tell me you sanitized it or something, holy shit

where do you keep a festering dead owl for two years?

I skinned and cleaned it the night I found it, then set it outside for the bugs to to the rest. It was completely clean in a little over 4 days. I used a bath of diluted bleach to whiten it when it was all done.

If you don't mind me asking, how did the skull come out using the bleach water, because when I've tried it, the bones have come out grainy and brittle. I tried a couple different formulas, but I haven't had much luck. I've taken to boiling them till sanitary and then sun bleaching them in the back window of my car. If you've got a working bleach formula, I'd really appreciate the info :)

It's VERY mild so that the sutures don't fall apart. I don't have a specific formula; I just eye ball it and continue diluting until the smell is barely detectable. A 30% hydrogen peroxide solution usually works best for me, but I needed this cleaned up quickly because I was living with some roommates that weren't keen on having heads soaking everywhere. This skull came out well, luckily!

I always use peroxide on my bones/skull... bleach gets into the pores and deteriorates from the inside-out.

My bleach solutions are always mild enough that I've never had a problem. If I have several days to devote to the process, H2O2 is always the better choice, but bleach is my go-to for a quick whitening....or Basic White if I can manage to find a tub at the local beauty supply stores.

Beautiful <3

Nice sketch. I love how it looks on the yellowed paper.