Wrapping a bird body

[ludvik]

here is a top photo and you see i have get a nice place for the wing bones and a neck group. sorry my english but hope the photos
shows how i wrap mine   this is how i do it, right or wrong.
i did your way before redwolf, but now i like to have the place for the wing bone and the neck hole.
and it is verry fast and easy to do it this way to

[ludvik]

and of course it was a caper body if there was any some try to find it out  and here is the bird i used the body on

[Redwolf]

I like it ludvik. I'll try that way with my next one. Too many people wont wrap body's 'cause they think there is more detail in a foam body when in truth there are so many feathers on a live bird you can not see it. Wrapped body's work great, they are cheaper, and they only take a few minutes to do.
Thanks for sharing your way.

[George Roof]

Ludvik, that's a nice job, but I have a few question from years back.  (1)Are you sewing the body during the wrapping process to firm up the shape and (2) are you wetting your excelsior?  I'm seeing some exceptional detailing that we only got when we did those two things.

[ludvik]

to your question George.
1. i dont sewing any thing in the prosess only shape it whit my hands and wrap it like i want to have it.
2. yes i wet the excelsior but not much. it will be stronger and more smooth then. and more easy to shape.
hope you get the answere you asked for.

ole cm

[JP a.k.a Taxi-lover]

Ludvik...what a great wrapping and amazing capercaillie!!! Thank's for sharing!!

[Milo]

thank sredwolf 
thaks ludvik 

both birds turned out nice ... i learned another lesson ...now it's time for some pactice

[George Roof]

Wrapping bodies seems to have become a buzz phrase of late, but lest some of you bite off a bit more than you can chew, let me clue you into a few things that AREN'T mentioned.

Back when I wrapped (I don't even like to think that far back), we dampened our excelsior and wrapped a "core" first.  It was wound tight.  Then the basic "torpedo" was wrapped.  When the exterior was done as the final step, we used a long upholstery needle and ran waxed thread back and forth to lock down the back bone area, the wing cups and the abdominal area.  The body was then set to dry for a few days.  IF we were planning on having to do a bit of positioning, the body was painted with red shellac to give it a tougher "skin".

Wiring was done through the body first and the wings were oftentimes removed from the skin so they could be postured.  YOU CANNOT BEND HEAVIER WIRES INSIDE A WRAPPED BODY.  If you try it, you will wallow out the excelsior and the attachment will be very sloppy.  It will only get worse with age.

For everything, there's a tradeoff.  The foam bodies are much MUCH better at bending wires and working the postures.  The trade off is that the poly neck joints oftentimes is poor and hiding that coupling is tougher than it was with the wrapped cord necks of wrapped bodies.  Foam bodies take pinning while wrapped bodies tend to be only "staked" by pins.  And the last one is that shoddy fleshing is more forgiving on a wrapped body.  I don't ever recalled seeing grease bleed through on a wrapped body.  The oils soak into the excelsior before they can leak through an incision and into the feathers.

So before any of you rush to "save" yourself money on wrapping bodies, I'd strongly suggest you do more studying on how to do it properly and what that would entail.

[Glass eye]

All my bird bodies are wrapped with the exception of turkeys.
Everything from dove to peacock and I have no problem getting a tight anchor with the wiring. The peacock was wrapped and 9 gauge wire in the legs. I'm about to mount a Curassow right now with a wrapped body and 9 gauge wire.

[George Roof]

Glasseye, that's a beautiful job on that body.  HOWEVER, a 9 gauge wire is just too flimsy for my liking on the big birds.  Competitions are especially picky about how "solid" a mount is as well.  The point I was trying to make was that if you try to bend a HEAVY wire on a wrapped body, instead of the wire bending sharply, the body gives inside.  It's also very difficult to bend that wire and then seat it as compared to the foam bodies.  To each his own, but the foam body has simply replaced the wrapped body in 99% of applications in taxidermy.  Regardless of how little time it may have taken you to wrap that body, I can cut that time to a matter of less than 5 seconds by reaching into the box and pulling out a foamed body ready to be mounted.

[Glass eye]

George, if I'm mounting a turkey I use a foam body and 1/4" rods for the legs. I agree, 9 gauge wire and a wrapped body would be too flimsy for a turkey mount. However, for birds as large as a peacock or canada goose I've had no problem making a SOLID mount with wrapped bodies and 9 gauge wire.
If you wrap the body PROPERLY.

[Redwolf]

The wire is holding up fine for me on this one.

[George Roof]

Glass eye, I'm not going to belabor that point. That's probably one of the very best wrapped bodies I've seen in some time.  All you needed was a coat of red shellac now.  LMAO.  NOT!

[Glass eye]

Here's the curassow form with its clothes on.