specimen

sheeps ear in specimen jar. the carcass had baked for a while in the southwestern sun, so no preservation methods were taken. 

groundhog

the new set of dermisted beetles are happy. this month, they have feasted on a baby bird and a groundhog. this pic is after having the groundhog in for a few days. i think they had some help from some maggots.

curiosity

bueller doesn't curb his curiosity to anything; even when it comes the remnants of his own species.

keeping warm

a spider at work crawls inside to keep warm.

being ernest

we befriended a taxidermist in southern colorado named ernest wilkinson ( his book is HERE ). he took us on a tour of his bone yard.

after peeling off the hides, ernest left a pile of coyotes in his yard. like kids in a candy store, we took as many as we could.

freelance life

I wrote a couple of paragraphs about my freelance life so I could get a free Freelancers Union notebook!

Read the article here:Freelancers Union Article

duck, duck, goose

4 duck and 2 geese heads from a hunter.

Skinning the 6 heads didn't take long. Once you cut around the beak and the eyes, you could literally pull of the skin.

I am not sure what role the pelts will play in future projects, but surely I will be thankful I carefully preserved them. They are certainly beautiful and soft.

It only took a few days for the dermestid beetles to do their job. The final step will be to give these bones a day long hydrogen peroxide bath.