Vulture Culture – Vulture Culture 101

Call For Writers for Vulture Culture 101!

Hey, everyone! So in case you haven’t heard, I am writing a book about Vulture Culture, the “fandom” that’s sprung up around the appreciation of hides, bones and other dead things in recent years. The working title is Vulture Culture 101: A Book For People Who Like Dead Things, and I will be self-publishing it via CreateSpace; the projected date of publication is Summer 2018. Currently, the first draft of the book is done, and I am working on edits and revisions. There’s also an IndieGoGo campaign through March 23 at http://igg.me/at/vultureculture101 which has already met its initial goal and is working toward stretch goals.

While I have spent over twenty years making hide and bone art, I do not have extensive experience with tanning hides or cleaning bones or otherwise prepared raw specimens. However, no book on Vulture Culture would be complete without tutorials on some basic processes, which is why I’m seeking writers to contribute essays!

Each essayist will be compensated with $100 and 10 paperback copies of Vulture Culture 101 once it has been published. Thank you again to my IndieGoGo contributors for helping to make this happen!

I am seeking one essay each on the following topics:

Skinning a freshly dead or frozen and thawed animal and preparing the hide for tanning
Tanning a hair-on hide, starting with a raw hide (rabbit would be best as it’s a nice small hide that’s easy and inexpensive to acquire); while you may choose one method of tanning, such as alum, please briefly mention other tanning methods like egg tanning
Brain-tanning leather, starting with a hair-on hide (deer is most popular but I’m open to other easy to acquire suggestions like goat)
Cleaning bones through maceration, starting with a whole skinned carcass, though with a brief mention of dermestid beetles and nature cleaning as alternatives, and proceeding through degreasing and whitening
Wet specimens in jars, to include long-term care, how to change out old fluids, etc.
Very basic mouse or rat taxidermy, including how to prepare the hide, positioning, etc.
The basics of skeleton articulation; there’s not space to go through an entire skeletal articulation, but at least give people an idea of the tools and methods involved, and basic steps from skeleton acquisition to final display
Invertebrate specimen preparation (not just as wet specimens)

Essays should have the following qualities:

Between 1500 and 2000 words (you may be able to go over that a bit if you need the space)
Written in easy to read English and suitable for a general audience
Thoroughly explain the topic in a step-by-step manner; steps should be numbered
Be accompanied by at least 4-6 print-quality photos showing different steps of the process (if you have to show different animals at different stages of the process, such as for longer processes like maceration, that’s fine, so long as all pertinent stages are covered clearly)
Should not be previously published, either in print or online. If you’ve written similar essays that’s fine, just write a unique one for this project

I will have already covered topics like where to get hides and bones, and legalities concerning them, so you don’t need to go over them again. Stick to the how-tos of your topic. I will be doing some basic editing and proofreading, but you should be sending me final drafts by the due date.

Please apply by contacting me at lupa.greenwolf(at)gmail(dot)com; you will be asked to provide the following information:

Your name, general location, email address and phone number
A brief description of your experience in working with hides and/or bones and/or other dead things
Which topic you would like to write about and what makes you qualified to write about it (you can apply for more than one topic; however, only one topic will be assigned to one writer unless there is a serious lack of suitable writers)
At least three samples of your writing, published or not; Vulture Culture topics and how-to articles are extra-awesome, but send the best of whatever you have. Please also send a few sample photos showing your photography skills. You can send them as links and/or attachments.
If you are under the age of 18, proof of permission by a parent or legal guardian

The deadline to apply is March 28, 2018. Selections will be made by April 7, 2018 at which point acceptance letters and contracts will be sent out. Completed final essays have a FIRM due date of June 7, 2018, so please make sure before you apply that you can dedicate the time to finishing your essay on time. You can also send me drafts in progress before that point if you’d like feedback.

Thank you!

Why Vulture Culture 101 Isn’t Only For Beginners!

Despite the “101″ part of Vulture Culture 101: A Book For People Who Like Dead Things, there’s material in here that’s good for both beginner Vultures and those who have been around a while. Some of the things that may appeal to those who already have the basics down:

–A look at the various historical groups and movements that have fed into modern-day Vulture Culture

–A chance to consider your own ethical stance about dead things and why you’ve adopted it (and whether you need to adjust it!)

–Advice on the perennial problem of dealing with people who have negative reactions to Vulture Culture

–Ideas on how to make Vulture Culture more integrated with natural history, acceptance of death, rewilding, and other related concepts and movements

And even those of us who have been around for decades still get people asking us “So why do you have all these dead animals around?” Wouldn’t it be nice to have a good book you can point them to–and if you trust them with your library, perhaps loan them a copy?

By the way, we’re just shy of $1000 of the $3000 I’m asking for–and we’re only on Day 2! Head on over to http://igg.me/at/vultureculture101 to back this book today 🙂

Really Good Article on Nature Lovers Who Hunt

The BBC website recently ran this article on an Alaskan woman who is a hunter and also a nature lover. It’s often assumed that if you are capable of killing an animal, even for food, that you obviously don’t love nature. And yes, there are hunters (and other people) who only see nature as being good for what it can give us, not good in its own right.

But there are those who hunt and fish who do appreciate the animals they catch for food, and who have respect for them. Indigenous people worldwide have had this complex relationship with nature for thousands of years; it is only in the increasingly industrialized world where we have become more separate from nature, and therefore we forget that there is more than one way to love it.

So it is with Vultures, who love nature and also collect the remains of deceased animals as part of an expression of that love. Cultures worldwide have cared for the remains of their human relatives who have passed on; many Vultures feel the same about the hides and bones in their homes.

Vulture Culture Myths and Misconceptions

I’ve run into the idea before that in order to be a true Vulture you have to process your own specimens. That means picking up roadkill, salvaging the hide if it’s fresh enough, and finding a way to clean the rotting meat off the bones. While these are certainly part of Vulture Culture, they’re not required for you to be a part of this community. It’s made of taxidermists and bone cleaners, artists and collectors, and people who simply enjoy the aesthetic beauty of hides, bones and more.

In Vulture Culture 101 I’ll be addressing some of the myths about Vultures, like whether we kill animals for hides and bones (no!) and whether you can be a vegetarian Vulture (yes!) What are some of the myths and facts you’d like to see discussed in my book?

Vulture Culture 101: What Do You Want To See in a Book on Vulture Culture?

Hi, all! I am pleased to announce my next book project: Vulture Culture 101: A Book For People Who Like Dead Things!

What compels me and many other people to fill our homes with the preserved remains of animals, and how can you join in the fun? Vulture Culture 101: A Book For People Who Like Dead Things explores the modern revival in acquiring, preserving and creating art with these natural specimens. More than just a book on taxidermy, it explores such diverse topics as the roots of Vulture Culture, where to get specimens, what’s legal and what isn’t, how to identify what you’ve got, and so much more! And for those willing to roll their sleeves up and get their hands dirty, there’ll be how-tos on tanning, bone cleaning and other preparation work.

You can find out more about the work-in-progress, to include a working outline, at the official website, https://www.vultureculture101.com/. If you want the chance to read excerpts as I work on the manuscript, which is very close to 30,000 words now, consider becoming my Patron on Patreon at http://www.patreon.com/lupagreenwolf for as little as $1/month and get access to the Patron-only feed!

In the meantime, I have a very important question for you: What would you like to see in a book about Vulture Culture? You can reply here, or email me at lupa(at)vultureculture101.com – and thank you 🙂