I have never worked with such an amazing beast! Corvids are by far my favourite family of the bird world, it’s an honour for me to be working with the king of all corvids, the Common Raven (Corvus corax)
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I recently had the pleasure of working with a very special specimen – a stunning Mandarin Duck. I’ve been wanting to work with one for a while now!
This beautiful ornamental species was introduced from China in the mid-18th Century but didn’t start breeding and flourishing in the UK until the 1930’s.
The crazy (but beautiful!) feather arrangements on this bird were definitely challenge and slightly intimidating at first, but I think that now I’ve completed a 7ft peacock I have the confidence to do just about anything!
I spent about 9 hours + feathering and preening this duck alone, but I am very happy with how he turned out.
A hand carved mannequin was made out of balsa wood for this duck after taking various measurements from the carcass.
The left over meat from the carcass was also donated to some local hungry tawny owl chicks that were rescued, so nothing goes to waste!
To finish this project off, he’s going to be placed in a custom made glass case with a habitat and resin water base.
I will post pictures once he’s fully complete, but in the mean time take a look at the ‘in progress’ pictures below;
I’ve just finished up another design for some upcoming T-shirts; one more design to go then I am going to get some printed up for you all!
10% of proceeds from each T-shirt will be donated to various wildlife and animal charities, including the Badger Trust, Suffolk Wildlife Trust and RSPB.
I think to some people, taxidermists are painted in a bad light with concerns over animal welfare, the art being of ‘bad taste’ etc.
I pride myself in being an ethical taxidermist, which means none of the specimens I work with are killed intentionally for the purpose of taxidermy and are sustainably sourced from frozen zoo food suppliers, the result of accidental road traffic collisions, humane pest control or natural deaths.
Being a keen naturalist and wildlife enthusiast, I want to go one step further by giving something back to wildlife and the wonderful world we live in by donating a percentage of what I earn from my taxidermy and other work to these great charities.
If you can’t wait for the T-shirts, I found a bunch of unisex tank tops from my old clothing brand that I have just added to the site, featuring my ‘Great Antlered Owl’ design for just £7.99!
Some have gone already, but if you’re quick you may be able to pick one up in your size!
Here’s one of the latest projects I have completed, a gorgeous little female stoat.
It unfortunately got attacked by a dog and my customer wanted her mounted up as a result of this.
I gave her a relaxed pose on a bit of driftwood I had and completed with some moss.
I am really in to casting heads at the minute, so as you can see from the progress pictures!
I cast the head in resin which means it’s an accurate representation of the original skull, giving it a perfect fit.
The body form was handmade out of wood wool.
The tiny little Eurasian Water Shrew (Neomys fodiens) commissioned by Iain Webb at The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire went off to his new home yesterday!
He is now aptly named ‘Shrewbert’ – love it! Iain thought it would be a good idea to have the specimen mounted up for educational purposes after he found it deceased.
Notable features that distinguish it from the other species of shrew include the line of hairs under the tail forming a keel, the fringe of hairs around its feet to help with swimming, and the whiskers on its snout, the vibrissae, to help it search for food.
I’m back from my short break away now and feeling refreshed, ready and full of inspiration after being amongst so much wildlife!
I’ve just added some new products to the store, including these 5″ x 7″ Glossy Wildlife Photography prints.
I took these lovely pictures on a photography course at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, it was a wonderful day out and I enjoyed seeing the birds of prey up close, gave me an excellent insight and reference images for future projects.
If they go down well, I may print some more of my wildlife photos in the future.
You can check out some of my photography adventures by clicking the button below, mostly taken in and around rural Suffolk & Norfolk in East Anglia.
£1 from each of the prints sold will be donated to the Suffolk Wildlife Trust.
-Krysten
I recently completed a lovely Barn Owl Commission, you can read up about this project and what a nightmare I had with it in a previous blog post here
This morning, I went round to my customers house to install the Barn Owl on an incredible piece of oak branch they found and installed in their house!
I was SO pleased that she fit on there perfectly, because normally I would mount the taxidermy on to the piece of wood I intend to use for it’s permanent perch to make sure the feet are positioned nicely on it. So I was pleasantly surprised when it all worked out, especially with the addition of the little vole I added under her talons.
But in this case I had to do a bit of guess work and temporarily perch her on an old piece of wood I had until I installed her on the oak branch. She looks right at you as you walk in the door, take a look!
Happy Customers=Happy Krysten!
A few years ago, I had my own T-shirt brand called ‘Awfully Good Apparel’ where I applied my own illustrations and designs onto various apparel. It was mostly an extension of a college project and I thought it could go somewhere, but as I had uni and other commitments, unfortunately didn’t have the time to pursue it.
I loved getting the T-shirts back from the printers and sending them off all over the world!
As the I intentionally set up the ‘Taxidermy Co.’ brand as a platform to sell all kinds of natural history related items, not just taxidermy, I am toying with the idea of illustrating a few designs to get printed on T-shirts in the near future.
The designs will be inspired by the natural world and will appeal (hopefully) to nature lovers that appreciate all things living (and dead!). You can expect designs that feature skeletal structures, botanical elements and all that is flora and fauna.
I’m working on a design right now, featuring a griffin vulture that I’m drawing by hand using a dot work technique – VERY tedious but the end result will be worth it. Depending on how things turn out, I may start a kickstarter campaign, I’ve never done one before so it should be exciting!
Let me know what you think so far, feel free to follow my progress on Instagram and other social media!
– Krysten
I feel so honoured and very fortunate to work with such a majestic, beautiful bird! He’s a black shouldered peacock (male peafowl).
This project took an awful lot of work, but the end result is so worth it and I’m very happy with how he has turned out.
It’s the biggest bird I’ve worked on to date and whilst it’s much the same process as any other bird, the long train was what made this project different to anything I have done.
After I skinned the bird, I had to remove the train and under tail coverts in order to clean them properly as the many quills of the train are incredibly fatty and it just made the whole process a lot easier than having the rest of the skin attached, plus there’s less risk of spoiling the rest of the skin whilst cleaning it!
After I salted the train for 24 hours to train the moisture out, I thoroughly washed and cleaned in between each quill to remove all of the fat then layered on the preservation paste. I then cut out a chunk of my foam mannequin to set the train and tail coverts separately on it with fast setting car body filler.
Once that was all set, I mounted the rest of the skin like I would any other bird, attached him to the antique wooden base then re-attached the train and tail to complete – viola!
All in all, he’s taken approx. 20 hours so far. I have to spend another hour or so doing the final finishing touches to his face then he’s all done!
This magnificent specimen will be for sale once he’s complete, but if you want to get in early to make reservations please get in touch: info@taxidermyco.uk
Thanks!
-Krysten
P.S no part of this bird was wasted, the meat was donated to a local ferret keeper and hotel, it went down a treat apparently!
I started putting back together this little beauty today. A beautiful female Barn Owl (Tyto alba).
She was sadly recovered by the side of the road after getting tangled in some brambles. She was also covered in blow fly eggs and nearly aborted the project this morning but with a LOT of patience, cleaning and preening things are starting to come together again, and I’m so glad they are!
A little mouse is going to go under her talons to complete, then it’s going to be installed on a custom piece of wood in my clients house.
I will post pictures once she’s finished 🙂
-Krysten