Making a woodcock

8 Comments / Journal, Puppetry / By Mary Robinette Kowal

Originally, I had planned on ordering a woodcock for the play and calling it good. I spent an amused day calling around asking for flying mount woodcocks before learning that they are migratory birds and illegal to sell. Great. So, that brought me to buying a grouse pelt and woodcock taxidermy parts. Now I ask you, what do you think arrived in this curiously flat envelope?

That would be the grouse pelt. The woodcock head, body and eyes came in a separate box. Who knew that birds come with some assembly required?

I thought it was quite curious that the feathers that show around the edges of the skin look very much like rabbit fur.

My grouse skin was a little small for my woodcock’s body. I used a razor to shave it down and then white glue to glue the pelt into place. T-pins held the skin in place while it dried.

Just in case you were wondering, this is not the way to do actual taxidermy. But it’s a fast way to make a prop.

Especially if you are making the ugliest prop in the world, which I evidently was. I did paint the head and beak after this but didn’t have the heart to record it for posterity.

8 thoughts on “Making a woodcock”

Kelvin Kao
August 27, 2008 at 4:58 am

Wait, so you were looking for an actual live bird?
1. Mary Robinette Kowal
  August 27, 2008 at 7:48 am
  
  No, I was looking for a taxidermied one.
-e-
August 27, 2008 at 12:21 pm

This, my dear, is an exceptional post. One that captures so much about what you do… The bizarre requrements of your job, and the brilliant dedication you bring, as well as the healthy dose of practicality and humor needed to get such things done.

What will become of the poor little ugly woodcock/grouse beast after the show is over? It would seem to be symbolic of something… I’m just not sure what…
1. Mary Robinette Kowal
  August 27, 2008 at 1:49 pm
  
  Thank you! I’m not sure what will happen to the woodcock chimera, but I suspect that it will go into the prop closet. If it survives. The leather holding its head on tore during the first rehearsal.
-d-
August 27, 2008 at 2:27 pm

So – when did you learn taxidermy?
1. Mary Robinette Kowal
  August 27, 2008 at 2:27 pm
  
  While I was making the woodcock.
  1. -d-
    August 27, 2008 at 2:32 pm
    
    Did you have a book to go by or anything? Or is it just another puppet?
    1. Mary Robinette Kowal
      August 27, 2008 at 2:35 pm
      
      Mostly it was just another puppet, but I had looked at some of the reference material on the Van Dyke taxidermy site for another project.

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8 thoughts on “Making a woodcock”

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