Friends

lion_bones gave me this the other day, neither of use could figure out what it was. Feels kind of like waxy/soft like squirrel but don't know of any species with a black stripe like that. So anyone have any better ideas? lol

Everyone that ordered from my sales post, I believe everything has been shipped out. If you didn't get a little thing from paypal saying something was sent, poke me just incase I missed you. Or even just poke me saying things arrived safely and you're happy with it. Thanks!

( Photos )

Just got word from my taxidermist supplier, he's been taking care of a busy hunting week processing meat and hides. I should have photos of the bone-in lion claws Wednesday, the claws themselves next week.

Going to ship stuff now (aside from the wolf pelt, I need it from le_squeaky), will update when back.

Lotsa stuff still for sale!

 I almost feel guilty posting more items for sale. But I've aquired so many amazing pieces from other members on here! 
I'd a tad addicted to trading & selling here now... ;) Maybe the equivalent to baseball cards..
I'm working on condensing what I have down just a tad (so I can make room for other things)

( this way to the goblin market... )

Has anyone at all ever run accross a monkey or lemur form? Im trying to do some rogue/faux taxidermy to make a critter from a tv show and Ill be damned if there just dosnt seem to be much on the market as pre-made forms for those guys go. I found like, 2 but they're for heavier-bodied species than what Im looking for. I guess I can just sculpt somethingout of wire and celluclay, ultimatly, but life would just be so much easier with something to start with! figure this would be a good place to ask since a lot of folks here seem to dabble in actual taxidermy and may have seen something somewhere. Im sorry if this is a bit off topic, hopefully not too far.

I'm still looking for a lynx face/head skin--not bobcat. Also still looking for wolf fur, scraps/partial hides/etc. Will pay cash!

Also, I'm opening up my commission list for deer antler rune and ogam sets with custom fur or leather pouches. This will probably be the last time I take orders before the holidays, so if you've been wanting one for yourself or as a gift for someone else, now's a good time!

Thanks :)

I found something on ebay and I was curious as to what someone else might think... It's labeled 'wolf pelt' but it is the strangest wolf pelt I have seen.. unless it has been altered or dyed? I dunno.. it just dosent look right.. when I first saw it I thought 'deer' or some other hoofed animal, but then the photo is not so great and the legs, head and tail are missing.. Hmm...

  Had these for a few years with the intention of displaying them, and never have. I'm letting them go cheap to someone who will love them and use 'em more then me.
( images under the cut )

 One of my favourite shops here has a bunch of large sized pronghorn horns for $10.00 each
I'm going back tomorrow to pick one up for a member on here. They are single horns not attached to anything. 
If you'd like me to pick you one up (or more than one), you can paypal me $10.00+$2 shipping  to thepaisleybird@hotmail.com
Make sure to include the Word Pronghorn and your address. For each horn you want just add $10
NO MORE LEFT


( what they look like: )

 Help me?

* Colobus Monkey
*Puma
*Bear
*Badger
*Wolverine
*Squirrel
*Lynx
*Bobcat
*Ringtail
*Genet

*Anything not on this list:
 Cape Buffalo, Warthog, Red river hog, Eland, Gemsbok, Waterbuck, Kudu
 Moose, Blue wildebeast, Mule Deer and White tailed deer, Buffalo, Klipspringer, Nyala, Giraffe, Zebra
Red fox, Arctic fox, Coyote, Kit fox,  Wolf, Mink, Raccoon, Tanuki
 Ocelot, Geoffroy's cat, Beaver, Chinchilla (from my pet), Rabbit
 Lion and Lion mane,  leopard, Bushtailed possum, Opossum, Skunk

This is my second dreamcatcher and I'm so proud of making it, I think it turned out really nice, i'm pleased :) It's up for sale if anyone would like it £12 plus whatever postage is (should be about £3 to America £2.50 ish to UK, though will have to find something sturdy to protect it. This covers materials and the time (and stress!) it took to make it, with that money I can then get more materials and make more which if they turn out good enough I wll also offer for sale :)

The spotty feathers are guineafowl, but I though they suited this dreamcatcher quite well, the feathers (larger ones) are real crow (I had to take them from wings D:) and thre are also two smaller crow feathers there too.
The bone is from the leg of a crow (I think it's a leg bone, either way it's from a crow) and the foot is a real crow's foot also. The bead is just there cause it looks pretty and carries through the whole dark Gothic look. The suede around the dreamcatcher is dark brown, as is the suede used for the tassles. The webbing is made of sewing cotton, I did orginally have some leather cord but the knots/loops showed up horribly, so I thought i'd give this a go and it doesn't look too thin at all :)

Spent a whole day making it, let me know what you thnk, I'll probs make myself one as well (scribbles down the design) Hopefully someone will buy it (any crow totem people out there??) so that I can get some more materials and try some more animals.

Ooo btw, the ring is 5 inches in diameter, the whole thing is 14 inches from top of ring to bottom of middle tassle.

( Pictures )

( Read more... )

Still have to fix up around the nose slightly. I ended up remaking the nose after furring the head and so put it on top of the fur rather than under like I usually do. The direct lighting makes it look particularly bad D:

Hi everyone!

So on my way to work this morning I noticed a pigeon under the local highway's bridge (under which I travel every morning before getting onto its on-ramp).

It was there for me when I got back!! :D Beautiful big honking pigeon. It looked like a plush bird, almost, since it had no eyes. It was really intimidating since I've never done a successful salvage/taxidermy work before (two botched squirrels had me dejected until the bones I macerated a while back, which just came out and look gorgeous). I asked for help from Anubis and Thoth, and the process of working on the bird was spiritually profound for me. I got a newfound admiration for winged creatures as well. (Dang sturdy!!)

My roommate helped me with the innards and whatnot. We originally tried to save the skin, but we put holes through it by accident :< Then we worked on the bones, and were able to save the spine, skull (upper beak had shattered off ;.; ) and the feet.

( Spines & feathers! )

 
Row 1: Cape Buffalo, Warthog, Red river hog, Eland, Gemsbok, Waterbuck, Kudu
Row 2:  Moose, Blue wildebeast, Mule Deer and White tailed deer, Buffalo, Klipspringer, Nyala, Giraffe, Zebra
Row 3: Red fox, Arctic fox, Coyote, Kit fox,  Wolf, Mink, Raccoon, Tanuki
Row 4: Red fox, empty slot, Ocelot, Geoffroy's cat, Beaver, Chinchilla (from my pet), Rabbit
Row 5: Lion and Lion mane, Mountain Lion, Slot for leopard, Bushtailed possum, Opossum, Skunk
( upclose of the labels )
Still need a label and two samples. I'm sort of holding out for some colobus monkey fur or Hyena, the other missing sample is Leopard. 

I also am making smaller sized ones to sell on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=34031715
If I find another large frame I may make a 2nd one the size of mine. (or do one to compliment my own with completely different species.. hmm)

 
I found Francis this afternoon at an indoor fleamarket. He was $6.50. He was marked "Pheasent bird thing" :)

And if anyone is interested I know where I can get plenty of Pronghorn horns for $10 each. And a couple of large sized Boar feet on a plaque (I would remount them on real wood as the plaque is pressed) For $35.00

Today I raked many leaves and put my dog in a wheel barrow. Since you guys liked the last pic of her so much here's another. She is not amused...


Super cool I'm getting a whole lot of new watchers on FA for a picture I did not draw.

Really really neat slide show/talky/video thing, watch it!

It's about a taxidermist in NY.

To make this post more interesting, here are some birds I made fly again.



Also, what would you pay for an almost complete fox skeleton? I'm thinking at least $100, but I've never sold anything like it. They'd be missing some toe bones and no claws (taken off with the skin for mounting purposes), but with skulls and de-greased then whitened with peroxide. I have three in the works right now and surely more to come.

Edit: Took a peek at the little one in the salt



The body turned out very pretty (first time doing this), but the skull still needs some cleaning. Any idea on how to clean up the skull so that it's white?




How long should a bird skin and skull remain in salt until it is cured/completely dried out? The reason I ask is because I have left my hummingbird skin and the cleaned skull in salt since the 25 of September, and I'm not exactly sure how long I should leave it there before pulling it out (I don't want to pull it out too soon).

Also, once a skull has been sitting in salt, will the brain have been dried up? I was unable to get into the skull itself to try and remove this since it is very tiny and fragile, I ended up just cleaning off the skin, removing the eyes, and removing the VERY long tongue before placing it in salt.

 
Before getting sick for 10 days I managed to finally create my "tail bouquet" I securely attached wires into each tail and shoved them into some floral foam. The vintage planter came from the thriftstore. 
I also wanted to show off the Baboon skull I scored. :) He's missing his front teeth and he's banged up- but he is still completely amazing to me. I plan to restore him eventually. (He's behind the fish)

I can hardly believe it- I was successful on my recent deer hunt and *finally* (after many years trying) got my first deer, a forkhorn (2 points on each antler) mule deer buck! I'm having the meat processed right now, and the hide is salted and drying in the backyard. I'll finish the skull as a "European mount", so I skinned out the head (and removed what meat I could). The skull is currently sitting in a tub of water to macerate in the back yard (or until I boil it- I'm trying to decide). I saved the skin of the head, and it's in the freezer right now, but I messed up and cut a number of areas, so I'm not sure what I might end up doing with it.

But my question concerns the legs and hooves. The legs are in the freezer, as are the legs from my elk years ago. I need to go ahead and skin them out. But how does one do this? I've tried getting hooves off big game before and it's hard! Any tricks of the trade to know about removing the hooves from big game legs?

Once I get this all taken care of, I'll be thinking of going up there again in the next few weeks- this time for some squirrels!

 
This weeks project :) I found a vintage collar made up of a ton of beautifully colored minks and I was inspired to turn one into a vintage taxidermy mount.  He's wired so he can be reposed and his body is weighted to give him a realistic feel. 
He had no front legs so I had to make them. I also had to reconstruct his smashed little face and give him new eyes and a nose.
I realize he doesn't look like a living breathing mink.. (That would be quite a feat!) I wanted him to look like an early Victorian mount, worn and lacking realism. 

I have two more minks just like him that I can mount if anyone is interested. 
( More photos )