How to Make a Taxidermy Bunny

You may be asking yourself: what is the point of taxidermy? For most taxidermy lovers, the answer is simple: to enjoy truly organic animal art. For me personally, that’s definitely the case. I could live at Deyrolle in Paris.

But I’m also writing a book (tentatively titled, Fair Chase) about an ambitious philosophy grad student who embarks on an elite culinary adventure led by a controversial celebrity chef when she begins to suspect that she is being hunted, both as a trophy and as culinary fare… so I had a vested interest in learning the art of taxidermy, nose-to-tail (see what I did there?)

This is a quick video I made of some key elements of the class – it’s not too gruesome, I don’t think. But keep scrolling + it’ll get a little gruesome. Still, nothing you shouldn’t be able to handle if you’re a meat-eater.

This is the shop where the class was held. There’s a lot of other cute stuff inside too, as well as a tattoo artist.

I refer to Simone Weinstein of Little Dame Shop as the Snow White of taxidermists for several reasons: yes, she has the physical appearance of Snow White with the flawless pale skin + black hair, but the analogy is meant more to describe her obvious love of animals + art alike. When you take her class, she’ll patiently walk you through what would otherwise be a very daunting process, all with gentle words of encouragement + guidance.

Now let’s get down to the nitty gritty. You’ll need the following to make your own taxidermy (but will get all of it included in the taxidermy class):

• an animal, perhaps from roadkill or rodentpro.com
• gloves
• a tray with borders for fluid run-off
• x-acto knife or scalpel
• borax
• wire, the thickness of a wire hanger
• super glue
• glass eyes
• pins
• sewing needle + thread
• dawn soap
• wire brush
• 91% isopropyl alcohol (denatured)
• cotton balls
• plastic liners
• back board
• blue paper towels
• small paint brush

Animal pelts + feathers are among the most beautiful sights in nature, so rather than just trashing an animal after death, taxidermists swoop in + work their artistic magic. If done well, it can feel like the animal is still alive.

So you’ll also need an animal.

This is called a “feeder bunny” – it was bred to be food for large reptiles, like pythons + anacondas. Simone likes using this particular source up near Joshua Tree National Park because she’s seen how the bunnies are raised – it’s a family-owned business, and they’re raised being played with by the owners’ children. They’re also killed humanely.

Another fact you might want to know is that these bunnies are known as “expired.” That means they were raised as feed, killed humanely + frozen, and then didn’t sell quickly enough to be sold as “food” per industry standards. So they would have just been thrown away.

If you’re horrified by this notion or this is the first time you’re hearing about this, again – I hope you’re not a meat eater. Food is routinely wasted in this country + meat is no exception. The only difference is that most of the meat you buy at the grocery store has been raised in less than ideal conditions. Unlike these bunnies.

Now, in my opinion the bulk of the work in taxidermy is removing the pelt as carefully as possible so that you don’t tear the skin. This is especially tricky around the eyes, nose + mouth of the animal.

Once you get the pelt off, you’ll soak it in denatured alcohol to kill all the remaining organic material that would attract other animals, from microscopic organisms to flies to your cat (although if your cat is anything like mine, it will go for a pelt no matter how “clean” + dry it is).

After soaking it for a minimum of 20-30 minutes, you can wring the alcohol out of the pelt + wash it in Dawn + water.

Next you’ll dry the pelt by rubbing it – inside + out – with Borax. YES, the same Borax you already have in your laundry kit.

To ensure that the ears don’t wither up when they dry, there’s a process to recreate lifelike fullness: first separate the membrane of the ear with the end of a paintbrush, then insert a plastic liner (cut into the shape of the ear) between the front + back of the ear. Then fill with caulk.

Sound easy? It’s totally not.

Next you’re going to have to be Michelangelo – sort of. You need to make a foam form of the animal by tracing the “bones” of the bust of the animal onto an especially dense foam square, which you will then cut down to size.

Then you will have to shave it more finely, trying to approximate the figure of the creature as it was when it was alive – supported by its skeleton + musculature.

What about the eyes? You have to recreate them, too.

You can use clay to get the positioning of the eyes just right + to fill out the “eye socket” area.

Then you’ll pin the pelt in place.

You’ll fill out the face + cheeks with clay + cotton.

This is lots of fine work requiring patience, but it’s also fun in this environment.

You’ll need to let your bunny “set” for a couple of weeks before removing pins + mounting on a wooden frame.

Feel free to comment/message with further questions. If you are curious about working with animals + want to learn from the best (Simone works with specimens at the San Diego Natural History Museum), I highly recommend this class.

Thanks for looking + happy Suburban Adventuring! xoxo