Pretty Dead Taxidermy

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Vancouver, BC
Pretty Dead Taxidermy

Urban Taxidermy. Specializing in:
Workshops
Taxidermy & Oddity Goods
Pet Memorial
Tv/Film

10/16/2026

Curious about insect pinning but don’t know where to start? 🦋📌

Here’s a peek at my workbench and the supplies I get ready before beginning:

• Hydration containers
• Syringes
• Tweezers of your choice
• Pins and insect pins
• Your specimens, laid out
• Pinning boards in different sizes
• Hot water, extra containers, and paper towel

A little preparation makes it easier to settle in and focus on those tiny details. Save this checklist for your first pinning project! 🖤

Want to learn with us? Our butterfly pinning workshop in Victoria this Sunday has a couple of spots left, and our next Vancouver workshop is November 11!

🎟️ Tickets via the link in our bio.

VancouverWorkshops NaturalHistory

10/08/2026

Trash panda. Terrible table manners.

For the collector who appreciates a little chaos, questionable dining habits and an excellent fur coat.

This little menace will be available at the Oddities & Curiosities Expo The Madman’s Wife stall, alongside more Pretty Dead treasures. Go check them out ✨✨

10/06/2026

There’s more to a beak than bone.

A bird’s beak has a bony core beneath an outer covering made of keratin—the family of proteins that also forms our hair and nails.

These carrier crow skull domes will be available at the Oddities Expo on The Madman’s Wife stand. You’ll find plenty of other Pretty Dead stock there too, so stop by and have a look through the collection.

10/02/2026

Autumn hours are here—and we’re back on Saturdays.

Pop into the studio for curious treasures, unusual gifts and a little natural history.

Tuesday · 11 AM–3 PM
Wednesday & Thursday · 11 AM–4 PM
Friday & Saturday · 11 AM–5 PM
Monday & Sunday · Closed

Find us at 2333 Ontario Street, Vancouver.

Save this post for your next visit. We’ll see you among the specimens.

10/01/2026

REGINA, we’re coming for Halloween—and bringing the rats.

Join us at All Hallows Con for hands-on rat taxidermy and butterfly pinning workshops. No experience needed. We’ll guide you through the process, and you’ll take your finished specimen home.

OCTOBER 30
6–9 PM · Rat Taxidermy

OCTOBER 31
11 AM–12 PM · Butterfly Pinning
1–4 PM · Rat Taxidermy

A Halloween activity with something a little more permanent than a carved pumpkin.

Tickets are available now. Head to the link in our bio to book your spot.

09/30/2026

Are you ready for the spooky-season offerings arriving in our shop?

Flying dragons, wildly inappropriate candles, legally sourced raccoon faces for mask-making, framed insects and plenty of other strange treasures are slowly taking over the shelves.

Whether you are decorating for Halloween or your home simply looks like Halloween all year round, we are stocking plenty of creepy, beautiful and wonderfully questionable things for you.

New pieces will continue arriving throughout the season, so come visit the shop and see what has crawled in this week.

09/28/2026

Why do chickens and roosters make great beginner birds for learning taxidermy?

Compared with many smaller, more delicate birds, domestic chickens generally have tougher skin that is more forgiving while you learn to skin, clean and mount them. Their larger size also makes the anatomy easier to see and gives you more room to practise positioning the wings, legs and feathers.

That does not mean they are effortless. Properly cleaning and degreasing the skin still takes plenty of work, and every feather needs careful attention. But they are an excellent bird for developing the fundamental skills before moving on to more delicate species.

The birds pictured here are domestic black crested chickens, similar to the Polish breed—not crows or ravens. They were legally sourced from farms after dying naturally.

09/25/2026

FREAKY FRIDAY: BU****LE EDITION

This one is not for the faint-hearted.

A taxidermist’s job is not always glamorous. Sometimes it involves spending far more time examining, cleaning and carefully preserving an animal’s bu****le than anyone would reasonably expect.

Can you guess which animal this belongs to?

If you guessed raccoon, you are correct.

We will have a couple of legally sourced raccoons available at the Oddities & Curiosities Expo in Vancouver on October 10 and 11. Pretty Dead will not have its own booth this year because our shop will be open that weekend, but you can find a selection of our work at The Madman’s Wife’s booth.

Our shop will also be packed with unusual pieces and special offers throughout the weekend—so there will be plenty of strange things to discover wherever you find us.

09/23/2026

A taxidermy form is only the starting point.

Commercial forms are created in standard sizes, but no two animals have exactly the same proportions. Before mounting can begin, the form must be carefully adjusted to match the individual animal’s measurements, body shape and anatomy.

This can mean cutting the form apart, shortening or lengthening the body, changing the width, repositioning the limbs and rebuilding areas by hand. It may look dramatic, but this hidden stage is what allows the finished mount to look natural and recognizable.

Especially in pet taxidermy, “close enough” is not good enough. The work beneath the skin is just as important as everything you eventually see.

09/22/2026

CANADA-WIDE CURIO MYSTERY BOX GIVEAWAY

We have welcomed so many new followers lately, so it is time for us to say thank you with a box full of strange little treasures.

One winner will receive a Pretty Dead Curio Mystery Box containing:

• A pair of pre-drilled buffalo teeth for jewellery making
• A butterfly-wing vial
• A bone-shaped pencil for note-taking
• A framed insect
• A coyote baculum bone
• A lucky rabbit-foot keychain
• A porcupine quill
• A death’s-head moth canvas patch
• A resin insect
• Plus a few extra surprises

To enter:

Follow
Tag a friend in the comments
Share this post to your Stories and tag us so we can see it

Each additional comment tagging a different friend counts as another entry.

The giveaway is open across Canada and closes October 2, 2026, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time. The winner will be selected at random and contacted directly by this account. If your account is private, please send us a screenshot of your Story.

No purchase is necessary. Open to Canadian residents aged 18 and over. The selected winner must correctly answer a skill-testing question. This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by Instagram.

Good luck, fellow collectors of strange things.

Address

2343 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
V5T3C9

Website

http://www.prettydeadtaxidermy.com/, https://linktr.ee/prettydeadtaxidermy

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