Rest in Pieces: Northcote taxidermy workshop one of a kind

Fancy learning to skin a rat while drinking bubbles? Want a DIY kit to try it at home? This taxidermy workshop is one of its kind in the world — just make sure you have a strong stomach.

Natalie Delaney-John has been in the taxidermy industry for seven years and now takes workshops all over Australia and the world. Picture: Hamish Blair

Walk down the right back alley in Northcote and you’ll find an underground practice right at home in the world of hipsters.

No longer taught at universities or TAFE, the dying art of taxidermy lives on at Rest in Pieces.

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Owner Natalie Delaney-John has been in the industry for seven years and claims her business is the only one of its kind in the world.

Natalie Delaney-John at Rest in Pieces. Picture: Hamish Blair

Unique is certainly one way to describe the workshop that offers a three-day squirrel course, and sells shrunken preserved puppy heads and 110-step DIY rat taxidermy kits (carcass not included).

Despite its unusual nature, the business is immensely popular, offering courses around the country which are often sold out months in advance.

Beginners can take part in the single-day, $600 rat taxidermy course where they can skin, preserve and mount a rat while drinking a glass of bubbles.

All that’s required is a camera for the memories and a strong stomach.

Other classes on offer include a $1250, three-day squirrel taxidermy class, taxidermy of a baby chick or a myna bird and mouse skeletal articulation.

“IT ONLY TAKES A FEW DEATH THREATS TO REALISE THAT YOU QUICKLY NEED TO FIND A VOICE AND FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU STAND FOR.”

The business was one of the first in Australia to offer taxidermy workshops and Ms Delaney-John said it was also one of a kind in teaching skeletal articulation, entomology and plastination.

Ms Delaney-John said it’s the “mixed bag” community that makes it so much fun.

“I have taught people from all walks of life including those with a simple curiosity through to museum staff, teaching faculty, lecturers and academic students,” she said.

But there is still stigma around the unusual hobby and almost all students attend the workshops alone.

“When they tell people they want to attend a workshop that involves the preservation of skin, bones or organs they are usually met with ridicule,” Ms Delaney-John said.

“There is a preconceived idea that these arts are macabre but on the contrary, they are the perfect combination of science, art, education and a love for animals and anatomy.”

And while the courses are sold out, the business can be unpopular.

“It only takes a few death threats, and there have been more than a few, to realise that you quickly need to find a voice and figure out what you stand for,” Ms Delaney-John said.

“One of the really interesting things that I have found is that we rarely get criticism from vegans or vegetarians. In fact, I would say that around 30 per cent of our students would fall into one of those categories.”

Myna birds are among the animals that people can learn how to preserve. Picture: Hamish Blair

The taxidermy teacher said one of their core beliefs was nature should be preserved and it was a “privilege” to learn about the animals inside and out.

Money from sales of their DIY kits is donated to the Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre, a nature reserve in Little River.

And to those who baulk at the idea of skinning and stitching a squirrel, Ms Delaney-John said she was proud to provide a safe space to talk about the topics around death.

“We don’t really have any sense of ceremony or celebration and often don’t even know what to say to someone or how to support the people in our life that have lost a loved one,” she said.

“This unfortunately tends to continue to filter all the way down to a lack of understanding of where our food and meat actually comes from.”

Hopefully you don’t learn too much from a squirrel.

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@richardapearce