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FAQ'sBelow I will be stating my levels of knowledge for taxidermy and mounting to help out new beginners [I'm still a beginner myself, but ya'know, fresh meat.] Now I still have lots to learn! But for now, I will share what I know to help the rest of you new comers out. <:
What is a 'Pelt'?
A pelt is the skin and fur of the animal, which is what we commonly see when looking for taxidermy merchandise.
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What is the difference between ''Wall Hanger'' and ''Mountable''?
A Wall hanger is generally a pelt that has damage [i.e, holes rips, slips.] or is missing the common needs to be taxidermied, [i.e, legs, feed, lower jaw] Sometimes a wall hanger can be because the pelt's leather is too thin to be rehydrated [If unsure what rehydration is, there will be a section below explaining.] There are many other causes as well, there is usually a description about the item you can read before purchasing it. Life size [L/S] is another term for ''Mountable.''
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What does ''Tanned'' mean?
'Tan', 'Tanning', 'Tanned' means that the pelt has gone through sections of chemical mixtures that turn the skin into leather, thus preserving it for future use or decorative. However, if you plan on mounting an animal you do have some limits to when you can and can't use the leather! Fresh tanned leather is always the best to mount with, nice new fresh leather, years old leather however causes risks of fur slipping, tears or leather weakness, it's best that if you want something mounted up, you don't wait years to do it! Everything ages!
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What does ''Rehydration'' mean?
Rehydration is what's used for ''dry tans'' so that you can mount them up. It's the simple process of dipping the leather into a bowl of water, submerging what ever area you're looking to mount up [or fix/flip inside out, some taxidemrists let the leather dry with a paw flipped inside out, it's hard to turn that right so the best way is to rehydrate it.] However, be careful with constant rehydration! You'll be lucky if your fox or yote, bobcat, mink, ermine, polecat or what ever you have can go through more than 1 or 2 hydrations! Too frequent of hydration can make the leather weak, or cause the fur to slip, which sucks if you were looking forward to making something of your pelt! But aside from this, rehydration is simple, just keep the section of the pelt [or whole if it's a full mount] in the water until it softens and you can flex with it, hang it up or set it down somewhere and let it drain a little, you don't want to throw a big sloppy wet pelt onto a form and glue/clay while dripping, that makes the clay distorted or the glue watery, not good at all! Just wait till it's damp, then go at mounting it. :] Just let it sit for about 15-30 minutes [less for smaller animals] before mounting it up, or you can pap it with paper towels or a cloth between a time of 15 minutes, be sure to pap the leather side. Once it stops dripping, and it's not water heavy, mount that baby up!
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Whats the difference between 'Wet Tan' and 'Dry Tan'
Wet tan is when the pelt of the animal is sealed and stored in a freezer or refrigerator after tanning, making it so it doesn't need rehydration! I don't prefer wet tans much myself considering I like to see the pelt before I buy it, plus I like hanging them up so I can see them while I save u for supplies and whatnot, they make good decoratives meanwhile. <: Here is an example of wet tanned blue foxes [Credit to NID-20 on Taxidermy.net]
www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.… you can't leave wet tans out to dry cause, just don't. They turn into chips. [not literally, but they get crispy as hell]
Dry tan is when the pelt is stretch dried after tanning, and the leather is dried and needs to be rehydrated before mounting. If you need examples, the pelts in my gallery are all dry tans. :]
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What does ''Green'' or ''Raw'' pelt mean?
Green or raw means the pelt has not been tanned [turned into leather], this means the pelt can rot or decay, or, dry into a nice big furry jerky! This is before the salting stage, when you salt [best to do after skinning and fleshing] it will absorb any moisture and kill bacteria on the pelt, salting usually takes around 8 hours. [meaning, salt it using unidolized salt, you can get a big bag at any supply store for around 6$! and let that baby sit for 8+ hours until dry!] If you're sending your pelt to a tannery, salting it after skinning and fleshing is the way to go if you aren't tanning yourself.
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How do you skin an animal?
There 3 types of skinning you can do, my favorite and most preferred is Case skinned, meaning the animal is skinned much like a sock. The other two types of skinning are Ventral and Dorsal, which is commonly used for full lifesize mounts. Below I will have examples of case, dorsal and ventral cut skinning. Warning on the videos; it is graphic.
FYI- It's best to freeze them before you skin them, lmao, avoid lots of blood.
Case skinning:
youtu.be/hXQgPCM8bxQ youtu.be/pzOAF8ZESbI youtu.be/IqCEAxRNIsQCase skinning is basically just a cut down the hind legs, through the booty regions and to the other leg.
Dorsal Skinning:
youtu.be/y4Qoa8yRp3EDorsal skinning is a cut down the back to the rump, used mostly for lifesize mounts.
Ventral cut: [credit to
Zhon for the image examples.]
fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/i/201… fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/201…Ventral cuts are commonly used for rugs, but can also be used for lifesize.
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What is ''Fleshing''?
Fleshing is what you do after you've skinned the pelt. Fleshing will remove meat and fat, substances that can make it hard to tan the pelt or make the tanning go all wrong. To flesh the pelt needs to be turned inside out so the skin is on the outside, fur is on the inside. Here are some good fleshing examples.
youtu.be/3__RJQyWHIc youtu.be/7Cw1_NpLwQk .
After fleshing comes the salting.
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How do you turn/split ears, eyes and lips?
Splitting and turning is hard to explain through text, so have some videos!
youtu.be/pxkRiMCcsss youtu.be/Dj4fLa7FPDA youtu.be/sujhlXu1d48=
How do you tan a pelt?
Tanning a pelt is a very long and tedious process, best left to the professionals, however it can be done at home and it's something I myself will be getting into once I get a shed built for myself. Now these chemicals can be dangerous, and if it doesnt turn out right it's a big fluffy waste of money. Below I will link to a very descriptive post about tanning.
www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.…=
What does ''Slip'' ''Slipping'' mean?
Fur sleeping means the fur comes out of the pelt easily, and boy does it suck! slipping usually happens durring rehydration and is cause by bacteria getting to the pelt before it was tanned, or the tanning not being complete/proper!
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How do I measure a pelt for mounting?
Measuring is best done before or after skinning, but that's not always the case when you just buy pelts, you will need to measure them yourself. Today I took out a fox I needed to measure, and snapped an example of it. my sister held the measuring tape [I dont wear nail polish]. The images may not help too much considering they were quick and we were ancy, it was hot outside [110 degrees today] and we were swetting up a storm and the sun was cooking our skin!
Anyway, the first thing I measure is the ''Nose to eye'' measurements, and or, A measurements. To do this you simply place your ruler/measuring tape [beginning of the inch] on the tip of the nose, and to the tear duct opening of the eye. Most foxes will measure from 2 inches up to 3 inches from nose to eye, most common is 2 1/2 or 2 3/4. This pelt here measured 3 inches.
Big guy!
The next measurements are the eyes, this will determine was size eyes you will need for your animal. Eye measurements go by ''mm''s, and or, millimeters. To measure and eye, you measure from the opening of the dear duct to the corner of the end of the eye [as shown in this image, however it isn't that good of an example.
I use the back of my measuring tape for my mm measurements, not the single inch or the CM's. Most fox eyes vary between 12 mm and 18 mm, some will be bigger, some smaller, depending, most of mine art 14mm and 16mm.
If these images were semi-hard to understand, here is a drawn out diagram I made that should be a little clearer. The two images of the eyes are the same don't worry, I just made two different eyes just incase someone was like ''But the eye is like it's closed! does that make it smaller?'' or ''my eye is like it's open! does that make it bigger/smaller?'' nope, it's the same no matter what.
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How do you ''Mount'' a pelt? What do you need?
Now mounting is the hard part! You need LOTS and LOTS of references to get things right, also look at the clay work of some taxidermists or images of the facial structure/muscles.
First things first, you need a form, eyes, earliners, glue, tools, clay, needles, thread, and needles with a ball on the end [dunno what theyre called, but here's a pic!]
thumbs.dreamstime.com/thumblar… .
Forms: You can get forms from many different sites, I in particular prefer Van Dykes.
www.vandykestaxidermy.com/ You can find forms there, and a lot of other things!
Eyes: Eyes you can also get at Van Dykes, but another good place is Tohickon.
www.tohickonglasseyes.com/shop… Expensive, but beautiful!
Earliners: Earliners are commonly use to mount up ears, in most cases you stick the earliner inside the ear [if it's turned!] and you can position it somewhere on the form. If your ears are not turned, it's not the end of the world! You can put the earliner in the front [or back] of the ear and try to glue the fur in place on the form [or sew?? not sure, never done it!] and let it dry, then remove the earliner and tada!
Glue, a good alternative from hide paste is Roman Pro 555, you can get it at home depot for a good price, and it works great!
www.homedepot.com/buy/paint-ad… . Glue is used to stick the hide/pelt to the form, so it doesn't move/shift around on the form.
Tools: There are certain tools you will need for tucking and whatnot, in most cases you can make some at home, but it takes some work. The set I have is no longer available on ebay, but this is a good alternative at a good price!
www.ebay.com/itm/WAX-CARVING-D…Clay: Most people use critter clay, aproxie, etc, and I've heard critter clay cracks when dry, but I found something that saves me both stress, money and shipping charges.
www.crayola.com/browse-product… It's this good stuff! I got 5 pounds at walmart for 10 bucks! it's super soft right when you open it as well, no need to play with it for a bit. You also use clay to stick the eyes in the form.
Needles: You can find these at any craft stores! Leather needles and wax thread are most commonly used but some use regular needs and nylon thread, the only threat to nylon is that it can rip your hide if pulled too tight or sewed too close to the edge, however I haven't had a problem with it at all [Been sewing for over 5 years XD though I still stab myself...] You will need regular needles and a needle with some sort of back on it [either ball or lever or something], you need those needles for sticking into your pelt and form to hold it in place wile you work on another part, this will ensure it doesn't move around on the form and you have to re-do it all over again. You can get 30 different needle sizes at michaels for 1-2 bucks, and 200 ball tipped needles [i got rainbow ;D] for about 3 bucks.
For tips and examples on ''eye tucking'' here are some videos from youtube. <:
youtu.be/hZ4yESIZ_Dw youtu.be/hzCriIXUVFANow THIS video is one of my favorites! it shows eyework, tucking and just. weh!
youtu.be/NpQU_voezUs very helpful!
Stuffing [for soft mounts] Stuffing is simple! I use regular pollyfil, you can get a BIG bag at walmart for 8 or 9 bucks, last a LONG time :'D
Lifesize mounting requires forms, shouldnt be hard to understand that haha.
Well I hope this helped! If you have anymore questions you'd like answered [and added to this] don't hesitate to ask, I'll help out the best I can!
Hope this isn't a TL;DR, I spend about 3-4 hours writing this ahaha.
