I've finally popped my taxidermy cherry!

As many of you will know I've been trying to get myself on a taxidermy course all year, and after booking one, I have had it cancelled on me about 8 times! So finally I said no more and cancelled it myself and asked for a refund. I thought about having a go myself at home with no help, but this idea left me with many questions like, where do I get a dead animal from? what equipment will I need to use? where do I get stuff like that from, and of course how do I actually do it?

So I held off having a go myself, and it payed off; a few weeks ago I got a phone call from my father-in-law, who I now realise I should have asked for help months ago, as he's one of those people that knows everyone! It turned out that he had managed to find a taxidermist half an hour down the road, who would teach me how to taxidermy either a magpie or a jay in a day, for the very reasonable price of £100. This is by far the cheapest course that I have come across and it included the finished bird and even a pack-lunch supplied by his wife. I gave him a call feeling slightly jaded from my previous contact with taxidermists, but he answered straight away and got me booked on a course for the following week, no fuss-no muss!

Adrian said to meet me in a car park that I knew and to follow him to his workshop, this made me slightly nervous, but I got the the car park and there he was sat waiting for me in his little green Citroen just as he said he would be and we headed off into the countryside. As soon as we got to the workshop I was glad we met in the car park - there was no way I was going to find the place myself. His workshop was nestled in the entrance to a farm, It's small but it has everything that he needs.

When I got there, I found a lovely defrosted Jay sat waiting for me, I was pleased that I wasn't doing a magpie as I am one of those ridiculous people who speaks to a magpie if I see one sitting on it's own, so that I don't have a bad day! Adrian was concerned that as a young(ish) girl I might be a bit squeamish, but I reassured him that I would be fine, and that growing up I often prepared animals for eating and we got started. That being said, I was worried that as an adult I was going to struggle handling a dead animal, and that I would embarrass myself by fainting or by being sick! It turned out that I was fine though even when dealing with the most unpleasant bits - scooping out the brain and popping out the eyeballs!

2 dead Jays - Mine is the one on the right waiting to be stuffed.

We started by making a shallow incision down the breast bone, and then started to skin the body; when the skin around the body was loose enough, the legs were pushed inside out and the meat was removed.

This picture was taken after the skin was removed from the whole of the body, past the wings, up the neck and over half the head to reveal the skull. An incision was then made into the skull and the brains were scooped out. This bit was one of the worst for me, I thought the brain would be whole, but it was just pink goop, like something you would see on Ghost busters! Once this was all removed, the skin was then rolled back the right way out, and I was left with a study skin.

All of the skin was treated with Borax as we went along so that it would stay preserved once completed.

The eyeballs were by far the worst bit for me; the part of the eye that you see is very small compared to how big the actual eyeball is. A strong needle was put through the surface of the eyeball and the eyeball was forceable popped out. They burst and went everywhere, it was horrible, but I had to be careful with the eyelids of the bird as they are very fragile. The eye cavities were then stuffed with small balls of cotton wool, and then the fake eyeball was placed on top.  I had to carefully stretch the eyelids around the new eye, to make sure they sat properly.

Wires were then fed through the legs of the bird and bound to the bones and also through the wings.

It's always good to have a friend with you when you're being stuffed!

A small bolster wood body was made to the right shape, this had a wire in one end that was padded out with cotton wool to create the neck, and the wire was fed up through the neck and out the top of the head. The leg and wing wires were pushed into the body to make the bird posable and then the body was sewn back up using fishing wire.

Once sewn up the bird was placed onto it's stand with two small holes drilled into it, the leg wires were pushed through the holes and the feet were pinned in place. The rest of the body was then ready to be put in place and arranged in its final pose. After I was happy with how the bird was sat I bound it in wool to keep it in place until it dried, I then snipped of some of the wire that was showing.

Foliage was then added to the base and the piece was complete; I just need to leave it for two weeks for it to set properly and I can remove the rest of the wool and the wire.

I'm not sure that I like the setting of the bird, as it's very traditional for me. So I've been playing around with him a bit, to make him more fun! I might change his perch and put him in a dome, or I've just acquired a stags head so I might perch him on an antler. Although I do like him in his little hat!

I'm really pleased with my final bird, as I thought I would create something that looked like a monster, if you're thinking of giving taxidermy a o I highly recommend it, and can't wait to have another go myself!