This article was originally written for sportsmen on what a taxidermist needs to provide a matching replica.
Replica or reproduction fish are mounts that are completely artificial. They are commonly used if a fish was caught and released, the fish does not make a good skin mount, or for interior decorating projects/wildlife dioramas.
Replica fish are molded off of real fish. Once a mold is made, a cast is pulled and made ready for a production mold. A high quality production mold can produce hundreds of casts, or as we call them in the taxidermy industry, blanks. The replica fish blank goes through a cleaning and grinding process to remove mold release and flashing. We then have to repair seams, add glass eyes,gills and put fins back on. Then its off to the paint booth. A good taxidermist can recreate the colors of the fish you caught onto a replica fish with great accuracy .
You do not have to bring your fish in to a taxidermist to get a replica made. There are thousands of molds available for almost all of the common fish species caught. However,not all of these molds are of the best quality or made the same. Many of the newer fish molds offer higher quality and more lifelike poses, including full open mouth and gill detail. Ask your taxidermist for examples of their recently completed replicas to see if you like what they are offering.
Now that you have caught the fish of a lifetime, what does the taxidermist need ? While we can recreate a replica off of a good description,the more information we can get on the fish the more accurate the mount will be!
Pictures
Pictures are one of the most important things you can get before you release your fish. This is what the taxidermist will use to recreate the colors on your replica . Try taking pictures at different angles and in different lights. The more pictures the better. Most smartphones have cameras that are more than adequate for this.
Length & Girth
Take your length measurement from the tip of the jaw to the tip of the tail.The girth should be measured at the part of the fish with the greatest diameter. Normally this is around the center of the fish. A Tailors waterproof tape measure works great for this. The taxidermist can normally find a blank close to your size fish, but being a little flexible on the exact size is appreciated.
Weight
While getting an accurate weight on your fish can be helpful, it is not as important as pictures and measurements. If your goal is to release the fish alive, you may want to skip this step.
Good Description
Making notes of certain colors or features that make your fish unique is important. Write down anything that jumps out at you after your fish is in the boat.
A few notes on catch and release fishing
Obviously, the goal of C & R is to get the fish back in the water as soon as possible. Avoid holding the fish by it’s jaw. This is not a natural position for a fish and can cause internal injury. Keep the fish moist and avoid over handling the fish. Fish have a slime coat that helps protect them. Removing too much of it can open the fish up to infection . Big fish are often thought of as being ” tough”, but big fish are old fish and may not take the release as well as younger fish. Also many older fish are no longer fertile, even if they are carrying eggs. In some situations it may actually be better to keep larger, older fish and release the younger more vigorous fish. Warmer weather and water temperatures can also increase the mortality rate of released fish. Under ideal condition the mortality rate of fish is around 10%. In warmer water it can hit 25% or higher.
Good Fishing !
Aaron Stehling is a full time taxidermist in Jefferson WI. He is the owner of Stehling’s Taxidermy LLC, a second generation studio that has been in business for over 40 years.He is also administrator on www.taxidermytalk.com forums. Aaron is an online instructor on www.taxidermyinsider.com. Questions or comments for Aaron can be directed to a.n.stehling@gmail.com
TTN-Taxidermists and hunters are fighting to stop a new rule in Tennessee that prohibits the movement of legally taken animals from out of state into TN. The rule was put in place to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease. The implications for taxidermists are obvious and devastating . Taxidermists and hunters are working together to try to get this ban lifted.
As chronic wasting disease spreads, states often take a reactionary approach to dealing with the problem. Here in Wisconsin, much was done to try to stop the spread of the disease when it was discovered here in 2002 . Efforts to stop the spread were not successful. It appears the disease is not making a significant impact on the deer population in WI.
Common sense precautions should be used when handling any dead animal as a taxidermist. Wear latex gloves and an apron, work in a well ventilated room , and keep a clean operation.
I paint a ton of fish in my studio, and have the best airbrushes available. after years of frustration, I wanted to try finding a more realistic way to finish bills and feet, not only saving a ton of time from color cup cleaning, but to also have a more intimate connection between finishing and application of some different mediums. I thank my good friend Rick Krane for sharing some of his methods and techniques for finishing fish, and I used those methods and applied them to finishing birds. so, I would like to share some of that hear for those that might find it helpful. this is my method to finish a Drake Surf Scoter. hope all will enjoy
Some of the materials I use for finishing bills and feet:
Derwant Water Color Pencils, Pan Pastels, Folk Art Paint, Water Based Paint, Fine Powdered Charcoal, Woman’s Make up, Hair Spray, Scrubber Brushes, Rubber tipped brushes, rattle can primers and Matte Clear rattle can final finish. besides your local Dollar and hardware store, here are good places to find the art supplies: http://www.dickblick.com and http://www.jerrysartsarama.com
pic #1 shows some of the materials I use and the Derwant Water Color Pencils
pic#2 shows some of the Woman’s Make up
pic#3 shows some of the other materials listed
I usually finish the lower bill first, but do block in any defined black areas on the whole bill with Folk Art water based paint. the best color for this is the color called Licorice. I then block in the jaw on the lower bill as well with water based paint and a brush. these are then sealed down with Ultra Cover Matte Clear and allowed to dry. you can speed that up with a hair dryer
I then move to finishing the lower bill that has been blocked in with the natural flesh water based paint.
the soft tissue between the lower jaw is blended with Pan Powders. Titanium White and Permanent Red Tint I then start to blend the lower bill itself, still with Pan Powders. here I use the colors Diarylide Yellow shade and Yellow Ocrhe
I then high light still with Pan Pastels the end of the bill. Orange Shade, Permanent Red and Red Iron Oxide. I forgot to mention in my previous post, that I seal down the powders between each color with hair spray if you don’t want to blend. if you want to blend between two powder colors, do not seal. the hair spray locks down your colors without building up a finish that can take the detail away from the bill, like many finishes can. Mod Podge is, IMO, is the worst medium to use on bills and feet
I then finish shading with both powders and watercolor pencils. you can go over your sealed work to adjust the colors and intensity. this gives you the opportunity to put in some contrast on you bills like you will see on live ducks. everything is not blended in nature.
here I did some more high lighting, and finished with burnt umber, raw umber and burnt sienna. it was then sealed with hair spray, and the whole lower bill was dusted with Pan Powder Titanium White. this will pull all the colors together and give you a more natural, and blended tone to your finished work. once satisfied with the end result, I lock it all in with lacquer based rattle can MatteClear
the under bill completed. upper bill next
not to be redundant, the upper bill finish has all the same colors, materials and application as the lower bill. I do however use a small amount of woman’s makeup at the start, and is sealed down
the same color sequence is applied to the upper bill. starting with the yellow powders listed above, then moving to adding in the red detail
once you are satisfied, and your color detail is finished and sealed with Matte Clear, I go back over, and detail the black patch with Folk Art Licorice. your done! I hope this might be helpful for all forum members!
finished Drake Surf Scoter bill: top, side and bottom
Every now and then you take in a specimen that you have never mounted before, right? I mean no one person can say that they have mounted every single bird, fish, mammal or reptile on earth. If so, I haven’t met them. Well that happened to me recently, a local client and his young son had been to Texas on a Whitetail hunt. After they had filled their deer tags they had a day left before they had to catch their flight home. The guide, who sounded to be a very generous man, gave them the opportunity to do a little Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit hunting. Needless to say the young boy had a blast; He killed three rabbits total before they had to leave. When they arrived back home I get a phone call asking could I do a Jack Rabbit, and of course I said sure.
Now mind you, being in North Carolina we don’t have Jack Rabbits, hell, I had never even seen one in person before. So, thinking this is pretty cool, I post this very picture on Facebook with the caption “This Should Be Interesting”. Well it wasn’t long, here come all the naysayers; “Freeze Dry”, “You Have to Freeze Dry It”, “It’s The Only Way” etc. So I got to looking and there were manikins for Jack Rabbits on the market, limited yes, but available so I questioned back in a reply “Why Do They Make Jack Rabbit Forms If They Can’t Be Mounted?” and I get a “Well Let Me Know When You Get It Together…LOL”. Well, me being me, I made up my mind right then I was going to skin, tan and mount this rabbit .
“Never Let Someone Tell You That It Can’t Be Done”…..that goes for anything in life, not just taxidermy. So I did a little research, got some good reference material and ordered my supplies.
Now we are going to show all these “Negative Nancys” how to MOUNT a Jack rabbit using John Schmidt’s JKR-600 from Van Dykes.
Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit
Skinning and Prepping
You are going to start the skinning process by using a ventral incision. Cutting from the vent down to the foot on both legs, this will be the only incision made, the front legs will be cased out completely down to the toes. Once you get the skin started it is fairly simple to remove, rabbit skin is actually pretty tough when pulling on it. DO NOT PULL ON THE HAIR, it will come out.
Once you have the skin off, split the eyes, lips and nose as you would on any other mammal. When turning the ears be extra careful, while they separate very easily they are paper thin and will tear. Skin the toes out all the way to the claw, much like you would a Squirrel. On these small critters I choose to leave the toe bones in after turning, this will give you shape for the toes without having to force tiny amounts of clay down into the toe skin itself.
Ok, preserving the skin can be done several different ways. At this point you can Dry Preserve or powder it, in house tan it yourself or salt dry it and send it to a commercial tannery. I chose to tan this one in house using Lutan-FN, and here is why. DP is not a good option in my opinion when leaving the toe bones in it. I feel the tan will preserve them better and narrow the chances of insect infestation. This skin is way too fragile to be sending off and being handled excessively in a commercial atmosphere.
If you do decide to tan it in house, DO NOT put it in an acid pickle; You will stand a very good chance of having rabbit soup if you do. Go straight into the tan with it, by pass the pickle bath altogether. The skin is so thin the tan will preserve it without it being plumped for shaving/thinning purposes. Once it has been in tan a couple of days and all flesh and membrane have been removed give it a quick neutralizing. Lutan-FN has a fairly high pH as far as tans go so five to ten minutes max will do the job, anything over that, you take a chance of really loosening up the fur.
Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit
The Mounting Process
Now let’s mount the Jack Rabbit up. Prepping the form is fairly simple. Start by making any relief cuts needed, on this particular form they were all on the back legs. Next with a saw remove the front legs completely. With a sharp knife remove the lower part of the leg foam which would be the foot, you will replace this with clay so you can shape it and position it to where it needs to be. Do not cut the leg wire; It will help give you support and strength where the clay will be.
I actually found that McKenzie had celastic/fabric earliners for Jack Rabbits (Not sure how they are used in freeze drying). So I decided to use them for mounting purposes because these ears are so thin and it was a young client’s mount. I wanted them to be as strong as possible. If you decide to go this route remove the cartilage just like you would on a deer. You will need to Dremel out a recess at the location for the ear canals for the liner butts to sit in.
Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit
Next pop the eyes in making sure they are symmetrical. Remember humans make these forms so they are never perfect, make any adjustments needed per your references. Also at this time Dremel out an area for your whisker bed. Test fit the face to make sure you get it in the correct location. You will fill this area with clay. Cut your lip slot and nostril openings as well.
Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit
Now do any clay work such as around the eyes, whisker beds, ear butts and feet. Sew up any bullet or skinner holes in the skin and glue in your earliners. Next you are going to add a liberal coat of hide glue to the two front legs and slide them up and into the leg skins. Once the front legs are roughly adjusted into place, apply glue to the head and neck area and slide the head end of the form into the skin.
Once the head is semi mounted and the ears are in place finish applying glue to the form. Make sure to get glue on the surface where the legs were removed as well. Pull the skin up into place, working it toward the tail end of the form being extremely careful to keep the glue out of the fur. With several T-Pins, temporarily pin the front legs into position through the skin. Pull the back leg skins and tail into position, insert the tail wire into the tail skin and sew up you incision.
Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit
Now you are going to need to secure the front legs permanently into place; Using a sharp knife or scalpel make a small incision into both shoulders. Insert a 2 ½” wood screw through the leg and into the body of the manikin. Counter sink the screw heads just enough to cover with a bit of clay and pop in a stitch or two to close the incision. You can now remove your T-Pins so you can taxi the skin into place.
To get the fluffy look of a rabbit, you need to blow the fur as dry as you can possibly get it. If you let it dry naturally you will end up with a matted up psycho Hare.
Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit
Once you have the fur dry, do your face work, eyes, nose, lips and ear positioning. Using a small tipped modeling tool, slowly push the whisker roots into the clay. Start at the front and work your way back one at a time on both sides of the face. This will really make the whiskers pop out and give you a more realistic look than just letting them dry in place.
Black-Tailed Jack RabbitBlack-Tailed Jack Rabbit
Almost done! make sure to position the toes the way you would like them. You may want to use a good reference photo for this. Also, you need to work as many wrinkles out of the ears as possible, because they will show once dried. It is very important to watch both of these (the toes and ears) areas during the first day or so of drying, because shrinkage will cause them to move.
Black-Tailed Jack Rabbit
After the mount has dried thoroughly, the finish work should be minimal. Do any needed filler work around eyes and nostrils. Then all that is needed to do is airbrush a little color into the inner ears and on the face. Finally, attach the mount to your desired base and you are done. Aso, check out my Training Videos for more “How To’s” .
As we enter into the hunting seasons, the proverbial topic of setting prices comes up as sure as the leaves fall. I think it is time for some straight talk on the subject.
Before I begin, I need to set the stage for my perspective on the topic. I co own a national taxidermy business with my brother, Austin that has been in continuous, full time operation for over 40 years. Over that 40 year period our shop has produced 10’s of thousands of mounts for sportsmen, sporting good retailers, restaurant chains, sub contract for other taxidermists etc. We have been full time taxidermists our entire lives and pay all of our bills with money earned from taxidermy.
The question we always get is how do you do it ? The answer we formulate in our minds tends to be lengthy and complicated, but it is really very simple. We make it happen.
We refuse to let someone else’s actions dictate ours. We are aware of what our competition is doing but never set our prices based on what they are charging. What you do is more important then your price. Pricing should be the last thing the clients asks about. It is a privileged to have taxidermy work done by you, not a right.
Branding yourself and your business
Before you can even think about setting prices, you need to brand yourself and your business. Branding is much more then just a logo and high quality work. Everything you do has to be the best if you want to get top dollar. Your website has to be fast, modern , and not a cheap do- it- yourself type.A facebook page is great, but it is not a substitute for a web site. Have a professional looking shop and showroom that is always clean.You need to dress the part of a professional. Answer your phone during business hours! Be friendly and always answer with the business name.If you are behind on your work, still answer the phone . Deal with it and get caught up, and avoid falling behind in the first place.Drive a good vehicle . Answer your emails, facebook messages,and texts in a professional manner every time. Make sure you are putting out quality work. Be consistent ! People like to know what they will be dealing with and not be wondering what to expect next. If you have a weak area get training to clear it up.You will have to spend some money to make all this happen, but it is the only path to major success. If any of these areas are weak, your business will suffer because of it. When your business suffers, your brand is tarnished and becomes worthless over time. When a brand is worthless it is not worth any money, and you will not get what you want for pricing.
Want vs Need
We often focus on what we ” need ” to survive in business. We need to make at least ” this” amount to keep the doors open. We sit down and go through elaborate formulas to try to figure out exactly what we need to charge.The problem with this is it is too limiting. We put ourselves into a box and cap our potential. While it is critically important that you have a handle on your expense to make sure you are making a profit, don’t get so caught up in the numbers that you block out the bigger picture. Taking in work just for the sake of getting it away from your competitors is not good business.Ask yourself what do you want to be making. Wealthy people make tremendous amounts of money relative to the work they perform.. Why you ask ? Because their brand is strong and people think they are worth it. Make your brand strong and put yourself on the path to making the money you want, not just what you need.
See what sticks
Setting your prices in the want zone will not always work. No matter how powerful your brand is, some items just will not go at top end prices. There are a lot of factors that contribute to this…location, demographics,supply & demand etc etc. If you cannot get the price you want on one item, try changing the offering or pushing another item until you find one that sticks. When you get pricing in the want zone, run with it and push it hard…you just hit gold. It is perfectly fine to have some need pricing mixed with want pricing as you transition towards all want zone pricing .This is an ongoing process that continues in different forms throughout the life of your business.
Example :
-Whitetail Shoulder Mount Pricing-
Other taxidermists in your area charge ~ $ 450
Price you need to stay in business ~ $ 550
The price you want to get ~ $ 695
Strengthen your brand and push for the want price to build wealth
Dealing with competition
The best way to deal with lower priced competitors is to let them have the price shopping customers. Nothing will put them out of business faster than being overwhelmed with low end work and problem clients.
If you are doing this as a profession, do you really want customers bringing you the work because your price is low ? You are an artisan and a craftsman . Act like it and get clients who respect your work.
Seek sound advice
If you want to be successful in taxidermy , take advice from successful taxidermists.
Promo videos have become very popular with the advent of online streaming as a way for businesses to get across a message. One of the more popular video presentations within the promo video world are called explainer videos. Explainer videos often rely heavily on some form of animation.They hold the viewers attention and clearly convey a message. These types of videos are all over the internet and TV commercials, but you rarely see them used in the taxidermy world. We decided to change that ! The first explainer video we built was for our online video education web site, Taxidermy Insider®. These types of videos would work well for any type of business and I see many application for these within the taxidermy industry .
You can hire a company to make one of these videos for you, make them yourself, or do a combination of both. I chose to do a combo with this first video. I had two other people and myself working on it. I had a very talented artist make the animations for me, and a professional do the voice over work. I did the final editing, video production work and got it prepared for the web. It should be noted that I have my own video production equipment and video editing software. It is not necessary to invest in this to make a great explainer video, but I found it was easier for me to get the look I wanted dong some of the production work myself.
Step 1. Write a script for your video
The script is the voice behind the video. It is what everything is built around , including the animation. Most explainer videos are around 1 to 2 minutes and feature a simple and direct message. Use clear terms that explain your business to the customer. Remember the animation will also be telling a story at the same time, so it is not necessary to go into great detail with the voice over. You always want to build a video around the voice work, so laying down the voice over is your first step. You can do this yourself with a good mic. I have done that on a number of my videos, but I have found that hiring a pro is easier! You can find many voice over professionals on Fiverr who will lay down an explanier video track for around $ 25.00.
Step 2. Choose an animation type
There many different kinds of animations that are used in explainer videos . Some of the more popular types are whiteboard, motion graphic,kinetic typography ,cutout, live action+animation,cartoon,and info graphics animation. I decided to do a mix .To me, this is the most powerful way to get a point across,and the most interesting. If you are hiring a firm to do the entire project for you, it will cost less to have them just use one type of animation for the whole video. In any case, you will probably want to hire someone to do the animation work , then build your video around that. Whiteboard animation is the most popular and economical. It features someone drawing the video frame and keeps peoples attention focused on the video. I incorporated that into my video in a number of places.
An example of whiteboard animation I used in my explainer video.
Cartoon animation is an excellent way to hold peoples attention, but is also quite expensive to have made. I utilized some cartoon animation in my video , animating the whiteboard figure.
Animated cartoons are excellent at holding peoples attention.
I also incorporated info graphics into this video. I call them props. In the opening scene I needed to let the viewer know quickly that this is a taxidermy shop, so I added some tools and of course the turkey ! The turkey was the actual bird used in the course.The work bench was also real. The tools and the vac are cartoon drawings. As you can see, just adding a few images tells a story quickly.Mixing actual pictures with the cartoon drawings also adds some flavor to the video and keeps it real.These are also referred to as cut outs .
Part of the info graphics I employed was kinetic typography, or making words, letters, numbers, and sentences move in the video.
Big, bold moving text provides a simple but powerful way to get a point across.
The animation work will be the most expensive part of making your video. Depending on what you want and who makes it, the price can range from $ 50 to $5000. Expect to pay around $ 100 for simple , black and white whiteboard animation to $ 300 plus for a short cartoon animation. Fiverr is a good place to get started finding an artist.
Step 3. Mix in some pictures and videos
I added a lot of screen shots, video clips, and still pictures in my video. I think it really keeps people focused on our content and makes the video more interesting.
Video clips playing at the same time
An example of screen capture framed in a drawn monitor
Step 4. Video editing software
Now that you have all the piece, you have to put them together and make a great explainer video. I use adobe Premier Pro for my video editing. It is a powerful and flexible tool, but it does have a learning curve . Some of the lower cost editing software will work, but you will sacrifice some features.The other option is to hire someone to put it together for you.
Step 5. The Build Out
Now the fun part, putting it all together ! I always start by adding my audio track first( voice over), then building the content to it. You want your images to match your voice over message.
A premier pro editing timeline
Step 6. BackgroundMusic ?
Many explainer videos have background music that helps to move the video along . I personally am not a huge fan of using it as I think it distracts from the voice over.
Step 7. Push it live
When your video is complete it is time to push it live and get people to watch it. Embedding it on your website and uploading it to You Tube are great ways to get attention.
The finished video:
Some other examples of promo videos we have made
The Stehling Brothers Productions Intro. This was a fun project we built completely in house using only Premier Pro. It takes info graphics to the edge of animation.
Promo video we made for www.fleshingmachines.com. This video features voice over, background music, info graphics, video clips and stills.This was made in house with Premier Pro .
The #1 question I get, time and time again on fleshing machines is how do you determine where to set the guards? I answer, there is no magic number, it is not necessarily 1/8” or ¼” it is a feel thing that is only learned with experience. That truly is the only way I can describe it. It is kind of like someone asking you how far do you press the gas pedal to go 60 MPH?
There are way too many variables to consider just like with the accelerator, such as are you going uphill or downhill, are you loaded with a heavy payload or driving a light weight compact car? With the fleshing machine, what size motor does it have as well as how thick of a skin are you working with? Is it a Whitetail cape or a Moose cape? How sharp is the blade, is it freshly ground or used and dull?
LET’S GET STARTED
Here are a few simple “Rules Of Thumb” I like to share with folks who ask me this question.
Proper Guard Setting
Very first thing, make sure both the right and left guards are installed on your machine. With the two guards in their proper location you can see that I have quite a bit of space between the blade and the guards. I have heard people say that they need to be as close as possible to the blade without touching it, this is “FALSE”. Without any clearance there is nowhere for the fleshings to fall and clear the work area.
Proper Guard Setting
One of two things will happen. Either the fleshings will pile up in front of the machine or they will bind up between the blade and guards and cause the blade to stop. Here is a close up of the same area.
Proper Guard Setting
SETTING THE CUTTING SIDE GUARD
Ok, on the left side of the machine you want to set your guard so that you are working with the middle to lower half of the blade. This will be much more comfortable for you. Also, this will help to control the skin better. If you get to high up on the blade it will tend to grab or snatch the skin. This could cause damages in the skin itself.
Proper Guard Setting
Here you can see a close up of the same area. Notice how shiny and worn the guard is in the area where I do my work. You can also see how much of the blade is exposed when I shave Whitetails.
Proper Guard Setting
SETTING THE BACK GUARD
On the right side or back side of the blade, I see or hear of people removing this guard. This is not a good idea, it protects you if you over reach when shaving. Also, it helps to protect the skin from being damaged. Here I have the bottom of the blade closed off with the guard. This keeps the skin from folding up and cutting a line or hole in it.
Proper Guard Setting
You can see here, once again, I am working in the middle to lower half of the blade. Also, here is one more close up as to how much blade I have showing when working with Whitetails.
Proper Guard SettingProper Guard Setting
IN CLOSING
I hope this helps to give you some answers on this commonly asked question. Also this information is available in my new online HD video series “Mastering the Fleshing Machine A-Z PLUS”. Over three hours of everything you need to know about fleshing as well as shaving skins on your machine. It can be accessed at www.fleshingmachines.com.
IMO, there is no cheaper or easier way to make a custom body, than wrapping your own. when I was taught how to do this, almost 40 years ago, if you didn’t wrap, you most likely did not do birds, since foam bodies were just starting to emerge for taxidermists. the materials needed were, and still are cheap, and are readily available. this method allows you to duplicate, right from the carcass, exactly what needs to be put back in, and allows you to pre shape for the pose you choose. if done properly, there is very little fill if any needed, wire anchoring is solid, and feather grooming is far easier than over a foam body. I am sure there are alternate ways to wrap, and I will share how I was taught and still use today.
material list is as follows:
fine grade excelsior
button and coat thread calipers
sharpie
butchers twine
leather mallet
post mortem needle
I dissolve in hot water, borax and Para Flakes (moth flakes)
soak the excelsior over night. I do a 5 gallon bucket at a time
you are now ready to start
from there, I remove my pre shaped and frozen carcass from the freezer for my actual reference. in this case a Drake Surf Scoter. this is going to be a dead mount of three scoter drakes, Black, Surf and White Wing. With that said, I want to elongate my body a tad, and over wrap somewhat the size to compensate for de fatting let out. I make two separate “flats” as I call them, and rough in the shape with the mallet, and bind these two core parts with thread. this is the heart of the body. the two photos show both the rough shaping, and the fine tuning of the 2 core pieces
I then marry together the two wedges, bending, and spreading them at the neck junction to form the neck pocket. excelsior filler is added along the back, and stuffed to spread the belly area. I use the mallet to beat the excelsior into a balanced and uniform core, this is the heart of the body
Ok, from here, I mark my connection points, chest and belly muscle, that now is added to the core. accuracy is very easy when you have the carcass right in front of you, and if you need to adjust the carcass its right there, and you can duplicate any changes in body shape and duplicate that onto your wrapped body
now it’s time to build up our core body. this is when I add the more excelsior to duplicate the natural muscle that shows from the carcass. I pre trim the excelsior with scissors as I apply to the core, and use the leather mallet to help in shaping as I wrap. bottom view, belly and chest done
when I am satisfied with the wrapping part of making a body, it’s time to do some fine tuning to areas that need more definition. this is where the butchers twine and post mortem needle are used. the twine is very strong, so you can put a lot of tension on it without it breaking. I just sew from one side of the body to the other, pulling tight to compress the body to define detail. I do this from the wing to body junction to the belly. done correctly, you now have a nice wing pocket
when I am satisfied, and after a test fit in the skin, I make any adjustments that are needed. you can beat this wrapped body into just about any pose with the leather mallet. time to chuck the carcass, and I now re soak and put it in the freezer till it’s time to mount. I do not mount on a dry body, but a damp one. that gives me more time to preen, as the bird dries. also note, that I mount with full wing bones as well as leg bones. this method offers a fully articulated replacement, without having to guess, like the foam and half leg technique. I am sure this is not for everyone, and I am sharing what I was taught, and still use today in all my bird mounts. hope this helps anyone interested in this old school method. finished body photos below
