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May 11, 2022
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Hello Taxidermy Talk,
I am brand new to this forum and also to the taxidermy world. I make puppets and creatures for movies and I am interested in exploring using real fur in my work. I usually use faux fur, but I thought real fur would look nicer and more realistic. I am building a cat-demon puppet right now and got a bobcat pelt on EBay thinking I could experiment with using this fur. I am struggling to break the hide and seeking advice.
The pelt arrived from EBay and the first thing I noticed about the pelt, aside from its beautiful coat of fur, is that the skin is very stiff. I need something soft, relaxed, and pliable that I can wrap around the cat body I have built. I did some research and I believe that I need to “break the hide” or “stretch the hide.” I watched a few youtube videos on this process and read some forum posts and I am taking a stab at doing this on my own. I rehydrated the skin by massaging it with a cloth damp with lukewarm water, and I also rubbed mineral oil and mink oil into it. I got a 2″x2″x36″ piece of hardwood from Home Depot, I think it’s maple or oak, and I rounded off and sanded down the edges of it. I’ve spent a lot of time stretching the hide over this stake.
It’s really hard! I managed to get some of the hide to turn white, which I saw people do in the few YouTube videos I watched. But it’s taking a lot of time. I spent about 4 hours on Monday and then 4 hours yesterday stretching it, and I’ve only managed to turn the hide white on part of one of the hind legs – I’ve worked on the skin on both hind legs and also all over the abdomen, but I’ve spent the most time on one rear leg and have gotten it to a place that seems pretty good. I’m feeling daunted by the idea of doing this for the rest of the body – at this rate it seems like it could take another 3 full days to get the flesh white on the whole hide. I thought I’d ask for advice first. I also messaged the seller on EBay and told them about all of this and asked if they have any suggestions – I wonder if I maybe need some information from them about what they did with the pelt before I received it.
One thought I had is – my research tells me that this stretching process is supposed to happen shortly after the tanning process. Maybe it’s so hard because the pelt has been dried out for a while? I wetted it to the point where it feels soft and supple and stretchy, but maybe I should get it even wetter? I can’t really stretch it as much as I see people doing in the videos, where it turns white before your eyes as they stretch it. So maybe it needs to be wetter?
I read about people soaking it in a solution of salt, tepid water, and laundry detergent for 20-30 minutes, then hanging it dry, then putting it in a bag and letting it sit in the fridge over night. I think I’m going to try this.
Do you have any other tips? My research tells me that this process should be very laborious, and I’m up for the task, but I feel like I should have progressed further after sinking like 8 hours into stretching it.
I want to mention – you can see some holes in the hide – they were there when I received it. I bought one on EBay that was listed as “slightly damaged” and at a lower price – I figured that would be good for my first time. I don’t think I’ve added any holes while working, but the existing holes have maybe gotten a little bigger? Anything I should do while I’m stretching to prevent them from getting bigger?
I have one other question – when I rehydrate the flesh, it smells kind of foul. Not super strong, but definitely noticeable. That’ why I’m wearing a respirator when I work with it – it just makes me more comfortable. My end goal is to have a puppet that I can take to a movie set with other people, and if it smells bad, that would be a problem. Once I finish breaking the hide, is it reasonable to expect this smell to go away on its own? Is there anything else I should consider doing to make the smell go away?
I have attached pictures of my bobcat hide and my setup, and I am including a link here to a video of my stretching process:
Thank you for your time and any thoughts you can share!
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