As an wildlife and nature lover, and also as someone who has worked in a very yucky, wasteful industry in the past, I wanted to find a way to make products that I enjoy and that are beautiful and high quality, but minimise waste wherever possible, and use materials that woudl otherwise have gone to waste.

The fabrics I use are in new, unused condition anmd are amazing quality, but are on their "second life". For example, offcuts, discontinued swatch books, roll ends and leftovers from other jobs.

This not only means that my beasties have very high quality fabrics, but also I can pass on the savings I make to you! Just look at the amazing embroidered fabric on the Roe Deer in the feature photo. I can safely say that it would cost £100s per metre! The limit in fabrics also means each beast is unique as I have a limited amount of each fabric. This makes them pretty special, I reckon.

All the plaques are made using offucts, panels from broken old furniture etc. This also means I get to use some lovely woods, since old furniture is made from beautiful solid wood rather than the mdf and particle board of today's throwaway stuff.

But what else do I do behind the scenes?

I use resuseable mixing sticks, mixing buckets and waste as little material as possible. When I make my forms, I have to over-fill so that I get a good solid casting. That over fill does not go to waste though! I either use it when sculpting a new beast, or I use it to fill one of the larger beasts.

Packaging all gets recycled wherever possible. I even have a collection of boxes. I always store and re-use bubble wrap, any air filled packaging and packaging chips.

And then we come to the ethical side of things....

I sometimes get asked if the antlers are real, or if there ar any animal parts inside. All my beasts, unless stated are 100% animal product free. The deer noses are beautiful faux leather or velvet The antlers are all cast in resin and are created by moulding naturally shed antlers (or are sculpted from scratch)

I am an animal lover, and whilst I have an appreciation for real taxidermy, I do not agree with taking a life purely for art. If an animal that has been taxidermied died naturally, or if they have had to be culled for the maintenance for a population, I can understand that. But trophy hunting I cannot agree with.

I hope this gives you a little insight about my policies and preferences, and what to expect when you support my business. You can find my beasts at https://www.coloufauxtaxidermy.co.uk