iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 15/10/2025

The BMW project is not without spidery influence… just in case anyone was concerned. I’m hand stitching gold webs for the interior/upholstery.

A car door card panel with hand stitched spiderweb detailing in gold thread on black vinyl, leant up against a wall with clips holding it in place. Another spiderweb panel in progress sits on the carpet in front of the door card, with a clamp next to it.

Black leather effect vinyl car door cards leaning up against a wooden sideboard, in various stages of completion/modification. The larger ones still have the original fabric, but the smaller one in front has a gold spiderweb stitched on black vinyl inserted into it.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Taxidermy shenanigans from the past couple of months or so… client work, not for sale.

Commission work, pet cotton top tamarins. Mounted on a very beautiful piece of grape wood from the south of France.

My resting bitch face working on remounting a really battered old pedestal mounted zebra skin. Nightmare. His eyes are full of orange handles euro pins.

Two olive baboons in similar relaxed sitting positions, mine on the left and a student’s on the right. I was tasked with mentoring an intern up at the studio. I think she did very well indeed!

Big male olive baboon, recently mounted by me, currently drying and full of pins! He’s gonna be handsome boy.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 25/09/2025

Last Saturday, proper work commenced on my car. Here’s a selection of images of me preparing it to be painted.

Me, with my hair pulled back and glasses on, using a small hand held belt sander hooked up to a compressor to cut out the holes in my unpainted, white front bumper for my indicators. My two-tone grey & white car is behind me with the bonnet open, BMW engine cover visible, with a box sitting on top of it containing said indicator lights. Scattered about the rest of the image are various car bodyshop implements & vehicles/parts.

Me, hair down, glasses on, covered in dust & crouched in front of my car unscrewing a bolt that holds the kidney grilles in place, in preparation for painting. In the background are a couple of trucks in various states of disassembly. By my feet are tools and folded sanding discs.

Me next to my car which is now fully rubbed down and masked up, ready for painting, parked in the spray booth/oven. I’m rubbing it down with a tack cloth here to get all the remaining dust off prior to spraying.

Rubbing down my front bumper before it all goes in to be sprayed. Spray booth/oven containing my car is behind me.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Heyyyy! Checking in to say hi, see how you’re all doing, let you know I’m not dead & tell you how delighted I am to see that spiders & chaos reminded some of you of me 😂 Since I last posted, I’ve stuffed countless animals, & done something ridiculous that I’ve been wanting to do for like, 30 years.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Im a couple of days late, but Nowruz Mubarak to all of my friends, Persian, not Persian & everything inbetween. May you find small joys amongst all of the chaos we’re surrounded by 🖤

Me wearing a hoodie from independent Iranian designer, Xodafez, showing the standard of the Sassanian Empire on the front, embroidered in gold. Look it up… chances are you’ve never heard of it. Do I look tired? That’s because I fucking am.

The back of my hoodie from Xodafez, showing a gold embroidered Farbahar- the Zoroastrian emblem symbolising the core beliefs and teachings of the ancient pre-Islamic religion of Persia. I am not a religious person, but I’ve got a fucking lot of feelings about my ancestral homeland & what’s been done to it.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

Hello. I’m sorry I’m not very active on here at the moment. Real life is stressful, health isn’t great, just trying to keep busy & keep my brain out of trouble which, frankly, isn’t bloody easy. Anyway, I stuffed a hoopoe. It’s still drying.

A hoopoe taxidermy mount with pins & low-tack tape and clips holding everything in place as it dries. Photographed on a black background and perched on a piece of bare ivy wood on a black base, it is a cinnamon/orange coloured bird with black and white wings & tail, a long, slender, black beak, black legs & an impressive crest of large black-tipped orange feathers. I have given it a praying mantis meal which it holds in its beak. The mantis is one of my pets from about 15 years ago.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Today has been really good, but also annoying. I’ve had a full day back in my workshop for the first time since the start of January which felt incredible, and I got a lot done… but I ran into a couple of challenges & disappointments too.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Komodo dragon replica paint job. I did all of the colour work & details you see here by hand, including hand painting the eyes & finishing them with clear resin. The last image is a comparison between my reference and the painted cast.

Full size, hand painted replica Komodo dragon on an 8ft trestle table.

Closeup of the replica Komodo dragon’s head and neck.

Closeup of the replica Komodo dragon’s eye.

On top is a photo of a real Komodo dragon’s eye, & underneath it is a photo of the replica I painted using the real one as reference.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 01/03/2025

A few snakey goings on of late… first of all, we’ll start with this guy. Inti, my 4 year old Baron’s racer (Philodryas baroni). I’ve had him & my female for a little under a year and a half. The day he came home, he strike fed, shit & shed his skin, thus lulling me into a false sense of security. 🧵

A green Baron’s racer snake with a pointy little snout, draped over branched, vines and silk leaves in his enclosure. He is yellowy spring green with a paler bluish green back, and his face is darker grey green on top and mint green from his eye level down to under his chin.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Nanzome looking stunning. She’s been home for one month as of tomorrow. She’s fed spectacularly well each time she’s been offered. She’s bound to be due a shed soon & I can’t wait to see how she looks when she does! 😱😍

A close up photo of a juvenile Boa imperator (Inca IMG) with a black background colour to her body & cold markings across her head & neck. She is peering out of her current favoured hide, a Spanish style glazed terracotta pot laid on its side next to her ceramic heat emitting bulb which is housed inside a black mesh cage for her safety. Green silk leaves on plastic stems are just in shot.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

I planted some sickeningly cool plants today. Platycerium ‘Pegasus’, and an array of tropical carnivores.

A staghorn fern (Platycerium ‘Pegasus’) growing out of a moss topped antelope partial skull. Held up in front of my tiled bathroom wall by my hand.

A planted display of tropical carnivorous plants, and mosses inside a will lit glass container, growing in and around a hollow cork branch.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

More hoopoe. Did an hour on the tail earlier but my thumb got really bad so had to stop.

An unfinished work in progress drawing of a hoopoe bird in fight, drawn in black ink on watercolour paper.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

After a month of not being able to do anything in my workshop due to the cold, I have decided that fuck it, I will just force it to work for me and do whatever I can to make it habitable. I have a heater, heated gloves/socks, blankets exist… I have too much to do to be sat about waiting for spring.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

It’s done. Replica dwarf crocodile paint job by yours truly.

Replica dwarf crocodile head, from the side.

Replica dwarf crocodile photographed from above/behind. It’s facing away from the camera so you can see its back, the backs of its legs & its tail.

Replica dwarf crocodile photographed from above/in front. You can see the top of its head, the front of its legs and the side of its belly.

Before and after composite image of the dwarf croc replica, before it had its feet rebuilt & its paint job, and after three days of work.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 05/02/2025

I did the resin work on the eyes today. To make them nice and glassy & croc-like. Now I’m finishing off colour detailing & applying protective coat as I go. Looking forward to seeing it finished later!

Close up face photo from the front of the replica dwarf crocodile I’m painting. Its eyes are now all glossy and more lifelike. Still not quite finished, but looking decent.

Close up face photo from the side of the replica dwarf crocodile I’m painting. Its eyes are now all glossy and more lifelike. Still not quite finished, but looking decent.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I don’t know how, but I messed up my neck at some point between 8.30 when my alarm first went off, & 8.57 when I hit snooze for the third time 😂 I didn’t even move?! In any case, it’s bloody painful & I’m miserable. This time of year particularly fucking sucks for anyone with fibromyalgia.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 03/02/2025

Irish elk antlers were assembled & base coated last week. Now I’m finishing them off. I’ve evened out the colour today, & applied texture. Once dry, I’ll be going over the whole thing with a wash to give it a bit of patina & protection & then they’re done! The span of this lot is 9 & a half feet.

Replica Irish elk antlers & skull sitting on an 8ft trestle table in part of the workshop, from the right side. The surrounding area holds foam forms, resin cast heads on the wall, misc machinery, and an old taxidermy cheetah. Oh, and chandeliers… because obviously. The elk antlers are brown and greyish coloured and enormous.

Replica Irish elk antlers & skull sitting on an 8ft trestle table in part of the workshop, from the left side. The surrounding area holds foam forms, resin cast heads on the wall, misc machinery, and an old taxidermy cheetah. Oh, and chandeliers… because obviously. The elk antlers are brown and greyish coloured and enormous.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 02/02/2025

I’ve been working with a collaborator on something very exciting for the past year and a half or so, and today we began a new phase of experimentation with this lovely Chinese elm bonsai tree!

A Chinese elm bonsai tree in the process of being trimmed and wired on my kitchen island. Next to it, on the granite countertop, are rolls of bonsai wire and a few cuttings. You can see my mum sitting at the table in the background, some of the kitchen countertops and cupboards, a kettle and a toaster are also visible.

The newly pruned and wired bonsai tree set up in its experimental new home. White background, a few mounds of moss at the base of the tree, and a stone effect base that holds the pot.

Another view of the pruned and wired bonsai tree and the mossy mounds around the roots.

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Reposted by Tea Francis

Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a declassified World War II-era CIA guide to sabotaging fascism in the workplace has become one of the most popular free ebooks on the internet: www.404media.co/declassified...

404media.co

Declassified CIA Guide to Sabotaging Fascism Is Suddenly Viral

The World War II-era "Simple Sabotage Field Manual" is full of steps that office workers can take to resist leadership.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

After a rough few days inside my own brain, I’m feeling a bit more normal and with it today, so I celebrated by ordering sushi which I have just absolutely fucking demolished. Can confirm, that was an excellent form of self care. 10/10 will do again.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Someone said y’all were missing snake content (that someone was me*). (*and also my assumption is probably not true but whatever)

My moony-eyed mug all smiley and happy about hanging out with my beautiful baby Nazome, the juvenile Inca IMG Boa imperator (snake). I’m in all black, as usual, and she is coiled back in an S-shape, in my hand. She’s relaxed but alert. She is up near my face, but facing across and away from me. You can see a few of my tattoos on my hand, wrist and neck, I have several gold piercings in y face and ears. My snake is mostly black with gold markings along her body. I have a couple of silver chains around my neck which you can just about see.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

Simon’s studio today: More progress on the Irish elk antlers, and the beginning of making a mould of a full size adult Komodo dragon model. I’m pretty excited about this dragon.

One of a pair of replica (fibreglass) Irish elk antlers, base coated and drying on top of a bin in the studio.

The other antler in the pair of fibreglass replica Irish elk antlers, resting on a table surrounded by polyurethane foam taxidermy animal forms, freezers and studio machinery.

A very large Komodo dragon model on a table in the studio, a foam board wall has been fixed all the way around it in preparation for application of moulding rubber. A couple of test patches of different moulding rubbers have been applied to its back.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

Ok, last of the cat, I promise. Bonus fallow buck that I also just completed. Back on replica Irish elk antler duty tomorrow 😎

Front end of the tabby cat on a branch taxidermy mount I recently completed. Shot on a hessian covered wall. The cat is draped over a branch with both front legs hanging down either side of an offshoot from the main branch he is laid out on. His head is upright, his ears forward in a relaxed but interested pose. His front paws at in muffin making mode, with one curved gently inwards and the other extended with toes spread.

Full length photo of the taxidermy tabby cat reclining on a branch, mounted on a hessian covered wall.

A fallow buck taxidermy mount, just the head and neck, hanging up on a hessian covered showroom, wall surrounded by other taxidermy. He is a uniform greyish taupe sort of colour with a pale chest and darker brown forehead and nose. His antlers aren’t huge, but they are handsome.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

More photos of the tabby cat. I’ll no doubt post even more later because we took proper photos of it but I’m too impatient to wait for them 😂

A taxidermy tabby cat on a branch, mounted on the wall. This photo is a close up of the head/neck/shoulder area, taken from the right side. A colourful draped tapestry hangs from the ceiling in the background and some of the taxidermy heads on the showroom wall can just about be made out.

A closeup of the tabby cat’s front paws. It’s in muffin making mode with one paw partially curled inwards and the other stretched out with its toes spread.

Closeup of the back paws, in a relaxed pose reclining on the branch.

Front end of the taxidermy tabby cat on a branch, front legs hanging down either side of the branch.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Also made a bit more progress, chipping away at this hoopoe illustration.

An in progress black ink illustration of a hoopoe bird in flight with its beak open. It is drawn on 20cm square Arches watercolour paper and the photo shows one of my technical drawing pens and mechanical pencil resting on the top of the paper block.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Finished the feral tabby today. He’ll hopefully be off to his new home tomorrow.

A taxidermy mount of a large tabby tomcat, reclining on a branch. This photo shows the front half of his body and his face from a 3/4 angle from the left. He is positioned in front of ornate gold framed round mirror.

A full length shot of a taxidermied tabby tomcat on a branch. He’s a big boy with a long, bushy, tapered tail. He’s lying on a large cork branch and is wall mountable. He is currently fixed to a flat piece of wood, leant up in front of an ornate gold framed round mirror.

3/4 portrait view of the tabby cat taxidermy mount from the left hand side. Shows his pinkish brown nose, alert & interested looking ears, and green eyes nicely.

An atmospheric 3/4 face shot from the right of the tabby tomcat taxidermy mount I just finished.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

This girl is gonna be the most perfect lap snake. She’s just wonderful. Now, I don’t expect anyone who isn’t a reptile enthusiast to understand this, but there is *something* about this animal. I adore all of my snakes, but there’s just something about Nanzome that’s different. She’s pure magic.

My juvenile Inca IMG Boa imperator, Nanzome, chilling out in my lap. I’m bare legged, wearing my gigantic grey sleep T-shirt and my left hand is in shot as my snake is resting in it. She is in my lap, facing to the right and all but the tip of her tail is in shot.

A juvenile, dark coloured Boa imperator snake in her enclosure. The photo is just of her face and part of her body in the background. She is resting in cork bark with silk leaves and moss vine in the photo as well. She is lit from above and looks beautiful.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Subtle changes, but they make all the difference. Tomorrow I will add a couple more finishing touches and then this sable antelope I mounted last month will be ready to go on the showroom wall 😁

A side by side comparison image of a taxidermy sable antelope head mount showing the before and after from my finishing work on it today. After it’s been allowed to dry for a few weeks, I have minor repairs (along suture lines, any small holes that were missed, around the eyes, nose and mouth etc), building up of eyelids etc and colour work left to do.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 20/01/2025

Today I am at the studio, prepping moulds to make a set of replica Irish elk antlers.

One side of an Irish elk antler mould on a table in the studio today. The backdrop is a busy studio with a large wooden workbench covered in miscellaneous materials and tools. The mould itself is a very large fibreglass, one sided mould that will be coated with resin and fibreglass mat. Once this half is done, the other side will be done the same way and then both casts will be joined into one piece.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 19/01/2025

I haven’t drawn anything in a very long time, but recently I’ve felt the desire to put pen to paper creeping back. Starting off with a hoopoe, my favourite bird 🥰

A pencil sketch of a hoopoe with wings spread in flight, holding a string of beads with its feet.

A partially inked pencil sketch of a hoopoe. I erased the beads.

More progress on inking the hoopoe drawing. I have begun filling out the wing on the right of the page.

A slightly closer shot of the progress on my hoopoe drawing, showing as yet un-inked, rough pencil lines, and the inked areas around the head, neck and wings.

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Reposted by Tea Francis

Katria Raden @katriaraden.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

UK based illustrators, please fill out this survey from AOI by January 31st. The UK government is proposing a new AI policy that would let AI companies freely use copyright protected work without permission — unless you explicitly opt-out. www.surveymonkey.com/r/ai_consult...

Graphic reading: “Attention illustrators! We need your help filling and sharing out most crucial AI survey yet”

Graphic reading: “The UK government wants to let AI companies use your creative works to train their models.

No license, no fee. Only a vague promise that you can opt-out. With no indication of how this option would work.

Think this sounds fair? Neither do we.”

Graphic that reads: “We are currently responding to the government’s current AI consultation, where data is king.

We need to provide solid numbers in order to present a compelling argument to achieve change.

Real data = better policy.

This is where you come in.”

Graphic that reads: “Your voice counts.

Take 5-10 minutes ti complete our AI consultation survey today (link in bio)

Share this post with your peers to help spread the word!

The survey is for all illustrators”

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Listen, I don’t make the rules ok. I’m not about to not try and get a photo of a snake sitting pretty with my snake tattoos now, am I?! The tattoos are by my bb Ruby Bird (London based) & are of two Persian species (because hello, yes, I am Persian). A Persian ratsnake & spider tailed horned viper.

Now kith! My newest addition, an Inca IMG Boa imperator who is out and about for a handling session, draped around my neck and partially held in my left hand. I am wearing a spaghetti strap vest top and my black and grey tattoos of snakes on my chest and arm are visible. It’s a nice juxtaposition of real life snake and tattooed snakes… the colour palette of this image is nice too. Lots of black and gold and sort of sepia hues.

My snake draped over my left shoulder and moving down towards the camera, between the two snakes I have tattooed on my chest.

Shadowy photo of a snake draped around my neck, mirroring the position of one of the snakes tattooed on my shoulder and chest.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

A fun thing from the other night… surprise Papilio ulysses! I didn’t know I had it. Folded, I had assumed it was helenus or bianor but nope!

Two butterflies freshly spread and pinned on a large spreading board, with tracing paper strips and insect pins holing their wings in place. The top one is white with brown borders around the wings and large yellow and black eyespots on the hindwings. It is Taenaris catops. Beneath it is a large metallic blue and black swallowtail butterfly, Papilio ulysses.

A selection of pinned butterflies drying on spreading boards leant up against the wall behind my desk, sitting on top of a display case filled with miscellaneous beetles.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

If you thought I was even remotely done… I dunno what to tell you 😂 Her name is Nanzome and my god, she is breathtaking. Catch her in the right light and those colours are just… wow.

A closer photo of my new snake, Nanzome, the Inca IMG Boa imperator. This photo was taken with my phone and a flashlight which picked up the iridescence of her scales beautifully. She is mostly black with gold lines threaded throughout her mottled brown saddle patches on her back and down her sides. Her black scales act as the perfect backdrop for the beautiful purple and pink oil slick shimmer that covers her from nose to tail tip. In this photo, she is just starting to peek out of the entrance to the cork hollow she has been resting in since she got home today. In the top left corner you can see a bit of a silk fern leaf and moss vine, but the rest of the photo is all cork bark and substrate.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

I don’t have many spiders left these days (I have a lot of not great feeling about ~the hobby~ after my involvement in it), but if the few I do have left, my two Kukulcania hibernalis girls are enduring favourites. I just love them!

Kukulcania hibernalis is a species of crevice weaver spider from the family Filistatidae. They spin cribellate silk, which is many fine strands of silk, as opposed to one thicker strand, which are combed into a fluff that traps insects very effectively. This species is brown-black, velvety and medium sized. This photo shows a female with dark brown/black legs, pedipalps and cephalothorax, and a pinkish brown abdomen. She is standing on a mass of fluffy silk that she has spun in a haphazard net of strands over the various twigs and leaves in her enclosure. She has a cricket in front of her.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

While I’m in snake mode, here are 4/6 of the others…

Male green Baron’s racer snake. He is a couple of different shades of green, with a yellow-green belly, changing to a more bluish green on his back, with both shades meeting somewhere in the middle along his sides. He has a pointy upturned snout and the two different shades of green are in stark contrast on his face, with a thin dark line running along the sides of his head, through his eye and to the tip of his nose, separating the yellow green from the more bluish green. He is resting on a flat piece of cork bark with some dried Spanish moss/Tillandsia usneoides on the floor in the foreground. Around him are some upright cork branches and hanging plastic leaves.

Female brown Baron’s racer snake just peeking her head over her branches and vines to see what’s going on. She has a longer, pointier snout than her male counterpart, and is various shades of cream, brown and black, with a cream belly/sides and a brown back, separated by a thin black line that starts near the tip of her nose and extends along her neck. She also has a dark brown dorsal stripe but as only her head is visible in this picture, you can’t actually see it. She is surrounded by Spanish moss, silk leaves, fake vines & branches.

My male Mexican black kingsnake, covered in dust from excavating tunnels in and around his new cork bark hollows. You can just see his face and part of his back in this photo, with the rest of the image showing the cork bark hollows, a bit of coco chip substrate and part of a piece of driftwood. Dusty boy.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

She’s home! She’s curled up in her log right now. Probably rather annoyed that it would have been feeding day today but now she has to wait until Saturday 😬

A dark brown and black snake with slivers of gold/yellow along her sides and small, mottled gold/brown saddle patches along her back (Inca IMG boa), coiled up tightly inside a cork bark hollow. One of her eyes and her nose are just visible in the middle of the pile of coiled snake. Behind her are rays of light penetrating the leaves and bark at one of the three entrance holes in the hollow she’s chosen to rest in.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Good lord, did I get added to a starter pack today or something? Hello new friends, and perhaps old friends from the other place too! Gimme a while to sort my life out and see who’s who etc 😂😁 Or just say hi so I know you’re here 😎

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

It arrived! I have spent the day assembling, sealing and furnishing the new vivarium and I am delighted. Needs a few more leaves I think, but for all intents and purposes, it’s ready for her to move into! I think she will be coming home tomorrow 🖤 I think her name will be Nanzome.

A really rather shit photograph of the top two of my stack of 3 vivaria that live at the foot of my bed. The top one is new and has just been freshly furnished with cork bark tubes/logs, a branch, a 70’s stone composite Aztec plaque thing, mossy vines, a Spanish terracotta jug, silk plants, and a large stoneware water bowl. The black safety cage housing a ceramic heat emitting bulb is shown at one end. It is lit with white LEDs and I rather like it.

Another view of the aforementioned vivarium that doesn’t show the jug, but it’s marginally less shit so I’ve included it.

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Reposted by Tea Francis

Colton the fish squeezer🐟🪴📚🏕️🐝 @fishsqueezer.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

I know this is a domestic hybrid but I just can't help but share this Hoya 'Mathilde' as a #FallBackFlower from July 14th, it was really stunning that day. I think I need to restart this plant because it has been struggling lately. 🌱

A houseplant with slightly pointed round leaves covered in silver speckles and three umbels of star-sharped pink flowers.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

I totally forgot to show you all this. I will regret not taking these for the rest of my life, probably. I was just offered two elephant trunk snakes… for free… and I turned them down because I can’t justify the upkeep, setup or cost of feeding them right now.

A wrinkly, wet, dark brown little snake sitting in the palm of my hand. This is an elephant trunk snake & it has tiny, keeled scales that make it look and feel rough, like a file, which gives rise to another common name- ‘file snake’. It has loose skin and fairly large, round, relatively bulbous eyes. It’s adorable.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

I’ve spent my evening sorting out my room in preparation for my new snake’s arrival. It’s already pretty busy in here, but I’ve managed to actually end up with more space even after another 4ft vivarium has been accounted for. Snake tetris queen 😎

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

I skinned a partridge today and put the skin in the freezer which I now regret because I’m bored and I’d like to be stuffing something rn but everything, including myself, is le frozen.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Pinning my way through all these beautiful butterflies! Migraine + none left in the relaxing box = the end of tonight’s session. I do get to select specimens for the next round now though, which is always fun!

A close up of one of my butterfly spreading boards with 5 different butterflies pinned out on it. They are al medium sized and various shades of brown, black, grey, cream and white. Some have leaf shaped wings, others have scalloped or serrated wings. Two have the paper they were stored in folded up and pinned next to them as it has ID & collection data printed on it. The board sits on a faux leather desk pad and several empty boards standing in as pin cushions lay just beyond it.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

She’s coming home as soon as her new house is here & set up 😍😱 Now it’s time to think of her name…

My paint-marked hand holding a juvenile Inca IMG Boa imperator. A beautiful snake that is largely black with gold coloured rings and chevrons along her back & sides. You can see a tattoo on my wrist, a gold watch strap & the cuff of a black hoodie. In the background is the shop vivarium that she currently lives in.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

I’ve been learning a bit of Lepidopteran taxonomy this evening and wow… I hate it 😂 I will never complain about arachnid taxonomy ever again. Not that I do anyway because I love it, but y’know. Linyphiidae exists.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 06/01/2025

They’re finished, labelled and in place now. Happy belated birthday, Ma 🖤🥰

A tall, Victorian, square based, glass dome with red velvet strip around the base of the glass, sitting on a cream coloured side table in front of a pale wall with a dado rail and silver ornate framed mirror hanging on it. The dome contains a display of 20 Madagascan sunset moths arranged in a naturalistic formation on a cork oak branch. Stood just in front of them is a label detailing what they are etc, held up with a small, handmade copper stand. The moths are velvety black with metallic banding, stripes and dots in shades varying from orange/peach & gold, to magenta, pale green, and various shades of blue. The hind wings each have several white bordered tail-like lobes, and the underside of the wings is almost the reverse of the top side, with larger area of colour banded and spotted with black. This is a front on view.

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Tea Francis @teafrancis.bsky.social · 04/01/2025

January so far: stuffed a big tabby cat on a branch, did a bit of touching in on the still-drying fallow buck, and this evening I painted 3 out of 11 sets of tiny glass eyes. The ones on the right of the eye pic are unsuitable, so I have to paint up replacements.

A chunky tabby cat face full of yellow handled pins. Taxidermied & drying in my garage workshop, the pins hold the skin where I want it as it dries down the cat is relaxed/alert looking with grey/green eyes.

The full tabby cat, laid out in a relaxed but regal pose on a large cork oak branch. Loads on unrelated & unnecessary messy shit in the background of my garage is visible behind the cat & it drives me insane o for your benefit more than mine, I shan’t waste our time describing infuriating clutter.

Nighttime studio vibes. Fallow buck to the left, tabby cat to the right, organised chaos on my bench right ahead. Tools, brush pots, organiser drawer units, a lamp, & a slow cooker are all hanging out.

9 pairs of quite flat looking brown glass eyes with white outer ring it in pairs stuck to a piece of tape on my bench top. To the left of them, 3 pair of hand painted & more detailed eyes that I did this evening sit, ready to come inside to be put under heat for a while.

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