With so many snakes in my collection, I’m often asked “Brad, what do you do with all that snake skin laying around the Pit?” After a good shed, they mean. My young nephew wondered the same thing, but instead of nosing about came up with a fantastic idea!
“Uncle Brad,” he said, “why not make snake skin bookmarks for pre-schoolers like me, and as gifts for family and friends?!”
Yeah, he really said that (more or less). He’s a clever kid, that one!
So, we did just that. Here’s how you can do the same, step-by-slithery-step!
What you’ll need:
1. Skin
2. Scissors
3. Black marker or texta pen
4. Ruler
3. Laminating machine*
4. Laminating sheets
5. Heavy paper to be used as backing
*If, for some odd reason, you don’t have a laminating machine, get one. Or…(I’ll give you another solution at the end of this post).
Step 1.
Tell your sister, squirmy little brother, mum, petrified dad, spouse or flatmate what you are doing and why you’re doing it so as to not scare them. We don’t want this to happen:
Step 2.
Choose a well patterned and clean looking skin. You can use lizard and other reptile skins, but I think snakes look the best because they’re long and slender. Keep in mind that when a herp first sheds its skin, it’s moist. Stretch the skin out on a table or flat space and dry it for a couple of days.
Step 3:
Find adult supervision.
Step 4:
Once the adult is found and the skin is dry, take out your laminating machine (which you should have by now), laminating sheets, paper as a backing, scissors, black texta pen and ruler. With the scissors, cut the skin to fit the size of your paper.
Equipment needed to make a snake skin shedding bookmark
Step 5:
Fit the skin and paper inside of the laminating sheet.
Preparing snake skin sheddings to be laminated
Step 6:
Check your laminating machine for instructions, but I like mine to be set on HOT. Give it about 10 minutes to reach desired level of hotness, and when it is ready insert your prepared laminating sheet. Make sure the sheet enters and comes out of the machine complete (in one whole piece=.
Step 6:
Admire how awesome it looks!
Step 7:
Let the laminated sheet cool for a few minutes and then mark straight lines on the sheet so you can cut it into bookmarks.
Step 8:
Enjoy!
Snake Skin bookmarks make great gifts. Try making some yourself and tell us how it went, either here or on Facebook!
(*okay…so you don’t have a laminating machine, do you? I’ve got the perfect solution! Simply glue the skin to cardboard and cover with a clear contact sheet. Easy! Thanks for reading.)
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[...] when Brad walked us through how to make a snakeskin bookmark? It’s a great DIY project for you to try at home, especially for you school-age keepers out [...]