GETTING STARTED IN TAXIDERMY

June 19, 2018 Mickey Alice Kwapis

If you're wondering how to get started in the taxidermy industry, you're in the right place. Having a career preserving animals can be fulfilling and profitable, but only if you approach it the right way. I started out way back in 2012, working my way through college with a friend who needed help on her mammalogy homework. One thing led to another and an opportunity to learn how to skin a dead squirrel has turned into a career which has allowed me to teach at an Ivy League university, participate (and win a ribbon!) in a national competition, and travel the world showing others the ropes.

Here are my best recommendations and pieces of advice for becoming involved in the preservation industry:

Take a class or buy a kit or guide book before you commit to going to taxidermy school
Taxidermy school (in my opinion) is not 100% necessary but whether it is beneficial to you or not depends on how you learn
Respect those who have come before you, but recognize that innovation is also important in our changing world
Be willing to do some hard work if you are seeking advice or education for free
Google is your friend (and I'm not being sarcastic) - I'm going to go over some free resources that don't require taking advantage of anyone else's time or money (or yours, aside from your internet bill)

1) TRY TAXIDERMY BEFORE YOU SPEND A BUNCH OF MONEY

The last thing you want to do is spend thousands of dollars on an education that might not be for you. You wouldn't sign up for art school if you hadn't at least tried painting on your own first, right? Taxidermy is the same! Taxidermy schools are available around the world, but I will focus on ones in the US since that's where I live and that's what I'm most familiar with. Typically you must pay for your own lodging and food, transportation, tuition, and in many cases you must purchase your materials (specimens) separately. Intensive taxidermy curricula last around 4-6 weeks on average. If you don't live very close to a taxidermy school (i.e. in rural Wisconsin or Montana or elsewhere that schools are located) you're looking at a total of at least $10k - and that's a lot of money for most people! Most of those fees are non-refundable so if you get to school on the first day, make your first cut, and realize that the sight of a deer carcass with its tongue hanging out isn't quite your thing, you're out a LOT of money.

So how do you know if you can handle it? The easiest way is to take a one-day class, most of which cost $300 or less. You can Google "[insert major city] taxidermy class" and you will likely find something, but if you're looking for a good excuse to take a vacation you can always travel to another city for a lesson as well! There are many reputable, knowledgeable, and friendly taxidermists in cities around the world offering affordable lessons.

If that's out of your budget, the next best thing is to buy a guide to taxidermy. I offer one for $20 on my online shop, but there are plenty of printed guides out there as well. If you're shopping on Amazon, try to find one that is dedicated specifically to the process rather than a snapshot of the industry and ethics as a whole. This will help you more in the short term for your first few projects - you can always read about the history separately!

2) IF YOU ARE ATTENDING TAXIDERMY SCHOOL, BE CAREFUL

There are several schools out there that are run by people with their own lines of taxidermy products, like forms and eyes. While it's not inherently bad to be someone with a line of products who also teaches classes, there are some schools that will ONLY teach you how to use their specific products (like forms with preset eyes) so that once you graduate, you are completely reliant on their lines of goods. Make sure that if you choose a school, it's one that shows you how to make do with many different types of products. For instance, if a school can't show you how to use earliners AND how to do Bondo ears (these are the main two ways to keep taxidermy ears upright) and only uses their own line of products to create a dependency, steer clear!

As a taxidermist, you'll quickly learn that not every project goes completely as planned. You'll need to think quickly on your feet and innovate when a project calls for it - so if one method doesn't work, you should always have a second to fall back on. As you all know, there's more than one way to skin a cat... and your taxidermy teacher should be able to teach you all of them!

3) RESPECT YOUR ELDERS...

If you're new to any type of craft, industry, community, etc., it should be common sense not to shit all over the people who have laid the groundwork for your success. Of course, common sense isn't as common as we wish it was, so I'm putting this reminder here. While you may have some great ideas, it's always a good idea to get your footing on a solid foundation - most of which was created by those who came before you. Make sure you're kind to the folks who can help you!

Political leanings aside, I have such a strong bond with the folks who have been practicing taxidermy for decades before me (some for longer than my parents have been alive). Without them, I couldn't have gotten to where I am today!

4) ...BUT REMEMBER THAT HISTORY ISN'T PERFECT

One of my favorite taxidermists of all time is Martha Maxwell, a woman who explored much of the wilderness west of the Mississippi and collected specimens to create the first lifelike dioramas that I am aware of. She also came up with the idea of carcass casting, a process in which the carcass of an animal is utilized to replicate a form that goes inside the hide during mounting for prime anatomical accuracy. Unfortunately most of her innovations and discoveries are credited to a man named Carl Akeley, often referred to as "the father of the modern taxidermy industry" even though all of "his" ideas were created by Maxwell some thirty years earlier.

At this point in time, more than 100 years later, history cannot be corrected but we can do better moving forward. I can't deny that Akeley was monumental in normalizing taxidermy and making it a huge part of our nation's natural history museums, but he also scrubbed out women's contributions to the industry in his wake. As you walk the path to becoming a taxidermist (or an expert in any field, really) please remember to give your thanks to those who created that path for you in the first place.

5) BE WILLING TO WORK

With the internet the way it is, it's so easy to see someone succeeding at something and be tempted to just ask them for help becoming successful at the same thing... but please don't! If you don't have any experience in a craft that's new to you, you have to do some work on your own before trying to squeeze advice or help out of someone.

Apprenticeships are a great way to learn the ropes in any type of craft, but you have to do work in exchange for your free education. Like tattooing, you should be willing to practice on your own at home first (please don't try to skin your own leg, though... you know what I mean here) and show your potential mentor that you're serious! If you don't have months or years to dedicate to apprenticing for an established taxidermy business, use the types of classes or tutorials I mentioned above to get some experience under your belt.

As far as asking for advice from people you see online, it's really great to start out with something like "Hi, I was wondering if I could make a small donation in exchange for asking you a few questions. What is the best way to contact you? If you're not able to help me, could you point me in the direction of someone else that could?"

This lets the person know that you respect their time and that you're serious about learning from them. Just today I had someone offer me a small donation who was VERY kind in their messages. I told them not to worry about it because they had been so nice, helped them with the project, and they made a donation anyway which brought actual tears to my eyes.

6) GOOGLE (AND THE REST OF THE INTERNET) IS YOUR FRIEND

If you're itching to learn something specific about preserving specimens, whether it's housing dermestid beetles or diaphonizing fluid-preserved specimens, there's someone on the internet that's written about it. In my experience, universities have the best articles because they're written by Ph.D. students that have dedicated YEARS of their lives to perfecting a certain type of specimen preservation. I have tons and tons of these articles bookmarked on my computer for future reading.

The forums on taxidermy.net and Reddit dedicated to giving taxidermy advice are very helpful. If you aren't someone who handles criticism well (I'm one of them, and I don't post often!) it's totally fine to just lurk and ask questions about other people's projects! Taxidermy.net also has a buy/sell/trade forum, but please make sure that if you're new, you abide by the rules so you don't bump old ads from five years ago back to the top and ruin the workflow.

Finally (for this bullet point), buying old taxidermy books on eBay is great. There's a magazine called Breakthrough that is particularly helpful and if you get a few from different years you can see how the landscape of the taxidermy industry is changing.

Here are some of my personal resources that may help:

These are important posts too: preventing the commodifying of protected species, and how I feel about the phrase "'ethical' taxidermy".

I think that's all I've got for right now, but feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email if there's more that you think should be added to this post. I'm always happy to help people when I can, so if you need something specific don't hesitate to reach out via email (no Instagram DMs, please), but keep in mind that kindness is appreciated and that if your project seems super intense I may ask you to make a small donation ($1, for real) to make sure you're not just trolling me.

Lastly, if you've been inspired to try taxidermy because of me please send me photos of your projects! I would truly love to see them.

Have an amazing day!

xoxo

Mickey

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MY FAVORITE FILM CAMERA

January 19, 2018 Mickey Alice Kwapis

Since the first time I laid eyes on a Yashica T4, it became my favorite camera. Back in 2010 I was spending a lot of time at house and techno clubs in Detroit, and I was using a Walgreens loyalty point-and-shoot film camera to document everyone busting a move. This is where I get a little long-winded. Deal with it.

The Walgreens camera was great. The camera itself was $20 and came pre-loaded with a roll of basic film. The deal was that you'd shoot your film, bring it back to Walgreens to be developed, and they'd load your camera back up with film - FOR LIFE. This was the era when one-hour photo was a service available at every Walgreens, and if you asked for a CD only with no prints, processing plus scans cost only $5.99.

I quickly developed rapport with the guys who worked the tech counter at my Walgreens and soon discovered that if I asked nicely, they'd just hand me a new roll of film with my camera instead of loading it for me. I'd take the roll home, put it in a different camera, shoot it, and then bring it back with my loyalty camera for processing and a new roll of film. Eventually I bought a second loyalty camera just so I could have a few rolls of free film in rotation. It was AMAZING.

At the time, Detroit also had a movie industry tax incentive, and at one of the rooftop parties I attended I met a Hostel 3 (lol @ the fact that someone made a third Hostel movie) crew member named Justin who took interest in my camera. He pulled a Yashica T4 out of his pocket and then used his phone to show me some photos of nude women that he had taken with that camera. It sounds like the weirdest and most unwanted interaction to have at a party but I LOVED the quality of his art and started looking for a T4 of my own on eBay. Luckily for me, Justin had multiple T4 cameras and very graciously gifted me one. I'm eternally grateful!

Discontinued in 2002, the Yashica T4 is a cult classic, predominantly due to its use by famed photographer Terry Richardson. This point-and-shoot is well-built, a little heavy, but it has a stellar 35mm f/3.5 Zeiss T* four-element Tessar lens and it's weatherproof (not waterproof though!). Richardson shoots with two at a time to allow the film in one camera to advance while he shoots a frame with the second camera and then switches back, but most hobbyists don't need (and probably can't afford) two.

Mine is the T4 Super which means it has a Super scope which works kind of like a periscope and allows you to shoot from the hip while looking down into the camera. I bought Jason a regular T4 without Super scope as a gift because I found it for only $2! He loves it and when the opportunity presented itself at an estate sale, he bought himself a T4 Super (with the scope), so now we have three total. Since the T4 was discontinued and is well sought-after, these cameras usually come with a hefty price tag but I can assure you, it's an investment you will love forever and if you find one for less than $300 you should snatch it up immediately. If it's less than $100 don't worry if it's broken either, because they have insane resale value.

The T4 is marketed as Yashica and as Kyocera so it may have either or both logos on the front, and comes in a regular and Super version. These cameras may also be light grey or black so don't let that throw you for a loop - just look for T4 on the front. The T3 and T5 are also comparable if you ever come across them at a thrift store or at a good price online but they're much more rare to find.

After Walgreens stopped processing film in-store, I switched to using Kodak Portra 160 at Justin's recommendation. It's a little pricier than the standard Kodak Gold film available in drug stores, but I promise it's worth it. Portra film has excellent tonality, especially on skin, which makes it perfect for portraits. I prefer the 160 speed to the 400 but both are great and what you purchase really depends on where you plan on shooting. Since I mostly shoot in daylight I can use slower film.

I occasionally use expired film from an estate sale in my T4 as well, so the rest of this blog post is a mix of different types of film. Technically I could still use my loyalty camera to get free film from Walgreens since it has a lifetime guarantee, but I don't trust the lab they outsource to and have switched to The Darkroom instead.

Lake Michigan shot on Portra 160 with Yashica T4

Jason shot on Portra 160 with Yashica T4

Garfield Park Conservatory shot on Portra 160 with Yashica T4

Plants shot on Portra 160 with Yashica T4

606 Dog Park shot on Portra 160 with Yashica T4

One oldie but goodie of me (with no tattoos to boot!) in the Detroit River shot on Portra 160 with my Yashica T4 by my friend Jarod Lew

My Yashica is trusty enough that I use it for all of my test rolls. If I get a big batch of film from an estate sale or thrift store, I shoot one roll from each type to make sure the rest of the batch is worthwhile. I typically go to the Garfield Park Conservatory because the lighting is consistent and the subject matter is always beautiful.

Expired color slide film shot with Yashica T4

These are just a few of my favorites from my last six test rolls. For more, check out my Instagram page. I share a mix of my film photos and digital photos of my taxidermy and jewelry work there too.

My most important piece of advice when it comes to dabbling in film photography for the first time is just to have fun with it!

It's a lot better than letting little things stress you out. And while I love my Yashica T4, at any given time my favorite camera is always the one I happen to have with me... so if you can't afford a T4, fret not - you can still create amazing art with as little as a disposable camera. It's just a matter of perspective.

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TIPS FOR SUCCESS SELLING YOUR WORK AT HANDMADE MARKETS, CRAFT SHOWS, + OTHER EVENTS

January 16, 2018 Mickey Alice Kwapis

As a maker and seller of handmade jewelry and taxidermy for the better part of the last decade, I'm finally on the good end of the learning curve when it comes to finding success selling my work at shows and events. In addition to planning my own trunk shows and handmade markets, I've also been a participant in a fair amount of events.

I'm covering the following:

How to find events to participate in
What to bring to your events, indoors and out
How to set up successfully
How to make sales
How to break down your setup
How to translate visitors into customers

Find An Event

The first thing you need to do is find a show or event to participate in! Without an event, the rest of this advice is pretty useless. I've personally moved around the midwest a fair amount in the last few years, so each time I've moved I have made it a point to connect with makers that either (a) I look up to or (b) whose work is similar to mine in order to find out which events they are vendors at. If you're really shy and don't want to make contact with anyone directly, go ahead and creep on other brands' Instagram accounts for the past year to find out which local events they have participated in.

Me with my friend Randi at the Renegade Pop-Up, May 2017

Use your notes app to make a list of events.
Google each event to find out when the deadlines for applications are.
Mark the deadlines on your calendar.
Before applying, ask around and read reviews to see if the shows are worth it.
Make note of how the events are promoted, whether the people running them are respectful of their vendors and behave professionally, and it definitely doesn't hurt to ask past participants if they feel they got their money's worth
When applying, it's also worth noting whether you'll have a table provided or if you need to bring your own, if there is WiFi available for your payment processing device, and if you'll have access to electricity.
If there is an application fee or a booth fee, make sure you can afford to kiss that money goodbye in case something goes awry at the event (like bad weather) because those fees are almost always nonrefundable.
Once you find a show you want to participate in, go for it! Make sure you're honest on your application so that the curators can ensure you won't be directly competing with a very similar vendor.

What To Bring (Intro)

When you get accepted to an event, make notes on all of the things you'll need to bring. If you need to buy anything, it's better to make an investment in higher-quality display items that you'll use for years to come rather than cheap-looking items you'll end up throwing away when you upgrade. I can't stress this enough, having wasted a lot of money on cheap crap and then having to buy the better, more expensive version after the original broke. Here are some of the things I use to set up my displays.

My number-one investment is a folding wagon. This will make your life infinitely easier! It squishes closed and pops back up easily and you will LOVE not having to carry your heavy items and risk jostling them around before you've even gotten to the event.

What To Bring To An Outdoor Event

For outdoor shows, a nice tent with straight legs and side walls that zip closed is a must. This one comes with the side walls and a wheeled case which makes it easy to transport. Don't forget to bring wrap-around sandbag weights to hold your tent down in the wind -- you can even see if the vendors in the booths surrounding yours would like to wrap the legs of your tents together!

Speaking from experience, wrap-around sandbag weights are the way to go. Bricks are NOT a good idea because the last thing you want to do after a long event is carry bulky cinderblocks to your car and then store them until the next time, and it's wasteful to keep buying them and throwing them away for each event you do.

Along the side walls of my tent I like to hang vintage medical posters I'm selling. I recognize that most people don't have very large medical posters to sell, so other things you can do are:

Drill a hole through each end of a 1/4" dowel and hang it horizontally on the wall of your tent. Use metal hooks on the dowel and hang necklaces from it.
Get a banner printed with your business logo and hang it from the back wall of your tent. This gives you much more visibility than putting your banner on the front of your tent or table.

As you can see from my photos, I also like to decorate my booth with streamers and pennant banners during the spring and summer months. If you sell small items like pins, patches, jewelry, or little figurines, it's nice to keep them in a glass case so they don't blow away. Plus, it gives your booth a high-end feel and discourages people from stealing anything that's a little more valuable than other pieces. I use my glass case to house my cast sterling silver and bronze work so that when people want to see something, I get to talk to them about the products and tell them the story behind each piece. You'll see in some photos that I also have wooden boxes (which I painted pastel colors) full of dried beans that I use for displays, but have found over time that they are MUCH better suited for indoor events.

I like to line the bottoms of my flat cases with dried black beans, fancy gravel, frosted glass, or glass marbles.

What To Bring To ANY Event (INDOORS & OUT)

If tables are not provided, I like folding tables that fold in half and have a carrying handle or, even better, wheels on the bottom! This will make your load-in a breeze if you have to get your table more than twenty or thirty feet. The last thing you want to do is exhaust yourself setting up and then be completely wiped out during your actual business hours. I have two each of 2x4 and 3x6, which means I can configure my displays any way I want to!

You will also want a portable chair for every person working - if you bring a friend to help out, get them a chair too because inevitably, everyone will want to take a break at some point!

Cover your table! It's amazing how many shows I've been to where I see vendors without tablecloths, struggling with their sales, wondering why their setup that looks like a garage sale isn't attracting any customers. Pick a neutral color or a color complementary to your branding or items. I chose forest green for my setup because it looks great with all of my copper, brass, gold, bronze, and silver work and I have matching tablecloths for all four of my display tables at large shows.

I draw people into my tent or to my table with fun, informative, and sarcastic letterboard signs.

"Please don't feed the animals. They're already stuffed." I added my Instagram handle to this one because I know people take photos of things like that, and maybe they'll follow me too.
"Don't haggle, it's tacky." Lots of people think this one is funny too! I use it at Renegade and other big events where people try to nickel and dime me. The irony is that if people don't haggle with me and are respectful of my work, I usually offer a discount or a free small item.
A list of the payment methods I accept. This is a no-brainer. Once people see PayPal and Venmo they might spend money they weren't planning to spend before.
"Ask me how to save $25 off your first taxidermy class!" This is how I get people to talk to me about my work! I get them to sign up for my email list and then email them a coupon the day after the event. Works like a charm!

You can customize your signs to fit your business. It's an affordable and clean way to bring in new customers and connect with them. Don't forget stands to hold them up on your table!

Another idea for displays, in the same vein as the beans and glass cases mentioned above, is to purchase some old picture frames from a thrift store, remove the glass and backing, and set the frames on your tablecloth. Fill up the inside of the frame with your beans/gravel/marbles and then nestle your products inside! You can spray-paint the frames any color (or use those cool metallic paints!) to complement your products.

Instead of just laying items out on the tablecloth, elevate your products with special display items like ring stands and necklace holders. Putting small loose items like keychains onto a plate or in a bowl can make your display look much more polished.

I also like the way that a slab of marble or slate looks on the table, but they're heavy and difficult to maneuver. Try covering a thin slab of wood (like plywood) with marbled contact paper instead! Your craft store probably sells a lot.

If your event is taking place in a dark space, whether it's at night or not, it's a good idea to bring battery-operated lights. I have three of these, one for each end of a 6' table at bar events and one for the middle. This allows you to avoid the awkwardness (and tripping hazard) of snaking a million extension cords through a dimly-lit bar or venue. Make sure your lamps are fully charged on the day of your event, and if it's a multiple-day event make sure you bring them with you at the end of each day to charge them overnight as well!

Setting Yourself Up For Success

Me with some of my work at Renegade Craft Fair, September 2017

I bring a power bank for each device I need to charge. One for each of my lamps, one for my cell phone, and potentially another for my card reader depending on how much traffic I'm expecting. Again, you want to make sure your power banks are all fully charged on the day of your event, and if it's a multiple-day event make sure you charge them overnight too.

If you didn't catch on by now, you're going to need a way to take payments too! A card reader is a must. PayPal and Square are both good choices. I personally use Square because it's widely used and the design of the reader is pretty sleek. Square is compatible with Apple Pay too. If you use my referral link for Square, you receive free processing for your first $1,000 in sales (and so do I). I also set up accounts with Square Cash, PayPal, and Venmo (which are all listed on one of my signs) so people can pay me any way they want to.

Of course, you're going to want to accept real cash too! I make my prices even dollar amounts so I don't need to have coins on me. I usually bring $100 in small bills - $40 in $1 bills, $40 in $5 bills, and $20 in $10 bills. Usually your first customer or two will pay with larger bills (or exact change) so you don't have to worry about running out of change. Some people like to use a cash box and others like to wear a fanny pack. I personally prefer always having my money with me, like if I need to run to the bathroom, but the choice is yours.

Bring a friend to help you out! They'll keep you company during slow times and if you buy their food and drinks, they'll probably help you load in and load out too. It's REALLY NICE to have a helper when you need to go to the bathroom!

My Renegade Pop-Up decorations, May 2017, taken by Certee

Don't forget these little things either!

Duct tape - if you bring in an extension cord for your electronics, YOU are responsible for making sure nobody trips on it!
Regular clear tape (Scotch tape)
A pair of scissors - don't underestimate how much you'll end up using these
A sharp pocket knife - see above
Zip ties
Extra price tags for when some of yours inevitably fall off and get lost - if you don't sell jewelry try these with a piece of tape on the string
Business cards and a business card holder
A clipboard with a few paper mailing list sign-up sheets and a pen
Extra pens because someone will inevitably steal yours
A snack or two
Gum or mints (nobody likes buying stuff from someone stinky breath!)
Bottled water (a reusable water bottle is convenient and better for the planet)
A pack of tissues
Wear something comfy but professional and bring a jacket if you think it may be windy or cold

The day before your event, make sure you pack up your items in Rubbermaid tubs (go to Target or another big box store to choose which size you like best) with locking lids and load everything into your vehicle and park it somewhere safe. Try the app SpotHero if you don't have a garage of your own. If you don't have a vehicle, rent a mini van! The night before the event, plug in ALL of your devices (including lamps) and ALL of your power banks so they have a full night to charge.

The day of your event, follow the load-in instructions provided by your host. If you are able to park nearby and just use your wagon to wheel things into the area of your event, I can't recommend that enough. Set up your tent first and then focus on tables, tablecloths, and then hanging up anything that needs to be hung afterwards. This is where your zip ties will come in handy.

Merchandise your booth in a way that makes things easy for shoppers, and give yourself an area for your body to go while you stand and talk to people while allowing them to move freely. If you're at an event with just one table, stand behind it and talk to people over the table instead of standing in front of it and blocking shoppers' views. Use the space under your tables to store your bins and back stock.

As items sell, rearrange the merchandise you have left to fill in gaps. People like to shop from full-looking tables.

Making Sales

Customers are the cornerstone of your business. Without people buying your goods, you're just someone who makes stuff that nobody wants. I started making and selling friendship bracelets when I was in middle school. They weren't special, but I would bring them to school in a zip-lock baggie and could sell them to kids in the lunch room for fifty cents each just by sitting down and talking to them.

In a world with more than 1.7 million Etsy shops, chances are that your work isn't 100% unique and it might also not be the most affordable work of that type that your customers can choose to buy. What makes your products special is YOU. It's proven that if a shopper feels a connection to a seller, they're more likely to buy what you're selling.

Me with Jason at Renegade, May 2017. He is a ray of sunshine and REALLY helped me come out of my shell as a seller that weekend.

The easiest way to connect with someone right off the bat is to ask them a question that's engaging. Jason has definitely helped instill better selling habits in me. Instead of just "How are you?" try asking someone how their day has been so far. If a shopper is wearing something that you genuinely think is cool, ask them where they got it - but only if you mean it, because empty compliments are very transparent and you don't want to fake making someone feel special. Ask them if they're having fun at the event and about the coolest thing they've seen so far. These are all good ice-breakers that will start a more meaningful conversation than the closed-ended "How are you/Doing well, how are you/Doing well" type of interaction.

Once the conversation starts, talk about your products as the customer looks at them. Do they show interest in a certain necklace? Show them the matching bracelet and tell them about where the stones were mined. Do they spend extra time looking at an art print? Tell them about what inspired you to make the painting in the first place.

If someone lingers for awhile on an item but then puts it back and starts to leave, quietly offer a slight discount and see if that helps! Oftentimes I'll also do a small discount if someone buys more than one item if the person is really nice. If they act like they're entitled to the discount or they try to haggle, I usually don't give them any price breaks. Remember that nice people who get slight discounts are more likely to tell their friends about you or become repeat customers, whereas entitled people are more likely to act entitled and unsupportive of your work whether they get a discount or not. It's up to you to decide if offering a discount will be beneficial.

Break It Down

When it's time to break down your booth or tent, allow lingering customers a few minutes to finish shopping without rushing them out. You never know who's been waiting all day to make a big purchase. If it's more than 15 minutes after the end of the event and you really need to leave, gently let your customer know that you are required to break down and ask them if there is anything you can start to wrap up for them.

If you're just on the overnight portion of a two- or more day event (meaning the event resumes the following day), remove your valuables, cover your tables, and zip up your tent if you have one. If you're just doing a one-day event or it's the last day of a multi-day event, follow the rest of these guidelines as you'd like.

Me in front of my booth (plus a dead bird and one of my sassy signs) at Renegade in September of 2017 - note the necklaces hanging in the background!

After the customers are gone, or if someone is still shopping through one section of my work, I'll start to break down another section. Use your plastic tubs and start to wrap up fragile items, then use your Tetris skills to pack them together in a stable way. I have two of plastic bead organizers that I use to store my necklaces, one per section, so they don't get tangled. Another suggestion I have seen is to use those plastic tabs for embroidery floss and wrap necklaces around them! I also store rings in the compartments. I noticed that sometimes the chains from my necklaces kind of move into other compartments, but they don't get tangled and this is still the best organizer I've ever purchased. I've tried drinking straws, rolling necklaces into fabric, etc. and none of those options work as well as this organizer.

Your knife and/or scissors will come in handy when taking down signs and any other hanging display items.

Use your tablecloth(s) to wrap large, bulky, or fragile items and pack those into your Rubbermaid tubs too. If you have a tent, pack your tubs into your wagon and move it out of the way so you can take your tent down. This is when it's helpful to have a friend or helper. One person can stay with the items and the other can take the wagon to the car, load the items in, and come back for the rest. It is a LOT easier to load out a little bit at a time than it is to try to drive your car into a fair or right up in front of the event space for loading out.

As you pack up, remember to stay organized. Is there a rack you use at home or in your studio to hang items? Pack it into your car last so you can unpack it first and hang your items back up as needed. Common sense is your friend here.

Whatever you do, remember that you're responsible for EVERYTHING you bring into an event. Throw away your trash and recycle any refuse that you can!

Customer Conversion

The last major thing I want to talk about is converting visitors to your booth or table into customers in the future. Not every shopper is going to have money or an ability to purchase your goods on the spot, but almost everyone has email! Put out a clipboard with an email sign-up sheet and encourage everyone who expresses even the slightest interest in your work to sign up on the list.

Talking to a customer at my Crampus Holiday Market (benefitting an organization called Chicago Period Project) in December of 2017. Photo by Chris Rios.

You can offer people a discount on the spot if they sign up, but my favorite way to encourage new email subscribers is to give an incentive of $25 off their first taxidermy class if they sign up for the list. Of course, most people reading this are not taxidermy teachers, but there are other things you can do in a similar vein. If you're a fiber artist, offer a free pattern to anyone who signs up. If you're a jeweler, offer exclusive early access to your new collection for subscribers. The idea is to offer something exclusive that they can only get by allowing electronic contact.

Follow up after your event by sending your new subscribers an email welcoming them to your list and thanking them for supporting your business. Make sure you include whatever it was that you promised in exchange for their sign-up! In the email, include links to your social media, web shop, and your website. If you don't have an email list, I like using Mailchimp. Mailchimp even gives you the option of sending a separate email to new subscribers which means after you import your new subscribers, you don't have to select their names individually.

The $25 discount on taxidermy sign-ups for new subscribers has gotten me lots of email sign-ups, but has translated directly into sign-ups for lessons (which means money!) and some product sales as well. Offering a discount is a win-win for everyone involved.

Do you have any other words of wisdom for participants in handmade markets and other craft shows? Let me know in the comments!

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MY FAVORITE TAXIDERMY SUPPLIES

November 15, 2017 Mickey Alice Kwapis

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Here are some of my favorite supplies (and accompanying tips and tricks) to get really nice-looking specimens. They'll change the way your work turns out! Whether you're a beginner or a veteran taxidermist, give these a whirl. I think you'll be satisfied. Click on the photos to be taken to the products.

1. I think one of the most important supplies to have in your arsenal is borax. If you're doing a bird taxidermy mount it's a must, but I also use it for small mammal taxidermy as well. Lots of taxidermists swear by tanning their hides but sometimes beginners in taxidermy just want to experiment with other methods. Use it to deter insect activity, slough off fat and fascia, dry the fur of hides, and of course, add to your birds right before mounting so they don't dry out too quickly. Borax can also be used to make slime or for your laundry if you decide taxidermy just isn't your jam!

2. I always use nitrile gloves while doing taxidermy. Vinyl gloves have, in my experience, reacted poorly to some of my preferred taxidermy chemicals, and latex gloves always make my hands smell really disgusting. Plus, the bright color is easy to see when you're skinning around a limb!

3. A good, sharp scalpel with a sturdy handle is a must. From skinning to fleshing and even some of the fine detail work of form-carving, you want a blade that can handle it all. I prefer a #24 scalpel blade, which fits on a #4 handle. The point of the #24 is very sharp and can help you with tasks like skinning around a mouse's eye, but the broad side of the blade is effective on skinning and fleshing much larger animals too.

4. Formalin is a very important chemical when it comes to specimen preservation. Not only can you use it to make wet specimens, you can also inject it into the feet of mammals and birds after mounting to help preserve, dry out, and protect them permanently. Formalin is a buffered formaldehyde solution and should be used and stored very carefully. Please mind the MSDS information.

5. Use a syringe that is large enough to hold a decent amount of liquid, but which is small enough that you can still handle and maneuver it comfortably. I also like to use a 20g veterinary needle so as not to leave very large holes in my specimens.

6. When skinning animals I prefer to dissect joints apart rather than cutting them, but at some points it's just necessary to cut through a bone (like inside of a squirrel's foot, or above a mouse's ankle). For these instances, I prefer a specially designed pair of poultry bone scissors. These come with a lifetime warranty which is well worth it. Make sure you push the bone all the way into the blades so the notch holds them in place when you cut.

7. Looking for a shortcut so you don't have to mess with salting, drying, rehydrating, pickling, and more that goes into traditional tanning? I like Chuck Testa's martini tan recipe - a 50/50 mix of denatured alcohol and gum turpentine. Skin your animal, submerge it in the solution, gently shake it every day for a week, and pull it out to wash it with lukewarm water and BLUE Dawn dish soap before you flesh it. The "martini tan" actually alters the proteins in the skin and fascia to make it REALLY easy to peel the two apart. Proceed with borax on the inside and outside before mounting as usual!

8. If you're doing a dry-mounted mammal project, try soaking your entire hide (yes, the fur too!) in isopropyl alcohol before fleshing it. Use borax to rub in the fur and fluff it up again! After about 15 minutes it will look like a whole new animal. I also like to use this alcohol as my permanent storage solutions for fluid-preserved specimens.

9. Crock-pots are great for cleaning bones, but only if you know what you're doing. It's nice to have a dedicated crock-pot for taxidermy to avoid cross-contamination in your kitchen. Always choose one with a multitude of heat settings so you can put it on the lowest heat setting. You should leave your skulls to soak in the crock-pot for only a day or so, gently cooking the meat off the bone on a very low setting with a soapy solution (soap and water) in the pot. Overcooking can lead to greasy skulls.

10. Use a set of wax carving tools to scrape the cooked meat off of your skulls. You can also use these tools for tucking eyelids and lips, manipulating clay, and more.

11. Use a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution to whiten your skulls once you've cleaned any muscular remnants off of them. Check out this blog post for other bone-cleaning tips and tricks!

12. Sewing up tough hides can be a huge pain, but if you use a tri-sided leather needle it pierces right through even the toughest of hides. These needles are SHARP and have three blades on them that can be sharpened. Protect yourself with a thimble and try sewing with artificial sinew when you're working on a squirrel or anything else with a thick skin. There is no photo of these needles, but please trust me - they're a game changer.

13. Chinchilla dust is my favorite way to finish up both birds and mammals before grooming. Your specimens' fur and feathers will be as fluffy as a chinchilla after you give everything a good dip, douse, and shake followed by a nice blow-dry with a regular hair dryer on low or even a blowout from an air compressor.

Good luck and have fun!