Basics

[gnasher16 30,062]

Is there a book or website anyone would recommend on the absolute basics of Taxidermy ?.....and is there any legalities in the Uk to any random Joe having a go at a squirrel or small bird etc ?

[delswal 3,819]

11 hours ago, gnasher16 said:

Is there a book or website anyone would recommend on the absolute basics of Taxidermy ?.....and is there any legalities in the Uk to any random Joe having a go at a squirrel or small bird etc ?

Well let me know if you start and want a small bird................i've a firecrest in the freezer you can have...........wont take a lot to post lol

[gnasher16 30,062]

Thankyou squire though im told tiny birds are not the easiest thing for a beginner....i dont know if ive asked a top secret question or maybe just nobody comes on this part of the forum 

[Mister Gain 1,764]

On 09/12/2019 at 17:08, gnasher16 said:

Is there a book or website anyone would recommend on the absolute basics of Taxidermy ?.....and is there any legalities in the Uk to any random Joe having a go at a squirrel or small bird etc ?

Gnasher, there is an interesting bloke on youtube called Peter Wood. He's a holy Joe but as well as being an accomplished artist he has loads of other hobbies he turns his hand to, including very basic taxidermy, and he explains it well. Watched him do fish, birds and small mammals. Might be worth a quick look, here's a link to one of his video's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbAl4vhjpnA

 

[gnasher16 30,062]

On 12/12/2019 at 07:11, Mister Gain said:

Gnasher, there is an interesting bloke on youtube called Peter Wood. He's a holy Joe but as well as being an accomplished artist he has loads of other hobbies he turns his hand to, including very basic taxidermy, and he explains it well. Watched him do fish, birds and small mammals. Might be worth a quick look, here's a link to one of his video's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbAl4vhjpnA

 

Excellent mate thats perfect thankyou....an Englishman as well,most of this sort of stuff on Youtube seems to be Yanks.

I,ll have a quiet hour alone with that later thanks again mate.

[bell 3,591]

16 hours ago, gnasher16 said:

Excellent mate thats perfect thankyou....an Englishman as well,most of this sort of stuff on Youtube seems to be Yanks.

I,ll have a quiet hour alone with that later thanks again mate.

You can buy all the gear online at snowdonia taxidermy.  Nothing to stop you doing most mammals and your common birds.  Any birds of prey will require an A10 licence.  I’m told crows are the easiest to start with.....

[fireman 10,870]

Iv'e met Rob who posts his work on here and although a busy man he seems a cracking chap who took time i knew he didn't have to show me around his workshop and have a chat when i dropped off and picked up some bits,maybe pm him and he could help you in some way.

[Mister Gain 1,764]

On 13/12/2019 at 14:46, gnasher16 said:

Excellent mate thats perfect thankyou....an Englishman as well,most of this sort of stuff on Youtube seems to be Yanks.

I,ll have a quiet hour alone with that later thanks again mate.

If you decide to have a go, as per his method, let me know as I have a couple of small unopened packs of Borax I can send you.

[gnasher16 30,062]

On 14/12/2019 at 16:19, Mister Gain said:

If you decide to have a go, as per his method, let me know as I have a couple of small unopened packs of Borax I can send you.

Good man thankyou mate...im just trying to suss out if his way would now be seen as " old hat " or whether they still use wire netting and loft insulation stuffed down the legs .....seemed a bit Blue Peter to me that but f**k it what do i know.

[gnasher16 30,062]

On 14/12/2019 at 10:25, fireman said:

Iv'e met Rob who posts his work on here and although a busy man he seems a cracking chap who took time i knew he didn't have to show me around his workshop and have a chat when i dropped off and picked up some bits,maybe pm him and he could help you in some way.

I have been in touch with Rob he seems a top chap in his field.....probably not the best to compare a first effort to though 

[Mister Gain 1,764]

11 hours ago, gnasher16 said:

Good man thankyou mate...im just trying to suss out if his way would now be seen as " old hat " or whether they still use wire netting and loft insulation stuffed down the legs .....seemed a bit Blue Peter to me that but f**k it what do i know.

Yes, definitely old school. I recall him mentioning in one of the videos that it was how he learnt from and old fellow as a young lad, and if you consider that the old guy probably learnt the method from a predecessor then it would be donkey's years old. No doubt there are more user friendly methods available today, back in the old days they wouldn't have had the luxury of buying pre-formed body moulds off the shelf, and the array of eyes available now is massive.

I only bought the borax powder to try out on the next fish to die in my pond, which happened to be a grey and white fully scaled ghost koi about 12 lbs in weight, anyway I managed to bollox it up hence the unopened borax. Hope you have more success than I did. 

[gnasher16 30,062]

3 hours ago, Mister Gain said:

Yes, definitely old school. I recall him mentioning in one of the videos that it was how he learnt from and old fellow as a young lad, and if you consider that the old guy probably learnt the method from a predecessor then it would be donkey's years old. No doubt there are more user friendly methods available today, back in the old days they wouldn't have had the luxury of buying pre-formed body moulds off the shelf, and the array of eyes available now is massive.

I only bought the borax powder to try out on the next fish to die in my pond, which happened to be a grey and white fully scaled ghost koi about 12 lbs in weight, anyway I managed to bollox it up hence the unopened borax. Hope you have more success than I did. 

Pre - formed bodies almost seems like cheating to me....either do it all or not at all would be my outlook.....besides which being creative seems half the talent of it....just wrapping a fur around a model dont seem right to me somehow........theres certainly a lot to it and i,ll probably nause it right up when the time comes,but its an itch id like to scratch at some point.

[socks 32,253]

Are you going to go all old school and brain tan the furs gnash ? .......

[gnasher16 30,062]

On 17/12/2019 at 13:09, socks said:

Are you going to go all old school and brain tan the furs gnash ? .......

Well if its good enough for Tom Oar its good enough for me 

In all honesty i aint doing nothing till i have at least half an idea what im doing or i,ll end up either poisoning myself or hacking a finger off im somewhat heavy handed at the best of times.

[socks 32,253]

It’s the last series you will see him in as he has left the mountains and moved to Florida ......