry completely.
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Before beginning to decorate the bones, any cracks need to be filled and sanded down. Preparing and attaching the horns afterwards is also a detailed process.
'Each skull has its own story.'
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She took up the craft after being taken under the wing of her great uncle Keith, who has been painting skulls for over 20 years.
'He teaches me everything I need to know, from how to clean and prepare to how to paint and attach the horns and everything,' Prior said, explaining they get together to work on their passion every two months.
'It's been a really cool experience and we both have a lot of fun with it now.'
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Wainwright, Alta. artist Jordyn Prior and her great uncle Keith paint custom cow and buffalo skulls. Supplied
The duo source their skulls from neighbours, local farmers and butcher shops. Their work isn't cheap — cow skulls usually sell anywhere from $300-$1,500, and buffalo skulls range from $1,200-1,500 — but it's one of a kind.
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'To put things into perspective, if you want just a raw buffalo head that's not cleaned, it's usually $250 to buy one of those. If you want a cleaned buffalo skull with no paint on, it's usually $600,' she said.
'So that's why these pieces are a little bit more pricey because they're unique and they're specialized and they are very rare, right?'
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