"Holy Cow Mom...

[apeters24]

...  there's animals on our wall!"

There is FUR hanging in my living room!  Quite a neat feeling knowing I had done something to contribute to the entire process.  Never thought I'd be hanging any fur in my living room, but it actually goes quite nicely.  

SHH, don't tell -- I love looking at them!  :)



http://i1293.photobucket.com/albums/b586/ashleepeters24apeters24/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/11006412_1469619149944243_3313326984669908333_n.jpg

[gitano]

Y'know... You could get a weasel form from Van Dyke's, cut off the head, and make an ermine "rug". It would give you a chance to practice taxidermy. You might find you like it. It is quite lucrative for some people.

Very cool that you have 'stuff' on the wall that you "made". I find houses with that sort of thing - doesn't have to be animals, just "real" stuff - to be far more interesting than "tract" houses.

Paul

[apeters24]

I'm listening, Paul!

I googled Van Dyke and searched for weasel/rug, but the two didn't produce any results together.  I did however find myself browsing through the site.  Found a couple pretty neat ideas!

This is all I found regarding the weasel.
http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/Weasel-C1083.aspx

My sister has "entertained" the idea of going to taxidermy school.  The schools are just much too far from us, and too long for her to really be away from her son.

[gitano]

Those weasel forms are the ones to which I was referring. You get one of those, cut the head off shaping the part cut off to lay flat on the "floor" (or wall), fit to your skin, "rug it", and voila', ermine "rug".

My point with this being that you could take something small like an ermine and use it as a learning tool. Most taxidermy work is "creative" in one fashion or another. Such a "rug" project would allow you to develop the skills necessary to make an ermine head look like a real ermine. While getting the body right on any life-sized mount is important, it is the face of an animal that makes it "real". Same thing goes for making a coyote rug, and those ARE "around". Here are some coyote head shells used for making coyote rugs. http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/Search.aspx?k=coyote%20rug  Just imagine the same thing for a weasel. OR... get a coyote skin and make a coyote rug.

There are LOTS of pretty good tutorials on YouTube about taxidermy. Here's one on making a coyote rug: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz-gkBO-0B0.

You, and/or your sister can do this stuff on your own schedule and in your own home. No need to travel to go to "school". Of course hands on training - like you're getting about trapping - is better than "correspondence school", but YouTube is better than just a book.

You can do this!

Paul