Laughing Fox Boneworks

12/12/2024

EDUCATIONAL RANT INCOMING🔥
*photo shared with permission by owner

One of the many reasons why we preach not boiling your skull is pictured below. Sometimes, the antlers will contact the side of the vat or even directly with the heating element itself and burn the antlers or the bone. This hunter was lucky it was the antlers and not the skull itself, where they can still be salvaged. But it will require quite a bit of work to recover. Even if a head is macerated using a heating element, the heating element could come in contact directly and burn it, permanently discoloring the surface.

I completely understand the dollar in today's economy doesn't stretch as far, and taxidermy ain't cheap. That said, if you DO decide to DIY, we fully support you and we just don't want to see you guys wreck your mounts! We just encourage you to do your research before starting. Some pointers:

🔥 NEVER boil
🚫 NEVER bleach
⚰️Burying does work but the stains are a pain to remove.
💧Maceration IS effective but you need to be careful to prevent the heat source from coming in contact with the skull and keeping it below boiling. It also stinks so don't do it in your house or if you have neighbors that you like lol.
🪲 Beetles are the most effective way to remove flesh, buuut not everybody wants or needs 30,000 tiny roommates lol.
🚩IF YOUR TAXIDERMIST HAS A RIDICULOUSLY SHORT TURN AROUND TIME, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR BUSINESS. YOUR SKULLS ARE BEING BOILED AND GREASE IS BEING COOKED INTO THE BONE FOR $150🚩

**thank you Matt and your buddy for permission to use this photo!**

Stay Spooky,

Laughing Fox

12/02/2024

WHAT IS "DEGREASING?": an educational rant

I've had a few people ask me this year what "degreasing" is. It is arguably the most critical part of the process that guarantees a bright white mount with no smell. Skulls retain grease and fat after the flesh has been stripped off. The only way to truly remove it all is weeks or sometimes months (depending on animal species) in a degreaser and/or detergent with regular water changes. A good way to tell is when the skull is wet or held up to the light, you can see yellow or gray tinting of old grease that is left in the bone (cooked in if it was boiled, and at that point extremely difficult to remove). Your entire mount with age may turn yellow, gray, or have a musty smell almost like rawhide. It attracts insects also...gross.

Quick turnaround taxidermists boil and bleach skulls... and you pay $150 or more for it and it isnt even degreased. May look great at first, but give it time. Quick turnaround is a bigger 🚩 red flag 🚩 than your ex on the first date.

Let the following pictures do the talking.

Stay educated and stay spooky
Laughing Fox

11/30/2024

This is the other one that was in cryo-sleep for 2 years. Another stubborn degreasing phase on this guy, but you just can't beat the results. As I tell my customers: fast, fairly priced, high quality, pick two. It can take a long time to finish your mount, but I can guarantee grease won't pop after a few weeks like it does when you boil.

Laughing Fox

11/30/2024

I'm pleased to say these several years frozen mounts are finally complete! In addition to the stubborn degreasing phase this stag put us through, his antlers were completely white after the exposure and the cleaning process; I had to fully restore them. Personally, I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

Happy hunting and Stay Spooky!

Laughing Fox

11/19/2024

Spooky fam, what kind of content would you like to see from us? More art? More of the mounting process?

11/09/2024

‼️check this out‼️

This 8pt white tail buck has a rare and unique mutation!! It is called a vestigial fang, also known as "deer ivory" that in and of itself is a trophy. It occurs in about 1 OUT OF EVERY 10,000 DEER!!

10/24/2024

10/21/2024

My beau and self proclaimed "dumb labor" is getting started on these two killer Sika stags tonight. They were harvested by our buddy Sean McWhorter and his uncle Ray. So excited to see how these guys look on the wall. Congrats on a great weekend guys!

Laughing Fox

10/17/2024

‼️CALL FOR GOOGLE REVIEWS‼️

If you have had a mount done by us, or purchased a custom art piece, please consider taking a moment to review us on Google! I have provided the link below.

It really helps us get some visibility and spread credibility outside of social media and word of mouth :)

Post a review to our profile on Google

10/08/2024

Finished out the 2023-2024 season with this high and tight bad boy. Wouldn't mind having him live in our living room 🤩

10/07/2024

2024 CLOSEOUT SALE

1️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ plus 🚢

"Ursa" - The next piece available is a black bear jaw with pink roses suspended from a delicate gold chain, with a matching ornamental rose quartz pendant.

Poor girl was hit by a car in Colorado, USA and the remains found their way to me. I gave my best to honor her woefully short life, and now I hope that she finds her way to her forever home.

09/24/2024

2024 Collection Close Out!

SOLD 🔥

"Yggdrasil" is named after the Tree of Life in Norse Mythology. In the Elder Edda, it is written that Odin himself hung from the branches of Yggdrasil for 9 days and 9 nights in order to gain the knowledge of the Runes. If tarot is more your speed, you may know this in the form of "The Hanged Man" - a symbol of man making a huge sacrifice in search of something greater.

This meaningful piece is completed on a Roe deer and mounted on a piece of (treated) drift wood. He is embellished with this tree going from the roots, the trunk up his nose, and branches extending into the antlers and made at home with moss, and tiny little mushrooms.

09/21/2024

And just like that, it's hunting season again! We had an excellent year last year, and we are hoping to see some familiar faces back this season!

We are now available by text and phone!! You can reach us at (410) 914 7367 any time of day to drop off your harvests, check status on your mounts, and reach out with any questions or concerns you might have. We're hoping this will be easier on everyone!

Good luck out there, stay safe and stay Spooky!

Laughing Fox

08/22/2024

Our beautiful son Mason Jaeger chose to join us and his awesome big brother Lukas on Tuesday morning. Everyone is healthy and happy, Chris and I are working around the clock to bring method to madness as we settle into a new routine.

That said, we will be taking a hiatus from orders and posting for a little while. It will be announced publicly when we open back up. Right now, we are focusing on our little family. ❤️

Until then, stay Spooky!

Laughing Fox

08/10/2024

There's still a handful of things left to grab up before they're all gone!

08/09/2024

I don't care that I'm 9 months pregnant, hunting season starts in less than a month and thats what baby carriers are for

WHOS READY?!

08/07/2024

Update on everything that's left! It's going fast yall but still have some great pieces to move at aggressive price points.

DM or comment for pricing and better photos :)

Laughing Fox