I have recently had the most incredible opportunity to work with Jonny Poole from Animatronic Birds to ‘feather’ the incredible new animatronic form he has been developing over the past few years.

This is unlike ANY other taxidermy project I have ever worked on before so needless to say I was ridiculously excited about the prospect of seeing my taxidermy work ‘come to life’ on a whole other animated level!

Although this project presented many unchartered challenges for me, I’m SO glad I found new and innovative ways to complete it and I’m now equipped with more knowledge and experience in the ever evolving world of taxidermy. Unlike ‘traditional’ taxidermy, the skull was not retained in this specimen and the skin of the Tawny Owl was mounted directly on to the animatronic form itself. I also had to remove the eyelids to reattach them to the form so that they moved fluidly.

Jonny gave me a thorough demo of the animatronic form before I started work so I knew the basics of how it moved and worked – I was honestly blown away by the attention to detail he has gone to, to make it move fluidly like a real owl, even to the degree that if you move the body of the bird, the head stays in the same place!

Turning on the form after I had mounted the skin on to the form was both extremely nerve-racking AND one of the most exciting moments of my taxidermy career so far!

I look forward to working with you again and seeing what exciting new opportunities this may bring in the future 🙂

Krysten

CITES A10 Certification Number: 594926/01

Hello folks, I hope you’re all doing well and keeping safe! I just wanted to share with you my latest project, a gorgeous little Nuthatch (Sitta europaea)

I love seeing them scuttle down the trunks of trees like this, it’s a very signature pose of the nuthatch and both the client and I agreed there was no other way to execute this piece!

I find them to be quite a bolshie garden bird, always top of the heir-achy at the feeding stations (unless a sparrowhawk is nearby of course!) allowing them to get first pickings of the peanuts!

Overall, this was a thoroughly enjoyable little bird to preserve, stopping a moment in natural history through the art of taxidermy 🙂

I am incredibly grateful to have my workshop here at home, so I’ve still been able to get some work done over this very strange time in all of our lives!

I have recently found the courage to work on a very special specimen that I’ve been putting off for years, due to the fact they are notoriously hard to work with for reasons unknown. They are a bird that are known to have issues when processing, such as ‘feather slip’ where the feathers fall out very easily due to bacteria getting in to the epidermis.

I really, really didn’t want to mess this one up, so I took some very deep breaths and prepared myself, took my time and I am SO relieved to say that it came out ok! It is of course, the Common Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis), the vibrant jewel found along our lakes waterways in the UK.

If you’re interested in purchasing this piece, please click here for more details

Also completed this week, is this gorgeous Barn Owl that is going home this week. She’s going to be placed upon a beam in a modern barn conversion, so she will feel right at home!

If you want to keep up to date with what I’m currently working on, please do give me a follow on instagram @taxidermyco – see you there!

UPDATE 27/01/2021

Sadly due to the announcement of the tougher restrictions of lockdown regulations due to the Covid-19 pandemic, any orders placed within this timeframe will be significantly delayed.

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding. Like most people, I am doing everything I can to maintain a ‘normal’ schedule and hope to be back in full swing as soon as the situation permits.

Stay safe and best wishes,

Krysten

UPDATE 03/11/2020

With the announcement of the second lockdown, please note that any orders placed under the new regulations will be delayed until they have been lifted, hopefully on the 2nd December.

I will also be safely holding on to any existing commission work during this time.

If you have any questions or queries, please do get in touch.

Stay safe, stay strong and best wishes,

Krysten

UPDATE 12/06/2020

Due to the lifting of certain aspects of the lockdown, I am now able to post out orders whilst adhering to the guidelines.

I’m still restricting going out and therefore ordering a lot of supplies from online, this includes packaging. So please allow a couple of extra days than usual for delivery.

I am happy to announce that my customers are now safely able to drop off and collect existing work at a safe distance .

If you have any questions or queries, please do get in touch.

Best wishes,

Krysten

UPDATE 25/03/2020

Due to the recent restrictive lockdown measures in the UK, I’m now going to be postponing all orders until further notice.

I am in self isolation due to chronic health conditions. Regardless of this, we have been instructed by the government to not go out, unless it is absolutely essential anyway. I don’t want to put a strain on our delivery men, who are still keeping the country going by delivering essential items.

I hugely appreciate anyone that chooses to support me by making a purchase during this time, but please be aware, there will be a significant delay in getting these orders posted out.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience.

Please stay home.

Krysten

Now, I don’t usually take on pet commissions, but when a client got in touch about her beloved Gloster Canary, aptly named ‘Friar Tuck’, that had just passed, I couldn’t resist this one.

As I’ve had a lot of experience with birds, I feel a lot more confident taking on such a project as opposed to say, a dog or a cat (which I cannot see myself doing in the future at this point in time) as they carry so much more emotion and expression than birds.

They are still filled with just the same amount of character, none the less! I explained to the client that taxidermy is just a representation of a former animal and cannot carry their ‘spark’ or energy that you may have remembered him by. Once agreed to these conditions, I was happy to proceed.

I had lots of reference images of Friar Tuck from when he was alive that I payed closed attention too when I was modelling the bird. A as a result, the client is happy with how he looks and said:

Oh he looks absolutely amazing! You have done such a good job of capturing his character.

Which is always a massive relief to hear, especially when working on a bird with a bit more significance! This project was finished with installing him in to a nice glass dome with some moss that compliments his plumage well. He’ll be returning to his home next week.

First post of 2020 albeit a little late!

What have I been up to since the start of the year? Well, for starters I was desperate to get this Roe doe complete so I could have a fresh start to 2020, after putting it back in the freezer for so many months after getting frustrated.

I encountered a lot of issues, plus she had an unusually small head compared to her neck which meant lots of work to modify the form. I’m happy with her considering the circumstances.

I’m nowhere near as confident with mammals as I am with birds, but I hope to improve my mammal skills this year.

Call me the DIY queen!

Also on the agenda was to refurbish my workshop, as my existing work bench was falling to pieces. I took on this project myself as I thought it didn’t look too difficult, looking at video tutorials on youtube.

Heck, was I wrong. They always make it look easier than it is! Throw in chronic fatigue syndrome and relentless pain in to the mix, it took twice as long as what it probably should have done, but I am SO happy with how it’s turning out.

I now have a super sturdy work bench that allows for objects to be placed down and not roll off immediately, AND cupboards that open and close and everything. They’re not the best, I’ll admit, but they are functional which is the most important part, right?!

I’m now well on the way to having a sufficient enough workspace that should last me the next few years at least, ready for all of my exciting projects!

Follow me on Instagram to see what goes on behind the scenes and what I’m working on right now! @TaxidermyCo

The last day you can place an order in time for Christmas is:

Thursday 19th December at Midnight.

Next Day Special delivery can be applied at additional cost up until Saturday 21st December.

The smallest chicken in the world

I was recently given the challenge of recreating a beloved pet Serama chicken, ‘Artemis’ –  the smallest breed of chicken in the world!

I knew this project would be a challenge, as it involved casting the head. I’ve cast many heads before, but this one was different as it was being used for the exterior and is the main focal point of the mount, so it had to be near perfect!

It is possible to taxidermy the whole specimen with the head comb and wattle in tact, but the disadvantage of this is shrinkage.

The skin shrinks as it’s drying, so if I had left it, it would look a lot less ‘plump’ and alive once complete, plus having a resin cast head will make it less appealing to any nasty pests that want to have a feast in the future.

Carefully skinning the

head where feather meets bare skin was very nerve wracking – the head is the area you do NOT want to mess up on a taxidermy mount!

Once I had done this and wiped the sweat from my brow, I injected the comb with water, pinned everything in position, inserted glass eyes and placed in the freezer overnight.

By the end of the next day, I have made a silicone mould of Artemis’s frozen head.

After the silicone had cured, I removed the head from the mould and poured in the fast cast resin. It took a few attempts to get the most suitable cast, as previous attempts had air bubbles and parts of the comb didn’t come out very well. Also, I only had limited attempts as I only had a limited amount of glass eyes that were set in to the resin cast, eek!

Painting the head was the next step – I did this with a whole palette of oil paints, using photos of Artemis as reference to get the colour right.

Thank you, Kimberly!

In all honesty, I would not have been able to carry out this project if I didn’t have guidance from the fabulous Kimberly Bunting of Flock Taxidermy.

She made a fantastic, thoroughly detailed tutorial on how to cast a chicken head which made me feel a lot more confident taking on this project, so I would like to say a massive THANK YOU to her for doing this!

The unique nature of the Serama Chicken’s posture made it more difficult than your average bird to pose, but overall I’m so happy with how this little champ turned out.

Now he can be reunited with his owner!

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