skinning for an artificial head 101

[mark11]

was skinning the other day and photographed this, hope it is of help.

i start by placing my finger into the bill to open it and pull everything tight


next i begin my incision betweenwhere the feathers end and bill begins, do this on both sides


next i go across the top of the bill


next open the bottom flap


now start skinning the head skin back over the skull








here is the finished skinned head

[Redwolf]

Nice job. That's exactly how I do mine.

[domsmith4]

I, for one, was taught the old school way.  I have never used artificial heads.  I know I need to start and those pics will help alot.  I've read alot about how to do it, but seeing it makes more sense.  Thanks for posting them.

Dom

[Redwolf]

Dom, I use the real heads also, but I skin them out and clean them up and rebuild them with bondo and clay. Then treat them like a repro.

[domsmith4]

Yeah Redwolf, that is how I do it too.  I think that I will have to learn as I have 3 common eiders to do that were gifted to me.  Seeing as I have never done these birds I don't know of any other way to do them with their big fleshy lobes going up their head.  I guess there is a first time for eveything.

[Redwolf]

Skin them out and flesh them. You'll have to do some building up with epoxy after it dries.

[jward]

How about gamebirds like pheasant and grouse, does it work for them using the real head.

[SteveP]

I've never completely removed the skull from quail and grouse, but I have on pheasants. It works good for cleaning and rebuilding. I even build the wattle structure out of epoxy sculpt while the skull is out. It doesn't pay to paint the beak before reinstalling the skull, because you have to smooth the area of the glued skin to beak juncture.

Make sure you take measurements for eye placement BEFORE cleaning the skull. It's a lot easier to get the eyes placed correctly, and set solid, before reinstalling the skin over the skull.