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Unsure where to start...

Discussion in 'Beginners' started by Marimpaw8, Jul 22, 2014.

  1. Jul 22, 2014 #1
    Marimpaw8

    Marimpaw8 New Member

    2
    0
    Nebraksa
    Hello everyone! I'm a young sixteen year old amateur taxidermist who is at a wall. I'm really more fascinated with cleaning and articulating skeletons and is trying to learn all I can. The only problem is I find it hard to find a starting point. Do I start with a full skeleton or just a skull? If a skeleton, how big/small of an animal? Same with a skull. What methods should I use? (Though it looks like cold water maceration is my only option..) What supplies do I need? Etc Etc Etc. To just sum this up, I Don't Know What I'm Doing. I don't know many places to go in to learn or job shadow near me. There's a taxidermy place about thirty minutes away, but I'm not sure if they'd help since they work with hides and not bones. Any tips or resources would be greatly appreciated ;D. Email me if you'd like and thank you for your time!
     
  3. Jul 22, 2014 #2
    3bears

    3bears Well-Known Member

    6,344
    2,272
    MN
    The skull section, do an advanced search and read till your heart is content.
     

  5. Jul 22, 2014 #3
    Tanglewood Taxidermy

    Tanglewood Taxidermy Well-Known Member

    7,966
    6,382
    dallas oregon
    You won't have a question that hasn't already been answered in the archives as 3bears said. I was on this site with hundreds of questions and never needed to ask because it was all in the archives. It was 2 years before I needed to ask a question that I couldn't find in the archives. Use this site to learn. There are some people on here that come off as grumpy or as jerks, but if you can get passed that you will find that if you don't get defensive and take it all as a learning experience, you will go far and learn a lot. Welcome to the site.
     
  6. Jul 22, 2014 #4
    tem

    tem Well-Known Member

    2,691
    1,751
    michigan 49043
    yep. all good advice. put your waters on and jump in. and enjoy as much as you can.
     
  7. Jul 25, 2014 #5
    ginevive

    ginevive New Member

    1,812
    3
    West Seneca, NY
    They're right. I would recommend byinng a cleaned, complete, legal unarrticulated skeleton from a good seller and going from there. A set with labeled/bagged parts would be best. Once you have that under your belt, you can look into cleaning bones from scratch (it's a long process but can be done at home.) If you can find a small skeleton that was beetle cleaned in such a way that the ligaments remain, it will basically be mostly intact already and you can just soak it and reposition while it is wet, and when it is dry it'll be rigid.