WARNING: TAXIDERMY TALK.

So my mum went to see the social worker today, and it sounds like lots of positive things could be coming my way. They're going to look into private tuition for me, as well as putting me on the housing list. So that's good.

I mounted, well technically mounting is when you place it on scenery or a display, but for all intents and purposes I'll use the word incorrectly, because stuffed seems impolite, anyway, I mounted my first rat today. The previous one had just been an exercise in skinning, to see if I physically could do it, and then to see if the borax would indeed preserve it. I made a lot of mistakes with that first rat, not letting it thaw out enough, cutting the wrong parts when doing the legs, not getting the tail out, not getting enough fat off, etc, etc. This time I went in armed with new knowledge.

First I laid the rat out and made my mannequin for it, using wire and cotton wool to flesh out the shape of it. In the end, my estimates were entirely wrong, but you live, you learn. Once I'd done that, I skinned the rat, which took a while. This was a skinny rat, and the ribs were right at the surface, which made me very nervous about cutting into something accidentally. Also, another tumour! I don't know what it is about feeder rats, but the previous rat had a tumour in her armpit. This one had a tumour in her groin, and it was huge (and no, I'm not confusing her for a boy, she was definitely a girl). Anyway, this tumour must have been at least 1.5 inches across and must have been very uncomfortable in life. And it was very hard to remove. I understand now why cancer surgeons have a hard job - my patient wasn't even alive and it was difficult! In removing the tumour, I accidentally torn the skin, damn damn damn, but it stitched up okay in the end. The big problem was the tail - can I debone a tail? Can I hell. By that I mean, no. So I need to work on that. I really don't know how to do it - in the tutorials they all say it just slips out, but this tail wasn't slipping anywhere. So I had to cut down the length of it and sew it up later, and my sewing skills leave a lot to be desired, so we're talking franken-rat at this stage.

So after I'd skinned the head (always do that last because it's the fiddliest part and also the most rewarding) I washed the pelt in washing up liquid and water, it degreases the pelt. Then I ran over it again with my scalpel, removing any fatty lumps. Learning my lesson from last time. I finally had a clean pelt. I used the hairdryer to dry it out a little because it was sodden, obviously. Then I turned it all inside out and coated it with borax, which, whilst not tanning the hide, does preserve it, mummifying it in a way, in the same way salt does - it dries the hide and is also an insect repellent, which is helpful. As long as the mount doesn't get wet it should last a while. Not as long as a professionally tanned piece, of course, but we'll work up to that.

So borax in place, I inserted the wire into the limbs and tried to fit the pelt around the mannequin. Easier said than done, as I'd overestimated the size of the rat by a lot. So after pulling out a lot of cotton wool, I had the pelt on the mannequin and started sewing. I realise at this stage I made a lot of mistakes - not sewing the limbs where they'd been cut first, for example, and not building the back legs up enough with cotton wool.

Swing was difficult, because skin is tough and not meant to be punctured, as anyone who has ever been pierced will tell you. The thread snapped several times and I realised I should probably invest in proper taxidermy quality thread. Add that to the list. I need to buy different shaped scalpel blades while I'm at it. And some kind of sculpting clay for the head, so I can do one with eyes open. It all adds up so quickly. ANYWAY. As I was sewing I realised I really should have done the limbs first, because the front paws found themselves bound together rather too close to be anatomically correct, and the back legs lacked any muscle structure to them. Damn. But it was too late now. I sewed up the tail, making the biggest mess of it you possibly could, really must learn how to debone a tail, dammit.

We get to the face. Now, the face is important, because it makes or breaks a mount (okay, ignoring the complete anatomical failure that was the rest of the mount). Now, this was going to be a sleeping rat, due to afore mentioned lack of clay/sculpting stuff, so I superglued the eyelids and mouth shut. It didn't look terrible. As far as praise goes, it's faint, but yeah. It wasn't redefining the art of rat taxidermy, that's for sure. But it didn't look as bad as some I've seen. I'm sure I'll look at it again tomorrow and take back that last sentence, but still. For now, for a first attempt, it was okay.

Next came bending the body into a 'realistic' position, and I realised this was pretty much impossible due to my poor cotton wool stuffing technique. The rat had muscles in all the wrong places and the wiring was all wrong. So I followed the picture the best I could and curled her up, tail wrapped in front of her (gah, that tail, the stitching is so bad because I tore it as well. I am a failure.) and only one back leg showing (back leg conspicuously missing upper portion of muscle, damn damn damn) and face curled in.

Now, I'd been at this for three hours, standing in front of a freezer that was too low to work on and my knees and back were killing me. But I was finished. Okay, again, not redefining the fine art of rat taxidermy, but it was definitely a taxidermied rat. One rat, previously squishy with innards, now squishy with cotton wool and stiff with wire. Eternally asleep, providing my experiment in borax is successful and it doesn't, over the next few days, rot.

That is the experiment in this tale - will the borax prevent decay? I really hope it does, and I can continue to use it without having to buy a really expensive tanning solution and really expensive pelt softening solution and all the rest. I will be monitoring the rat over the next few days and watching out for funny smells. I expect a few whiffs for a couple of days while the borax does its thing, when I received my Hooded Crow it smelt very odd, but I'd imagined it too was preserved using borax, and that went away. It all depends on whether I removed enough fat and used enough borax on the limbs and face. Only time will tell, I suppose.

I'm not going to post pictures of the final piece until I'm sure it's 'safe'. I really hope it works, and I have my first piece of taxidermy, but who can tell? All the tutorials offer conflicting advice and I tried hard to incorporate what I could on my budget, and yeah.

I also have some fox vertebrae soaking in tea to see if they'll stain. I bought them off eBay, they were found in the woods. I have a box of bones to work with, I want to try make jewellery out of them. I love organic jewellery and so hopefully I can do that. I don't have a particularly creative mind though, so will have to draw inspiration and hopefully create something new from a wide variety of ideas. And figure out how to drill bone without shattering it.

Finally, because I like to mock up my tattoos, here is what I want for my face. It's a simple line down from my labret down my chin, and I really like the idea of it. I saw it on someone else (thinner) last year and fell in love with the idea, because it's not too in your face, it's subtle and harks back to more tribal times. All cultures have worn decoration on their chins, and I like the idea of taking something old, ancient, and placing it on my body.

 

I have my Daryl tattoo booked for Saturday next, so that'll be awesome. Every tattoo slots another puzzle piece in, and one day my jigsaw will be complete. I can't explain the amount of completeness and confidence body modification gives me, people never get it, but I don't care, I love it.

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