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Dark home

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I’m like a girl if a girl was rot and decay and a father of many detritivores and saprotrophs 

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woodland dweller

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also update on the coyote skull- its done macerating and ive degreased it. It has a bit of bacteria discoloration on the top of the skull but i decided to leave it as i like natural looking skulls. Half of the cranium is missing (well i have the pieces but she was banged up so bad it would be a nightmare to try and reconfigure them so im leaving it) she was missing one canine apparently. I just really dont want to glue her together

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Mummy Skink

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Some of my bird skulls.

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Artwork form my drawing class I've chosen to post here since I don't completely dislike them.

Shout out to the model who never moves, love him.

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Appreciation post for my border collie skull that I have been cleaning

It still needs some degreasing, I think...

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An aesthetic board for Julian! :)

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First up is gifted!

This isnt all of them as some are on the Sparrow Tree 2.0.

But this selection of skulls hit nearly every sector of the venn diagram.

Juvenile Shag- Cleaned but in pieces so needed gluing together, gifted with another purchase

Buzzard- Semi clean, crushed and broken needed final cleaning and gluing into place.

Cat- Needed a bubble bath but otherwise clean. Gifted by my dad the first proper skull of the collection.

Davey, African Grey- Raw, partially mummified. Complete cleaning required. Gifted by the owner after his passing.

Song Thrush- Raw but fresh, gifted as it wasnt in a good enough condition for taxidermy.

House Sparrow- Raw, picked up after a Sparrowhawk dropped it when she got stuck in building (she came out fine). Picked up by Al's then girlfriend.

Starling- In need of cleaning, then forgotten about and covered in algae. Not in great condition still. Gifted with another purchase.

19/06/22

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Next up is Bought part 1

These are the farmyard gang. Sheep of various breeds, 2 Goats a Pig and a Cow!

The Sheep for the most part were largely just a matter of degreasing, the 4 horned and the the gorgeous Ram were in need of some flesh removal the latter being the worst as it was still partially raw.

Goats were interesting the Goat with the low profile horns was mostly a quick clean and degrease but there was a lot of natural staining we didnt want to lose too much of. The second Goat was an old taxidermy mount that had already been deskinned and all that remained was woodwool and framework. As cool as it was we dont know the cause of this mounts demise and potentially releasing pests into the house was not an option so it was all removed. But we left the jaw hinged. The water would turn orange every time we changed it until it finally didnt.

The Pig was an annoyance, this guy came covered in hot glue and had probably been boiled. The texture was chalky and it took forever to degrease, we even let the algae take it at some point. Now the textures rough but grease free. The worst was poor storage at Als ex's house causing a Muntjac to go greasey too.

Lastly the Cow, she took over a year to finish cleaning, some stubborn flesh some grease, whilst some grease still remains we're happy with the look.

19/06/22

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Warm up the old bones.

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Part 2 of Purchased but requiring cleaning or working.

Curlew- Part if a selection of Curlew bits, this one was clean but had to have a new section of beak installed

Mountain Hare- A serious degrease it was completely yellow

Cormorant- Lots of dried on flesh, beak sheath falling apart and blood staining

Brown Hare- Partly raw, marcerated and degreased

Eider- Dried on flesh and a little greasey, most recently finished

Pheasants x5- One is a Reeves, One was a melanistic Ring Neck, rest are standard a mix of male and female, all raw but just heads.

Muskrat, suspected Prevost and a Mink- Stupid purchase but turned out to be sort of interesting, these are likely from china all but the Muskrat were incredibly greasey. A good talking point, looking at the Mink now its still stained.

Redwing- Purchased raw with a Sparrow if I remember rightly, I think this poor guy was a window strike, first proper broken skull Id encountered and required repairing.

Dunnock- I think this got purchased as a Sparrow with a Sparrow fledge, both raw and heads seller misidentified, noone had warned me of the disaster marcerating a fledge would cause, it might still be around somewhere. Not sure what happened to the rest of it mind.

Goldcrest- Whole bird from Scotland, wanted to have a go at skinning, poor guy had to stay in the freezer as Al wasnt ready to attempt it. Had to almost fight to get it back of thier ex. Peroxide and pick method was used for the skull

Wren- Just the head, initially was advertised as Treecreeper which is always disappointing. Peroxide and pick was attempted for the first time here.

Blue Tit- Stringy bits of dark flesh remained but otherwise clean, stayed in that condition for a long while until Als confidence grew, initially sold as a Robin I think.

19/06/22

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Found part 1

Juvie Badger- RTA, Al was tipped off by thier brother for the location. Left to nature clean and returned home for final cleaning.

Fox ×2- One from Cannock, male and one from Bloxwich female. Both nature clean but partially mummified.

Rabbit ×3- Scrub in warm soapy water and finished. All three were found in the same location.

Squirrel ×2- There is another from another location we forgot about. These were found as is, bit of gluing required, the one with the hole is from the Dead Site and the other from the same location as the Rabbits I believe.

Rat ×6- Various locations, various conditions most required cleaning from raw or still fleshy conditions pretty much all needed gluing back together again

Hedgehog ×3- None are complete, 2 were nature cleaned and finished off at home, the other Jaffa was cleaned from raw, still needing finishing awaiting skeletal articulation. None from the same location

Gerbil- Found wrapped up inside a purse on a lawn at the Dead Site nature cleaned and finished at home

Wood mouse- Found already partially decayed finished at home

House Mouse- Absolutely obliterated, badly put together. Cleaned from raw

Vole ×2- Theres another one in my little curiosity cabinet wed forgotten about but that came out an owl pellet, the clean one is A Bank Vole found already decayed in Wales.

Frog- Processed from raw, attempted peroxide and pick didnt end well, he had a broken leg which was wired back together

Toad- Found mummifed after moving a live Toad. Again after flesh peeling peroxide was used to clean in the hopes of keeping everything in place.

20/06/22

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Part 2 of found

Blackbird Skeleton- almost clean first articulation with no ligaments left

Blue Tit Skeleton- Second from this site but Als ex conveniently lost the first this guy was found pre marcerated in a bird bath. Peroxide and pick method was used

Me (House Sparrow)- Als first attempt at an articulation, I was mostly clean, obviously missing bits

Great Spotted Woodpecker- Found raw after following a trail of feathers, marcerated clean

Turnstone- Raw bird, wings were also kept

Dunlin- Raw bird, wings kept, cleaned using burial method, took a long time to put the pterygoids in due to lack of confidence

Buzzard- Found in Als favourite place at their favourite event shame about the beak, nature cleaned, final clean required

Guillemot ×2- Both found on the same coast during a pretty bad storm in the north east cleaned from raw only the head taken

Corvids ×5- Mostly Magpie one Jackdaw most are from the Dead Site, various conditions, some raw some only needing a final clean

Pheasant- First one we found, nature cleaned in a sandwhich bag due to potential risk of bird flu, head had already been removed from body

Starling ×3- Ones a fledge, one a juvenile and the other weathered weirdly from the Dead Site, both were partially mummified and the latter was near as is

Pigeons x8- Some missing from the photoset. Mix of Wood Pigeon, Collard Dove, Feral and Fancy Pigeons, some raw, others nature cleaned or mummified

Blackbird x14- Good mix, a continued line of progress from when we first started, mix of nature cleaned and raw one of the first birds Al started with

Siskin- Found as is, came from a cathedral in Norway. It is damaged and live in a case.

Robin x3- Newest addition and one of the original skulls Al cleaned with a cat kill from the neighbour added to the mix. One mummified, one raw, one nature cleaned

House Sparrow- Unfortunate window strike from our own garden. Ended up in a near mummified state

Meadow Pipit- Cleaned from raw, hadnt encountered a bird so small at that stage, Als ex lost the rest of it

Pied Wagtail- Again nearly mummified but cleaned up well, after initial defeathering peroxide and pick method was used

Redstart- Was found alive but in a bad condition and sadly died, hit the bus station. Was left and left and left until finally working on it, incredibly delicate

Wren- Peroxide and pick method, found raw, skeleton is still lurking around somewhere

21/06/22

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𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞//𝐯𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞//𝐰𝐞𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞// 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝

𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐦 𝐢?