What are the skills and education to become a taxidermist?
Taxidermy is the art of preserving dead animals and making them look like they are alive. All taxidermist have to understand the anatomy of the animal they are working with in order to be able to preserve the animal. They have to have good people skills so they are able to have a good relationship with the person they are dealing with.
Some of the things a taxidermist have to do before he can begin working with the animal is to skin the animal and remove all the bones and organs so that they can begin the process mounting the animal. “Techniques vary with the kind of animal. In all cases, however, the skin is removed, cleaned, chemically treated with a preservative, and placed on a prepared model made of a stable, strong material that will withstand insects and changes in humidity and temperature. The model is sculptured to reproduce the specimen's exact size and shape. Examples of commonly used materials are balsa wood, laminated paper, wire mesh with papier-mâché, foam plastic, and fiberglass. Treated fish skin is mounted over a mold made from the fish before it was skinned. Fish, reptile, and amphibian skins tend to lose color and must be painted after mounting.” “Schwendeman, David. "Taxidermy." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier Online, 2015. …show more content…
For example the only natural things from a modern deer head mount are the antlers and skin. the other things such as the organs and tissues are made from man-made materials. The eyes are made from glass, the eyelids are made from clay, the nose and mouth are made from epoxy or wax. The form the the taxidermist puts the skin around is made from polyurethane foam. Works of taxidermy are displayed museums, educational institutes, restaurants, businesses, and homes. There are many different ways and techniques for producing mounts of different
Taxidermy is the art of preserving dead animals and making them look like they are alive. All taxidermist have to understand the anatomy of the animal they are working with in order to be able to preserve the animal. They have to have good people skills so they are able to have a good relationship with the person they are dealing with.
Some of the things a taxidermist have to do before he can begin working with the animal is to skin the animal and remove all the bones and organs so that they can begin the process mounting the animal. “Techniques vary with the kind of animal. In all cases, however, the skin is removed, cleaned, chemically treated with a preservative, and placed on a prepared model made of a stable, strong material that will withstand insects and changes in humidity and temperature. The model is sculptured to reproduce the specimen's exact size and shape. Examples of commonly used materials are balsa wood, laminated paper, wire mesh with papier-mâché, foam plastic, and fiberglass. Treated fish skin is mounted over a mold made from the fish before it was skinned. Fish, reptile, and amphibian skins tend to lose color and must be painted after mounting.” “Schwendeman, David. "Taxidermy." Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia. Grolier Online, 2015. …show more content…
For example the only natural things from a modern deer head mount are the antlers and skin. the other things such as the organs and tissues are made from man-made materials. The eyes are made from glass, the eyelids are made from clay, the nose and mouth are made from epoxy or wax. The form the the taxidermist puts the skin around is made from polyurethane foam. Works of taxidermy are displayed museums, educational institutes, restaurants, businesses, and homes. There are many different ways and techniques for producing mounts of different