It's been a long time coming..... I've decided to just dump a ton of my progress pics here, since, let's face it, I'm just not that good at writing long blog posts about each of my projects. There's also that pesky "real job" that sucks my time and energy away....
Quick summary of 2014:
Getting better and better at making taxidermy that looks.... decent.
Getting better and better at making taxidermy that looks.... decent.
The Chupacabra Crafts Etsy Shop is doing great. I made almost 900$ in sales in 2014.
Mr. Balls was bought by a TV producer and is now living in Hollywood!
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Here's a photo dump of my newbie-level taxidermy creations from the past year. I think the improvement in skill is quite obvious, hope you all agree <3
Meet Exit Wound! He's my 7th and most anatomically accurate grey squirrel. His construction was part of my first "lesson" I gave to a friend of mine. In hindsight, attempting to be a teacher of this odd skill set was unexpectedly helpful to my own progress. Explaining and demonstrating all the steps - from skinning and fleshing, to mounting, claying, and sewing, really helped in solidifying my grasp of the whole process.
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| not too shabby! |
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| You can see his literal exit wound. (a local hunter donated him to me) Admittedly, I forgot to sew it before mounting. |
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Better pic of Mulligan Skunk, and some group photos:
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| Frederick Smallrat. I later decided not to glue him to this base.... |
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| Running Squirrel & Exit Wound |
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| A tragic, young casualty from the Homestead. Also I thought I could get away without turning his ears.... wrong! On the other hand, my hubby loves this piece. We named him Crinkles, after his withered ears. |
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| First mink mount, and second hamster. |
^ I can't believe how many people donated their game and/or dead pets to me. Thanks guys <3
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With the help of a very generous trade from my homesteading friends at Hillside Homestead, 2014 turned out to be, in many ways, the Year of the Rabbit.
The Homestead raises a small population of purebred American Standard meat rabbits. They contacted me to swap a large bag of frozen, decapitated rabbit heads for skull cleaning & whitening - via my dermestid beetles of course! Over several months I would skin the heads, clean and return the skulls, and in return I inherited the gorgeous head pelts to mount up. Although they were completely neckless, I was able to devise a process which has turned several into beautiful pieces of taxidermy art. Oh, and when I say "divise" I mean spending a lot of time browsing Taxidermy.net.
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| I'll just be at home.... splitting hares |
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| Pinned and drying. I opted for the dry preserve technique, rather than pickling. |
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| Ears could be tidier, but the results of this first head blew me away! :) |
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| Mounted on a small plaque from the art supply store, and displayed on a stand intended for picture frames. |
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| Drying right now! Pardon the Instagram filter. |
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| A few cleaned rabbit skulls; large white rabbit, Crinkle's, and a weanling cotton tail road kill.
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And last but not least....
Several months ago, seemingly out of no where, I was contacted over Etsy from Hollywood. At first I really didn't take the message seriously, especially since overnight shipping was going to cost the buyer $93....
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But then....
So I snapped a few charismatic last photos of Mr. Balls, packed him up, and went to UPS.
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| A great way to end the summer! |
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| Ready for his close-up! |
Fast forward to Today. Although he hasn't technically made his television debut, I have received some exciting and encouraging emails from the producer, including some awesome photos...this is as much as I know about the current whereabouts of Mr. Balls:
.... to be continued? ;)
