My taxidermy dreams came true!
I’ve been on a peafowl breeders waiting list for a while now…on Friday I got the call that a beautiful male peacock was available. I’m absolutely mesmerised by his colours! Honestly feel like the luckiest girl in the world right now.
I’m currently in the process of treating the magnificent train and tail of his. I’ll make another post soon of the progress I’ve made on him! Or view ‘my story’ as it’s happening on Instagram @TaxidermyCo
This taxidermy peacock will eventually be for sale.
Taxidermy Soft Mount Fox Commission
I’m currently working on a soft mount taxidermy fox for a customer. A ‘Soft Mount’ is a process where the head of the animal is traditionally mounted, but instead of mounting the skin to a crafted form, the skin is treated, tanned and broken so it’s flexible, armature is made and teddybear like material is used to fill the skin, making the fox flexible, posable and cuddly!
As he is a roadkill fox, he has some damage to his face that I am going to have to repair, but over all he is in fantastic condition and has the most luxurious, fluffy winter coat on him!
I have some work to do on him yet but I will be sure to post finished pictures of him soon.
Hope everyone is having a great Easter!
– Krysten
Taxidermy Water Shrew Project
Taxidermy Water Shrew Project
I recently got commissioned by a The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire & Northamptonshire to process a little Eurasian Water Shrew (Neomys fodiens) that they found deceased.
Iain Webb from the wildlife trust thought it would be a great idea to have the specimen mounted up for educational purposes, to note the features that distinguish it from the other species of shrew, which 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.
Although the water shrew is fairly larger compared to their common cousins, it was still a very small little animal, the smallest animal that I have worked with so far. It was extremely fiddly and a challenge to complete, especially installing his 1mm eyes, but I am happy with the final outcome!
I placed the Water Shrew on a habitat base that I prepared earlier, made from carved foam airbrushed to replicate a rock and clear resin to imitate the water.
I just need to paint a few areas then he will be done! Better photos to follow soon.
Thank you for reading!
– Krysten
Sleeping Mice Commission
Custom Taxidermy Commission
Here’s a little something I worked on recently!
I got a commission from someone wanting some custom sleeping mice arranged in a circle for a special, unique birthday gift for someone.
It was a challenge posing them in to an almost perfect circle, but I liked the final outcome and the little glass dome finishes it of nicely.
If you want to commission me to create a custom piece of taxidermy, don’t hesitate to get in touch today!
I’d love to hear your ideas 🙂
‘The Highbury Squirrel’
I recently received an exciting commission by GBH London who were working on behalf of a client to make a bespoke friendly, chunky taxidermy squirrel for an instillation.
They wanted to recreate the moment a mischievous squirrel ran on to the pitch during a football match at Arsenal Football Club.
This little guy is now running along a beam, on display at the Puma Box at the Arsenal Football Club, which is pretty darn cool!
I tried to reflect his cheeky character, GBH kindly sent me a quick snap of him in action:
Would you believe it, he even has his own twitter account?!
If you’re looking to own your own bespoke piece of taxidermy, do get in touch today so we can discuss your project!
Taxidermy Hedgehog
Taxidermy Hedgehog (Pet)
Towards the end of last year, my best friend’s pet African Pygmy Hedgehog unfortunately passed away. She asked me to reincarnate her deceased pet hedgehog ‘Nerisa Prickles’ in taxidermy form, so she could keep her forever! It was a bit nerve-wracking as this would be my first ‘pet’ commission, plus I’ve never worked on a hedgehog before and I had no idea what they’d be like to skin and process. Turns out, it was relatively easy, apart from the prickly spines stabbing you in the palm every second! The only thing I noticed was the high fat content of the hedgehog, it was much more so than the other animals I have processed due to them being hibernating animals, they rely on their high fat content to get them through the winter! So lots of thorough cleaning involved.
After she dried out, I finished the little hedgehog by airbrushing a little bit of colour on her face and feet and added some gloss varnish to the nose for that cute ‘wet nose’ look. Here is the end result!