Finished my secret project! A use for shed skin.

[xFenrir]

I have been itching to share this with y'all, but I wanted to wait until it was completely done so I could show you the final product! The boyfriend and I have noticed that when Satin sheds, you can see her patterning on the shed skin. We hadn't noticed with Loki since she was so light-colored, and we decided it would be cool to mount a whole shed skin on something and use it for decoration. For two years we couldn't get a good shed (usually she rolls it up on itself and it was impossible to unroll without shredding it, or she would shred it herself while shedding) but last time Satin shed she turned the whole thing inside out, so we cut off the bottom scale part and had ourselves a nice whole shed!! My boyfriends' cat investigated the skin and decided she didn't like it and ripped the head off ( ) but it was a clean tear so I could just mount the whole thing and it wouldn't really be noticeable.

So here it is, the beginning product. It's very true what they say about not being able to judge length accurately using a shed skin, because while Satin is about 6ft, the skin is more like 7.5ft long!! After cutting off the ventral scales part, I wet it and stretched it to get out the kinks from the first time it dried, and hung it up to dry overnight. BE CAREFUL, because I found the wet skin to have about the same durability of damp tissue paper, so go slow and don't rush


It dried almost completely in about 2-3 hours, but it was pushing midnight and I was studying for finals, so I didn't get started until today. I went out and bought two 20x30in. pieces of foam board ($10 total). You could probably get something custom-made, but if you're a poor college student like myself, this way works just fine. I measured and cut the foam board into halves (10in.) using an Xacto knife, but if you don't have that, a boxcutter or the equivalent will work fine too. I started in my room, so ignore the clutter! My Cocker Spaniel, ever the clingy one, had to be as close as possible the whole time too, so if you see a black fuzzy thing in the pictures, that's him.


Then I used white duct tape to connect all the pieces longways. I wrapped the tape around twice because it still felt bend-ier than I liked with just a single wrap:


But it looks weird, right? You'll see the duct tape connecting the foam board and it won't look like one nice, complete piece. I puzzled over this, then decided to cover the whole thing with 8ft. of white muslin fabric (thus why you'll need the white duct tape, or at least clear packing tape, otherwise you'll see it through the fabric). I used white because I think that shows off the patterning better.


I cut off the excess fabric, then using MOAR DUCT TAPE, stretched and attached the fabric to the back of the foamboard (which is black but I didn't care 'cause nobody will see that side). I am cheap and wanted instant results, and it works as well as anything else, haha.


I moved downstairs to the hardwood floor because working on the carpeted floor was getting black hair all over the fabric. Then I sat for over an hour crouched over the backboard, pinning inch by inch of shed skin down with those tiny metal pins people use to fit clothing. I thought of gluing it down, but I was worried about tearing the skin, and this worked just as well. However, the foam board is thin and the pins will stick out the back, so if you use this method I suggest pushing all the pins through, turning it over and bending over the pins with pliers. I just used MOAR DUCT TAPE to cover the pins, since they still stuck up some and are still sharp.


And voila!! Finito! You have a mounted snakeskin without having to actually have a skinned snake. It might not be as colorful as the actual skin, but it's still very cool and pretty, and will work with pretty much any snakeskin. You can go a step further and have it framed too if you want.



The whole piece is about 7.5ft. (91in.), and from start to finish took about 3 hours. I hope you guys think it's as cool as I do!!!

COSTS:
Foam board (2 pieces, 20x30in. each): $5 each ($10 total)
Muslin Fabric (8ft): ~$5.50
White Duct Tape: I don't know, because we already had it in my house. Let's just say $3.
Dress Pins: $2.75

TOTAL COST: $21.25