‘Two For Joy’ Taxidermy Magpies
Two For Joy
Here’s my latest commissioned project, a pair of lovely magpies!
A lot of people are superstitious about magpies, seeing one being somewhat bad luck, originating from the rhyme ‘One For Sorrow’
For this reason, I prefer to create magpie pieces in pairs.
They’ve now flown off to their new home.
No photography ever captures magpies beautiful iridescent colours on their feathers.
Taxidermy Swan in Progress
Taxidermy Mute Swan
I actually skinned this swan a long while back after she unfortunately fell victim to a fox attack.
Due to a change in law relating to the Royal Swan Marker, I can no longer sell this specimen.
I can, however keep her for my own personal collection. It would be such a shame to waste such a beautiful specimen!
Due to the lack of space, as well as time and energy due to my on-going health issues at the moment, I opted for a half/head mount.
It’s still surprising just how much work is involved!
Waterfowl have extremely dense, waterproof feathers, as well has having extremely fatty deposits on the feather tracts and skin to make them buoyant on the water.
This makes the de-fleshing, washing and drying process twice as long and even longer when the feathers are white.
But it’s worth it, look how beautiful she is!
Once dry, I will do some re-construction work of the bill and do some paint work to make her shine.
Taxidermy Red Squirrel
Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) Taxidermy Commission
I’ve never worked with a Red Squirrel before, only our invasive Grey’s, so this project was a real treat!
Unfortunately this little Red Squirrel was found on the side of the road in Cumbria by the client as the result of a road traffic accident.
I’m surprised at just how much smaller and fluffier they are compared to Grey Squirrels!
This poor squirrel had a badly smashed up skull, which made taking measurements needed for eye placement and facial features impossible.
I took a death mask of her before I started work, which helped me to roughly estimate where certain things had to be placed.
In this process, I made an alginate cast and poured plaster of Paris in to it to get a 3D model of her head.
She was placed on a piece of wood provided by the client and she’s going to be placed pride of place in the corner.
Taxidermy Goldcrest – The smallest bird!
The Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)
One of the taxidermist’s greatest challenges.
Here are the results of the gorgeous little Goldcrest I recently completed.
Considering how small and fiddly it was, I am extremely pleased with how it came out!
The glass dome with the pine foliage really sets this piece off.
It’s now in it’s new home with the owner who found this poor bird laying in the middle of the road.
She is really pleased with how it turned out and she left me a lovely review!
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I am extremely pleased with my Goldcrest commission from Taxidermy co.
Krysten created a simple mount in a protective dome that fulfilled my brief perfectly, showcasing the tiny form of the Goldcrest in a fabulous way. She listened to my brief, ensured that the work stayed within budget and regularly updated me with her progress.
After completion, the item arrived in quick time and extremely well packaged. I would not hesitate to commission again
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I really do get to work with some lovely people.
The Biggest Smallest Challenge! – Taxidermy Goldcrest
The Goldcrest (Regulus regulus), along with the Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus) is the UK’s smallest bird, weighing just 5.5 grams – about the weight of a 10 pence piece!
Needless to say, this bird was definitely going to be a challenge due to it’s size, so I have been putting it off for a while now.
Small birds seem to just fall apart from even the warmth of your hands, so did 90% of this project with tweezers alone!
After soaking in an alcohol solution to set the feathers and prevent bacteria before I started work.
It was extremely fiddly to do, but over all I am pretty happy with how this little one has turned out!
The hardest part was probably wiring the legs.
On all birds, to be able to attach them to their base/perch, I have to insert wire through the ball of their foot, all the way up their legs into the body cavity, where they are attached to the body form.
Take a look at the ‘behind the scenes’ photos to really get a sense of just how small this specimen is!
Work update!
Work & life update!
I’ve recently been going through a bit of a tough time, so have unfortunately had to take a little bit of time out from my work, hence the radio silence, sorry guys.
(Not to mention, I now have a little puppy, Ruby, who is taking up most of my time at the minute, but she’s cute so I’ll let her off!)
The last project I was able to work on, was this beautiful melanistic pheasant.
The customer wanted him in a ‘strutting’ pose. Extra wire enforcement is needed to maintain this posture, which are hidden within the legs (visible wires will not be included in the final piece, they are just back up whilst he dries).
I really love working with birds in motion, I think it gives them so much more movement and life within a piece.
White Pheasant Commission
Leucisitic Hen Pheasant Commission
Here’s another project I am working on at the moment, a leucistic hen pheasant.
White birds are always a challenge – a) Because white feathers are very delicate, due to the lack of melanin and b) generally a little bit more work is involved with removing blood stains from them!
This pheasant was particularly problematic due to having smashed bones everywhere, including the skull! So a lot of repair work had to be done.
Having said that, I’m pleased with how she has turned out!
Taxidermy Green Woodpecker (Juvenile)
Taxidermy Green Woodpecker Commission
Here’s the latest commission all finished up – a lovely little Juvenile Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) who sadly came in to my hands after flying in to a window.
I can tell that this one is a male, because he has signs of a red area within his black ‘moustache’, whereas females’ are solid black.
This is the first woodpecker I have worked with. I’ve been wanting to work with one for ages because they have some pretty cool anatomical features!
Also, I think from now on, I’m going to tell you a little fact about each specimen I work with, so here I go (this one will blow your mind):
Woodpecker’s skulls have a groove in between the eyes on the right hand side to allow for storage of their super long tongue.
I wanted to get some good photos to show you guys, but unfortunately this one’s skull was fractured really badly in to lots of pieces, so it made it a bit difficult! (I have a few more woodpeckers to do in the near future though, so I will show you in detail then, it’s SUPER fascinating!)
Along with a fractured skull, this young woodpecker also had some blow fly eggs embedded in certain areas – a taxidermists’s worst nightmare! So unforuately he is a little scruffy in some areas, but Juveniles are generally a little scruffy anyways – I think it gives him character.
Wader Chicks! Latest needle felted ‘Faux Taxidermy’
Needle Felted Faux Taxidermy Chick
I’ve recently continued my needle felting adventure in making some super adorable wader chicks!
Check out the first one, a little ringed plover chick. He took little over 3 hours to complete, I’m so pleased with how he turned out, I can’t wait to make more!
I already have ideas in the pipeline on how I can introduce these ‘faux taxidermy’ pieces in to real taxidermy projects! A tawny owl with an owlet, perhaps?
I’m having a lot of fun finding out what baby birds have the most ‘cute’ factor – most seem to be waders so far (I LOVE their clumsy long legs)
If you have any ‘cute chick’ suggestions, please feel free to let me know! – [email protected] or tweet me at @taxidermyco 🙂
Taxidermy Muntjac Shoulder Mount Commission
Taxidermy Muntjac Shoulder Mount
This was my first ever shoulder mount commission! A lovely Muntjac Buck.
He was a challenge to work with because the cape of the deer was cut just before the shoulder, so it didn’t fit around the form properly, leaving some areas exposed.
It’s my job to find solutions to problems and to make thins work. After a lot of searching for the ‘right’ branch, I made it an attachment to the piece to disguise these bare areas where the skin was too short.
As this is a Breckland buck, I thought it would also be a nice touch to include some bracken leaves.
Despite the difficulties this specimen presented, I am actually pleased with the end result!
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