Below left : ‘ I focused on honing my skills with reptiles and birds .’ Right ( slide show ): Lauren ’ s workshop . Below right : ‘ The feeling of true accomplishment had been lacking from my previous career .’ All images supplied by Lauren Hundloe .
taxidermy career . Fox Studios got in touch with me – they needed props for the latest instalment in the Alien film franchise , Alien : Covenant . I set to work and produced six pieces of taxidermy for them in seven days . It was a well-paid week ! I joked at the time that I may have peaked too soon in my new career , but since then my business has continued to go from strength to strength and I ’ ve now had my work feature in four television shows and counting .
In addition to the immense feeling of satisfaction I get at giving creatures a second chance at life , the thing that I love most about being a taxidermist and wildlife artist is that every day is totally different . I get lots of weird enquiries . One guy left half a deer on my driveway while I was out - legs and all . It was a Monday afternoon and I had planned on having a relaxing night , but ended up having to drop everything to skin it whilst my partner was inside frantically searching Gumtree to find a secondhand freezer in which to store it at extremely short notice . Another guy wanted me to taxidermy his ‘ rat ’ s tail ’, which was still attached to the back of his head ! I get some really cool restoration work - I restored a vintage macaque recently and currently have a lioness in my studio for restoration as well . She belongs at Irish Murphy ’ s Pub in the City and apparently patrons have been asking where she ’ s gone , so the pressure is on to revive her to her former glory and get her back where she belongs . It ’ s a really great feeling to be able to give creatures another chance at life …. albeit in a different form .
An average day for me now can be spent planning a diorama , preparing for an upcoming taxidermy workshop , teaching my apprentice , posting photos of my latest work on Facebook and Instagram , travelling around picking up dead stuff , fielding enquiries , and taking time to talk to people when they drop off their pets – getting to know what the animal was like in life . It ’ s nice to know something about my subjects when I am working on them . I like to know their name , what their personality was like and their individual quirks . I still have administrative work that I need to take care of : ordering supplies , glass eyes , forms etc ., and packaging up finished pieces to post home to interstate clients . Some days I head a few hours up the road to work with another taxidermist . Other days I get to sit down and work uninterrupted from start to finish on one piece . Starting out in the morning with a critter that ’ s been defrosted , and by the end of the day it ’ s upright again , looking very much alive . Those are my favourite days ! I can listen to audio books or podcasts at the same time , so I can be working on one thing and learning about another . The whole process can be very meditative and oddly therapeutic .