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Nutrockers add a little heavy metal to holiday cheer
Angie Boyle studied a traditional nutcracker doll and noticed a resemblance to Lemmy Kilmister, the late Motörhead frontman
Eric Peterson //December 20, 2021//
Nutrockers add a little heavy metal to holiday cheer
Angie Boyle studied a traditional nutcracker doll and noticed a resemblance to Lemmy Kilmister, the late Motörhead frontman
Eric Peterson //December 20, 2021//
Nutrockers | Englewood | Product: Wild Card
Angie Boyle started crafting Nutrockers to add a little heavy metal to her holiday cheer.
In December 2018, no decorations on the market scratched her oddball itch. “I have an eclectic taste in my own home decor,” Boyle says. “I just couldn’t find any cool Christmas decorations. I was looking around online and nobody made anything cool that would fit my rock ‘n’ roll home aesthetic.”
Embarking on a quest to do it herself, Boyle soon found herself studying a traditional nutcracker doll and noticed a resemblance. “He kind of looks like Lemmy [Kilmister, the late Motörhead frontman],” says Boyle, who promptly remade the nutcracker in Kilmister’s image. “I posted it on Facebook for my friends to see, then everyone wanted one.”
She started taking custom orders for rock stars and making some of her favorites when she had time. “I sand them and take them down to their base and sculpt on top of them,” Boyle says of her process.
In three years, she’s crafted several hundred Nutrockers, including ones resembling Ozzy Osbourne, Jerry Garcia, Joey Ramone and Stevie Nicks, as well as quite a few custom orders that aren’t musicians. “I’ve done everything from a Killer Klown from Outer Space to somebody’s Aunt Susan,” Boyle says.
Small Nutrockers (12 inches tall) cost $100; large Nutrockers are $150 to $170.
After losing work as a bartender during the COVID-19 pandemic, Boyle decided to focus on Nutrockers, and it became her main gig in 2021. “Art’s my favorite thing in the whole wide world. Since I was a small child, I’ve wanted to be an artist as my job, so thank you COVID coming through and making bartender jobs obsolete. It gave me a push in the direction I needed.”
This article is part of the 2021 Made in Colorado feature. To learn more about the Colorado companies changing manufacturing in the state, click here.
