Newbies Worry No More!

Mine is an old glass display cabinet and the way its currently organized is from top down: Anything mummified or insect or not specifically a skull, mammals of VA (the state I live in), domesticated animals, deer, animals not from VA, then a random assortment of cows and deer. I also have run out if room so I’ve started piling things around such as my closet full of cow skulls and the row of African game skulls under my window. I honestly need a new display case (or cases) and a new organization system since I really have outgrown my original set up. I can post pics later if anyone wants a visual.

Hello anon!

Getting into VC is one big learning experience. I know that before I started cleaning my own animals up, I spent a lot of time reading tutorials because I was so worried about doing something wrong - and when I started doing things myself I was still anxious about everything! But a good thing to do is take what you’ve read and experiment a bit.

Here are a couple of useful posts that have a lot of links to good information, depending on what you need:

http://equuslupus.tumblr.com/post/89970113679/animal-preservation

http://prettydeadstuff.tumblr.com/post/128425538450/vulture-culture-masterpost

And personally what I would recommend for an already-clean animal skeleton is just a bit of scrubbing with dish soap and leaving it to dry. You can also put it in some peroxide if you want to, the longer you leave it in the whiter it will become, and it also helps bubble out dirt out from trickier areas of the bones. If some of the bones are still stuck together by mummified sinew you might need to soak/macerate that off, or pop it in some biological washing powder/warm water. If you get any blotches of grease on them you can also pop them in some soapy water for a while to help with that.

Alright, listen. I’m a taxidermist. I’m a skeleton articulator. I work with formaldehyde, I preserve animals, I could even go as far as I’m an embalmer. And my job isn’t pretty.

My job will never be pretty. So let’s talk.

As someone in this community who likes to observe, I’ve noticed that on several social media platforms, we’re getting terminated, blocked, shadow-banned - this is where we (as taxidermists, articulators, etc) post about our work and use it as a business platform. We are not sticking our noses in other communities to expose our work to offend someone. We are not using our work as a weapon like so many people portray us to. We are working. 

Terminating our accounts because we post something with the slightest bit of blood is telling us to not talk about our work. You’re telling us, as employed people, that our job is disgusting and practically shouldn’t be a job. My job is important. Our jobs are important.

Not being able to realize that someone has to do the dirty work to make something so lively and beautiful like a bear in a museum is on you. But, preserving animals is important. Not everyone agrees, but think about the generations to come. Think about hundreds of years from now when taxidermy is completely dead. A child will read about a species that was so common for us and it will be extinct then. They will read about what it looked like, maybe see photos. But no child, without taxidermy, will be able to appreciate an animal in it’s true form, before them, in a museum. In a zoo. That animal will no longer be talked about because it’s gone and without taxidermy? Without preservation? You lose that animal’s beauty. You lose that animal’s existence.

Taxidermy isn’t just there to tan skins and stuff an animal. It’s there to keep these animals lively and beautiful. It’s there as a learning experience.

Hell, I’m a taxidermist and I’m an aspiring Veterinarian. You mean to tell me that what I do as a taxidermist won’t help me better my work as a Vet? It most definitely will. Maybe some people don’t use it as a tool. But it’s helped me learn. It’s helped me grow. I work with the dead and the living and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Get the stigma that taxidermists kill animals just to stuff them out of your head. Stigma does nothing but portray something as the worst possible thing it could be.

We do not kill animals just to be able to stuff them. Do we work on trophies for hunters? Sometimes. Do we work with trappers? Sometimes. But we also work on pets to preserve their beauty and keep them beautiful. We also work on the roadkill fawn you saw on the highway 3 miles from your house. We also preserve the beautiful leopards you see in zoos. Those ligers people loved to look at because the concept of them was so fascinating? Being able to work on these animals is beautiful and such an amazing thing. Telling us we’re being terminated or banned from something because our job contains the uglier side (to society) of an animal’s death is telling us to shut up. And I will not.

-The best way to learn is on the job

-Snakes kept in ethanol for 50 years have a very specific smell

-it’s like greasy vodka

-I’ve found where all the queers go in science and it’s museums, I’ve found my people

-A right of passage includes getting a tattoo of your preferred genus 

-The 60 year old entomologist who is apparently a celebrity in the beetle circles has a huge back-spanning tattoo of a scarab, and my co-worker only discovered this when she saw said entomologist at a rock concert

-You have to keep those stained skeleton specimens in jars of glycerin because it’s only in glycerin that light goes through the specimens tissue to reveal the blue/red/green skeleton otherwise they’re an opaque white

-Glycerin leeches through glass

-You will be skinning an animal for a few hours and be staring at the bare flesh and viscera and be suddenly intensely hungry. That’s normal.

-You’ll find a “problem specimen” in a jar with no number tag and you’ll ask the collection manager what to do about it, she’ll turn around pick a book from a huge shelf of identical books and ask for the place and date on the jar and then she’ll flip to a page, check that, and then check the online database before saying “it’s this one, make a new tag”. And you’ll spend the rest of the day mystified at the incredible record-keeping that’s been happening for 130 years.

-Vegans haven’t discovered museum collections yet and everyone hopes it stays that way lest we have to constantly defend another vital aspect of scientific progress

- “Our collection isn’t haunted because animals don’t hold that kind of grudge, everything in the herpetology section murdered for their dinner everyday, but the anthropology collection on the other hand…”

The first thing to do is to look up the laws and regulations about taxidermy in your area! In some places it’s illegal to practice taxidermy even on the hobbyist level without a license, so make sure to check your laws to ensure you can practice taxidermy legally. 

The most direct path would be to see if anyone in your area is offering taxidermy classes or seminars! The benefit of taking courses is that you will be learning from people who already have years of experience in the taxidermy field, and they can provide helpful instruction and critiques of your work. The downside is the expense, as classes tend to range from a couple hundred to a few thousand dollars for a day to a few weeks of instruction. If you’re serious about breaking into the professional scene of taxidermy, starting a business, or competing in shows, classes are the best way to get a head start!

Now from a hobbyist standpoint, the best way to get started is to gather as much information as possible. The more you know going into your first mount, the easier it is once you get started ordering materials and mounting. If you want to learn from home, there are a few selected readings, videos, forums, and just general information I’d recommend.

Books:

Big-Game Taxidermy: A Complete Guide to Deer, Antelope, and Elk by Bargain Price - I’ve read this book and it has some great information about general taxidermy practices. It’s for game heads but can be applied to any medium to large mammal mounts.

Home Book of Taxidermy and Tanning by Gerald J. Grantz - Another one I read for research purposes. It has a lot of good information about different kinds of mounts, tanning methods, and various uses for preserved animal parts. It’s better for information then instruction though! 

Herter’s Professional Course in the Science of Modern Taxidermy - I haven’t read this one in a while but it was one of the books that helped me get started. It had a lot of information, some history, and even a section for mounting more odd animals like birds.

Taxidermy Step By Step by Waddy F. McFall - This one is in my library but I’ve only briefly thumbed through it. However it has a lot of good info like how to take form measurements.

An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for the Artist - this is the full online pdf of the book. Though not specifically a taxidermy book, this is the kind of anatomical understanding you want to have of the animals you intend to preserve. Taxidermy is the process of mounting the skin over a form, but the forms will still need top be adjusted to accurately portray the underlying muscle and bone structure. Needless to say, it doesn’t hurt to have a few anatomy books in your library, and there are more specific taxidermy based books for anatomy available.

I’d also recommend some of the older books from pre-1950, especially books 1800s and early 1900s. Things have changed a lot since the beginning of taxidermy, but there’s still some information I’ve only been able to find in older trapping, tanning, and taxidermy books that’s still relevant today.

Online Resources:

taxidermy.net - an amazing forum to gather information and materials! I tend to just read through old topics and pin or write down any information that I think is relevant to how I wish to go about my taxidermy practices. 

Ojai Valley Taxidermy - the YT channel of Chuck Testa (yes that Chuck Testa). The link is for the playlist of Testa’s Taxidermy Tips where he goes through the entire process of mounting a deer shoulder mount. I watched this while I mounted my first deer and it was incredibly helpful! 

Brian Hendricks Taxidermy - another great YT channel with information from start to finish for skinning, tanning, and taxidermy. The link is for a playlist of him mounting a fox, and he even covers very important details such as tail sewing.

Mountable vs Non-Mountable Hides - some animals are not even able to be mounted properly, so it’s important to know the difference between the two.

Documentaries (these are more for fun and inspiration):

Taxidermy’s Best in Show - New York Times

Preserving Lonesome George

World Taxidermy Championship - TheBrainScoop

Lifelike

Memorial - A Tribute to Taxidermy

Now that you’ve done your research and gathered a tanned critter to mount, you’ll need to order materials. VanDykes and McKenzie are our go-to places for ordering forms, eyes, clay, habitats, and really anything else that you’d need. My personal recommendation would be to buy a mounting kit, as they tend to come with all you need and more, including step by step instructions on how to go about mounting the animal. If there’s not a kit available, here’s a(n) (incomplete) tool list of what you’ll need for a basic mount. Some of this will be available on the site while other things you can use off-brand substitutes.

Taxidermy Form

Critter Clay

Hide Paste

Needles (straight & curved, size depends on the animal)

Thread (dental floss is actually also good substitute and cheaper)

Tucking Tools (clay/ceramic tools)

Dremel (very recommended for carving forms)

Sandpaper (various grits)

Glass Eyes (will need to be measured to fit the form)

Paints & Brushes (acrylic washes will work)

Comb & Brush

Blow Dryer

You have all your tools, materials, information, and your animal, so it’s time to set up your workspace. Your work area should be somewhere well lit and have a space where you can set up an area of photo references. When mounting an animal it’s good to have multiple images of the animal displayed around to make the animal look as lifelike as possible. Remember to also think about the ‘mood’ of the piece. Taxidermy is like a 3D photo that captures a moment in the animal’s life. Were they alert, nervous, hungry? These questions help a ton with gathering references and knowing what you want the final product to look like. Even a few concept sketches can help to know how you want everything positioned.

Now that everything is setup, it’s time to start mounting! The videos linked above provide much more detailed information for any large or small mount, but I’ll also list out the major steps that go into completing a mount. These also don’t have to be done in this particular order, but they are steps that must be completed:

Soak the hide to make it easier to slip over the form.

Insert eyes into the form.

Insert earliners into the ears.

Fit the hide over the form to find areas that need to be adjusted.

Make adjustments (sand/carve/mold the form if it’s too loose or too tight)

Add clay to nose, lips, eyes, etc.

Fit hide over the form again, if everything fits, cover the form in hide paste to attach the skin to the form. If things are still too lose or too tight, continue to adjust the form until everything fits.

Sew up incisions.

Tuck the lips, eyes, nose.

Make secondary adjustments (adjust nose, ears, eyes, add/remove clay)

Pin the hide to ensure it doesn’t shift while drying.

Clean off any clay or paste that’s on the fur.

Blow dry, brush, and comb to groom/fluff/dry the hide.

Complete finish work (painting the eyes, ears, nose, etc., extra grooming/brushing.)

And that’s it! Talking from personal experience, taxidermy is just a lot of working and re-working the hide and form to ensure you have the right base for the skin to stretch over. It’s not particularly difficult, but there are certain details and skills that separate the hobbyist from the professional (especially in form adjustment and finish work). Like every form of art, you’ll only continue to improve your craft and become better and more efficient the more you study and practice. 

Anyway, I hope this helps, and good luck!!