Lifelike Hand-painted Tiger Pin Now Online!

This gorgeous hand-painted stalking tiger pin is now online in our store and ready to ship! Take a look at the tiger, then see many more of our beautiful handmade, hand-painted animal pins. Made in the USA by very talented wildlife artists!

This blog is sponsored by Tapir and Friends Animal Store.

Tiger Portrait Jewelry

Our new Tiger Head Portrait Pin is outstanding! Look at the detail you get in a one-inch wide piece of jewelry! These pins are hand-cast and hand-painted in the state of Washington. Tigers are one of the "charismatic megafauna" that conservationists are most concerned about. Their numbers are diminishing, in part due to habitat loss. There are other complex reasons, but wouldn't we all hate to see such a magnificent animal disappear? You can help support wildlife conservation by purchasing this jewelry. Here at the Tapir Preservation Fund, we help fund projects in tiger habitat as well as in tapir habitat on the island of Sumatra. Whether you are concerned about conservation or you simply love tigers, your purchase of this unique tiger jewelry will put a smile on many faces!

Skye Terrier dog pin (jewelry)

This hand-cast and hand-painted Skye Terrier Dog pin can be found on our web site along with numerous other dog species. This hand-cast, hand-painted jewelry is made in the USA, and is so unusual you can't find it at your corner jeweler's or your local big box store. It is special. Because of its uniqueness and its quality, it makes a wonderful holiday gift for just under $30.00. Although we haven't noted this on each page of our web site yet, check the drop-down box for mailing options. An all-jewelry order can be shipped for just $5.00, no matter how many pieces you're shipping to the same address.

New Sturgeon Jewelry

Hey, great news! Our hand-made, hand-painted sturgeon pin has been redesigned by the artist to look even more like your favorite fish! Come take a look at Tapir and Friends.

Meet Corinna Sara Bechko, an artist who helps save tapirs

For quite a few years now, Corinna Sara Bechko has been making jewelry for our online gift shop. She creates tapirs and other animals and has the most amazingly artistic assortment of beads that she pairs with the animals. Earrings and pendants come with beads - pins do not. If you ask for a blue bead, you'll get a blue piece of art, whether it's the simply elegant blue bead above, or something with an elaborate design. In any case, they always set off the jewelry to a T. No two pieces are ever alike!

I was excited to find that Corinna was interviewed on the Shrimp Salad Circus blog the other day. Please go on over and take a look! Corinna and her Etsy store (The Frog Bag) are the subject of the post. She has been donating a portion of her sales to the tapirs. She's also conducting a give-away on her blog. Check it out and win one of her most amazing hand-made zoology-inspired cat toys.

Realistic armadillo jewelry!

We have several of these cute brown hand-painted armadillo pins in stock at the moment. They can be shipped anywhere in the world as soon as you order. Don't worry about the rainbow stripe on the armadillo - it's reflecting light from the scanner, because it's so shiny!

Made in Washington and Idaho by a team of three U.S. artists, these high-quality pins or tie tacks are unique. Each exquisitely detailed piece is cast in pewter and painted by hand. The finish is extremely smooth and shiny, as you can see by the highlight from the scanner. Each pin is secured by two sturdy tacks on the back so it doesn't skew sideways or turn upside down, and the finished product is not only gorgeous, but satisfyingly substantial in weight. They can be used as lapel pins, hat pins, tie tacks, and more. These collectible animal pins are heirloom quality, and the details are so realistic, they are found in museum gift shops and bought by organizations in need of the perfect animal to represent their group. In fact, if you're interested in having the name of your organization put on an item, write to us for details. You can find more fish and animals by the same artists listed on our Hand-Painted Jewelry page. Also check out our other armadillo toys and gifts.

The armadillo pin measures 1-1/2 inches long by 1 inch high.

What animal do we have that starts with "X"? How about a Horseshoe Crab? (The scientific name, of course!)

I was stumped! I couldn't think of any animal we have in the store that starts with "X," so I looked it up online. It seems that if you include the scientific names, there are a lot! Here's a list of the ones given on the WikiAnswers site. As it turns out, there is a horseshoe crab is of the genus Xiphosuran. I found some pictures of them here, and it's really interesting to see how they walk under water! The horseshoe crab pictured above is from our wonderful and extensive collection of realistic animal jewelry. You can find our horseshoe crab pin on this page. They are hand made in the US, which includes hand painting. They're first cast in pewter, painted, and covered with layers of lacquer, making the finish extremely durable, shiny, and very, very beautiful. You can see part of our line of animal pins in our web album. We still have more to scan, so if you don't see the animal jewelry you want, please call us at (888) 325-3179. The number is toll free, and we're on West Coast time in the US.

Animal toys and models that start with "K"

Take a look at this delightful komodo dragon! He looks quite real and is made of very sturdy plastic. The komodo dragon is actually a very big monitor lizard. We have several views of this plastic replica in our online gift shop. Just click on the link above!

How about this king cobra 3-D plastic puzzle? It's one of a nice variety of plastic puzzles we carry online. We have reptiles, mammals, dinosaurs, and more. Come see all of our animal puzzles here! When you're finished putting them together, you use them as a display or take them apart and keep them in their plastic carrying case for another time.

"K" is for kangaroo! We have several in our store. The kangaroo jewelry shown above is a beautiful lifelike pin hand-made and hand-painted in the USA. It's very sturdy and durable, and we have many, many other jewelry animals and fish as well.

This is one of our plastic kangaroo replicas. We also have a delightful and realistic-looking kangaroo mom and baby in our store. See all of our kangaroo models and toys here!

Well, "K" is also for Koala. Here's a replica koala mom and baby (joey) you can find in our online store. Aren't they adorable? We have several other koalas, too.

"H" is for Hippo, Hyena and Hummingbird

What do you know? We have a marvellous design for hyena jewelry, and you can get it in a variety of colors and three different styles: hyena pins, hyena earrings, and a hyena pendant.

Our hummingbird eyeglass holder Peeper Keepers are soon going to be a collector's item! The good news is, we still have some. The bad new is, they are being discontinued by the manufacturer and will soon be "extinct"! We recommend that if you like this hummingbird, the time is now!

Here's an interesting critter - a plastic hornbill! We have lots of cool plastic bird replicas, and the hornbill is an unusual one, which you can find in our online gift shop.

What would "H" be without "Hippo"? We have plastic baby hippos and plastic adult hippos, too. We have them in several sizes, and we also have hippo eyeglass holders and hippo jewelry. You can find them all by following the link to the baby hippo!

These beautiful, shiny hand-painted horse or pony pins are among our many, many hand-painted pins. Each one is unique. We have hundreds of animals in hundreds of colors. Please check them out!

Tree frog hand-painted pins

These tree frog pins make memorable gifts! You will be sure to receive compliments on these beautifully-colored pieces of wearable art jewelry! Come visit our frog page to order today. There is still time to have them shipped for Christmas!

Dragon and Unicorn Pins - hand made, hand pained - unique holiday gifts!

If you know a fan of dragons and/or unicorns and are looking for a very special Christmas or Hanukkah gift - check out our hand-made painted pewter pins. You can order them now from Tapir and Friends Wildlife World online! This fantasy jewelry could be a great gift for players of D&D type games, readers of fantasy novels, or those who simply enjoy the images of dragons and unicorns.

We also have lots of other animal jewelry in stock - realistic painted jewelry depicting real animals! Check out our many dog breeds, cats, wild animals, fish, aquatic animals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians!

Dinosaur Holiday Gifts

Here are a few of our dinosaur toys and gifts available for the holidays. As of today, there is plenty of time to ship for Christmas and Hanukkah. We ship the same or next day, and our standard shipping is Priority mail in the US and First Class International outside the US. If you order now, you could have your dinosaurs within two to four or five days!

The top two pictures show two of our selection of interesting dinosaur 3D plastic puzzles. See more in our online store!

This nice red t-rex and the green one below are actually hand-painted pins, to be worn on a blouse, shirt, cap, hat, etc.

You can see more of our cast pewter hand-painted animal pins in our online gift shop and in our animal jewelry web album. If you have trouble finding the item you want, call us toll free at (888) 325-3179. Have fun with the dinosaurs!

Painted animal pins make great holiday gifts!

Our painted animal pins are absolutely gorgeous pieces of animal jewelry for humans! If basset hounds or Skye terriers are your cup of tea, you're in luck. Come see these unique, hand-painted pins at Tapir and Friends online gift shop.

We also carry wild animals, cats, farm animals, sea creatures, fish, birds, and more. If you don't see the animal you want, please ask! Although it's too late to get animals custom painted before Christmas, we do have a huge inventory of painted pins ready to go. If you don't see the one you want on our web site, check out our Picasa Painted Pins Web Album and give us a call. We were not able to get them all online before the holiday rush - and if it's not in the web album, call anyway - we may not have had time to scan your favorite animal! Call toll free (888) 325-3179.