Oops, sorry it's been a while since I updated this! I recently lost my full time job so that left me a bit confused on what to do and how to take life. But on the up-side, it's going to give me more time for taxidermy, which is great!

Here are some updates on commissions and other projects:

Two stoats for soft-mounting for clients are salted, and will be rehydrated and put into a fresh bucket of tan today. The previous stoats did not turn out very well, so I trimmed them for just wallhanger use. They are still lovely and soft though! One is on ebay, and the other may be sold to a client.

Salted stoat, anyone?

I have a lot of birds to skin today. Near me defrosting are several juvenile rooks, a crow and three jackdaws! I also have two wood pigeons in the freezer that I might skin later or tomorrow. Three birds (one rook, one crow, one jackdaw) are for a client.

Various birds, two stoats and a muntjac head defrosting

All the mice are finished and ready. I filled in small bits with white milliput and will paint them a flesh colour. They will be going in the post on Monday.

I also made two rat rugs and also a guinea pig on Thursday! It was a nice change being productive after a rather unproductive week.The rats white fur has actually turned yellow though, though I have tried to whiten it with various different methods, that have failed. I am thinking perhaps I did not degrease them for long enough or something. It's odd though, in my three+ years of skinning and preserving rat skins, it has never happened. I am wondering if I let them defrost too long before fleshing and preserving. There is no smell or furslip though, which is good! I will be selling them at a lower price because of the discolouration though.

Rather discoloured looking rat 'rugs'

First guinea pig mount, which is a bit... 'long', but I like her anyway!

The crow I was working on is almost done too. I had a lot of problems with feather loss due to me making holes (I am going to be a LOT more patient next time, I'll tell you that!) I also noticed it's right eye was enlarged, so I filled it with some milliput. I will be painting it later. I also had to milliput the back of a leg where some wire came through due to the fact I was unable to sharpen the wire, and again lost patience. I learned my lesson on this one! Although the feathers are ruffled and the feet are damaged, I am still proud of this one. My first crow of many, I hope.

My first crow, needing painting.

Finally, I have a muntjac head/cape on the floor defrosting also. It's been there for about 9 hours but is still solid. It might be okay later, if not I will skin it out tomorrow. It's a cute buck with small antlers and both tusks in! First time skinning any type of deer, so that will be interesting!