Mammal Restoration
All work here is client commissioned work to either restore the habitat surrounding a piece of taxidermy, recasing a specimen or restoring/cleaning a specimen.
Every piece is bespoke and catered to the clients needs. No habitat restoration, taxidermy restoration/cleaning or recasing is the same.
If there is something you can't find here and want to find out more. Please do not hesitate to email taxtiles.taxidermy@gmail.com
Before and after of restoring a red squirrel
This red squirrel is antique and was well overdue a rehaul. The glass sadly smashed so I set to work: cleaned and restored the squirrel, repainted and filled any gaps in the case, redid the groundwork, repainted the outer layer of the case, new glass fitted.
Before and after of restoring a water buffalo head
This water buffalo head was restored to his former glory. I fully fumigated the specimen first, then repaired both ears, fixed and restored cracking around the mouth, nose, repainted and put the sheen back onto the noise. Plus a full deep clean of the fur, horns and eyes.
Before and after of restoring the Bear at Rodborough
This big antique bear was in need of repairing. As you can see his teeth were not in the best way, his tongue was falling apart as well as his fur was caked in dust over the centuries and decades.. With some minor repairs that needed to be done around his eyes, mouth and nose. I set to work and cleaned from top to toe of this bear. Gave him some dental work and also painted the base and created new claws and repaired the tongue.
He is definitely a lot happier now and customers will be happy to see him back in situ at the Bear of Rodborough Hotel in Stroud.
Before and after of restoring a bear cubs nose.
Small restoration work on this bear cub called Coleman. This poor cub had this nose chewed off by a naughty puppy. So coleman needed a rhinoplasty to make him good as new. Also a little touch up on the eyes to make him glow again.
Before and after of restoring an antique stag head
A lovely example of stag head that was sun bleached, very dusty and needed some repair work on the ears, nose and eyes. I set to work and thoroughly cleaned the specimen prior to recolouring it. I restored the ears, nose and around the eyes to freshen him up. It's very satisfying seeing the before and after of these pieces.
Before and after of fumigating and cleaning a bison head.
This bison head was in a room full of moths and needed a good check over for pests or any damage that may of been caused by them. After fumigation, it looks like good news and was able to thoroughly clean and brush the bison down with some minor restoration on the noise and around the eyes. He now looks good as new!
Bit of history. The Bison has a plaque that says it was presented by The Fort Garry Horse to the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards at the conclusion of our joint tour in Baor, Germany 1965.
Before and after of restoring an antique red deer.
This lovely red deer needed some well overdue tlc. With a wonky face and cracked nose, mouth and around the eyes. Missing fur where the skin had split due to age, heat and humidity. It was kept above a fireplace so the fur was very dry and brittle. I tanned a deer skin and used that to cover the areas exposed where the skin pulled from where the stitching was. It was also sun bleached as well so I gave the fur a complete makeover and restored the colour all round. Also correcting the wonky face and nose. Adding in textures to create a more realistic finish. The ears also had some cracking with I fixed and restored the colour.
The antlers were very dusty as well as the whole specimen so that had a very good clean too. Here you see before and after of me restoring him.
There's great history behind this piece, many years ago my client's friend had a call from some people who had bought Stourton Castle. They were throwing old pieces of taxidermy away. So they managed the rescue 3 stag heads. With this one being the smallest which is insane as this is a very large red deer. This deer is very old and estimated to be between 100-150 years old.
Sadly there is no plaque or name behind the shield so the taxidermist who preserved this deer remains a mystery.
Before
After
Before and after of restoring an antique red squirrel.
Roughly dated around 1840 likely preserved by Lewis Hutton of Bristol (label was coated in heavy brown varnish so was hard to tell, but had the classic signs of the label). Client wanted the red squirrel to be in a brand new case with some of the habitat brightened but modernised. The case was made by Immortal Glass/Cases, with toughened glass so it is hard wearing. Base was coated in dark brown stain with a gloss finish.
Habitat elements were kept and hand painted individually to make the specimen "pop". Unfortunately, due to the age of the specimen and the condition it was in. When the red squirrel was taken out of the old case, there was a large amount of fur loss behind the specimen. I offered a new specimen as this was very bleached due to the sun and the pest damage. However, the client refused as it was sentimental value. As I couldn't restore the fur as the fur was precariously attached to the specimen. The compressed air from the airbrush would further increase fur loss. Additionally, the time it takes to restore the fur, would of been the same amount of time to mount a brand new specimen. So the creative solution was to cover the back of the specimen with the long grass from the original case, fumigated and recoloured, then repositioned to disguise the damage.
The outcome was successful and a happy client too.