Learn from my Fail!

[phoenix-cry]

I thought this would be a fun and useful thread.  Let us know your greatest beginner 'fail'.  Something that you tried because you didn't know any better and mucked up.  Learning from mistakes is always better if someone else makes those mistakes!


My Fail:

I had a wet tanned hide that was starting to slip.  I thought to myself "I'll soak it in some Slip Stop".  Rather than sponge the whole hide and risk losing more fur I just put it in a bucket and poured the Slip Stop over it.  Well I got distracted and the hide sat in Stop Slip for two days.  I created a hide that could withstand a bullet and that I certainly couldn't get a needle through.  I'd created Kevlar.  Great for police vests, terrible for mounts.

[tem]

my very first deer head i did. i measured it with the hide still on it. yep. the form was way to big. so i sanded it down. took away to much of everything. still mounted it. tore it apart to use it on other things. but i did learn.

[MichaelG]

First bird mount was a Bobwhite Hen in the 70s using a book I purchased.  I read it over and over before I started.  After I finished it I couldn't figure out how to get it to stand.  I didn't realise the book I bought was completely missing the pages that covered running the wires through the legs. 

[kikkertinz]

i should have paid more attention in school

[gary04]

New to doing any of this taxidermy work but it is sure fun and relaxing for me.  Well here is my story I had a friend who gave me his elk hide to practice on so I laid it on the shop floor and started to flesh it.  Well my shop is not heated and open to the outside air.   Well that night it started to snow and been in the 20 degrees for the last month or two.  Guess what my elk hide is frozen to the floor now for at least two months now and not sure when it will defrost.   That is just one of my many fun adventures in the wonderful hobby but I learn from every mistake.   Have a great day everyone.

[Old Fart]

Many years ago, in one of my early attempts at fish taxidermy, I stumbled across  the "sand fill" method. At this point I must warn you that the terms "sand fill" and "taxidermy" and mutually exclusive........Someone had provided me with a rather large salmon, which I thought might be ideal to attempt this method on.  I thought that the sand, being "fine", would be ideal for the relatively thin(or at leas not heavily scaled) skin of the salmon. And it was. The surface of the fish showed no rough or irregular texture when the project was done. It was getting to "done" where the problems came in. The instructions failed to note that some kind of cradle should be used to support the fish in the process of "filling". I succeeded in getting the fish "filled" with the sand and the back sewn up with little problem. That's where the "fun" began.....rolling the fish over to position it and work with the fins. Thank God the skin on a large salmon is pretty tough. Did I mention, the salmon was about 30 pounds?........BEFORE filling the skin with sand!  After filling, with wet sand, I guessing 70 pounds! By the time I got the "mounted" or more correctly, "FILLED" fish rolled onto a drying platform, it had "grown" at least 6" in length.  I "more or less" got the shape back to where it should have been by "pounding" the sand back into the correct areas with a 2X4! At that point I allowed the fish to dry and eventually emptied the sand and filled it with something. I don't redcall what. There was NO two part foam at that time. The end product was OK for it's day....I guess.....I have no pictures.....only my memories, which have been clouded by the fog of time.

If you ever run across that method in a book or something and you are "tempted" to try it......DON"T!

[mr.T aka mr. friendly]

The Joe Meder deer eyes have some white on the back side of the eye glass, the first time that I used them, I put them in backwards so the white showed in the front of the eye,, somewhere today,,, there are 6 deer heads out there with the eyes in backward's.

[Tanglewood Taxidermy]

I learned that apoxie-sculp for sculpting eyes and ear butts is not a good idea for a beginner.

[phoenix-cry]

This is a fun thread.

I think so far the best fail is the elk frozen to the floor.  Mostly cause I'm sure you looked at that and went 'duh'.  That is close to an Epic Fail. 

[cooterwhitt]

I like this my first coon I mounted was in a knot hole so me and my dad skinned it and fleshed it and began soaking it well it wad like 20 out side so we had my diesel heater on so when we got it out of the cleaner we decided to let it set in front of the heater to dry well we started smelling hair burning well we burned all the whiskers off lol still to this day that mount is hanging in my official

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[ginevive]

lol! These are amusing stories. I'll add to it.

This has to do with my first LS squirrel (first mammal mount for me, too.) I got the form.. okay. I did not think of taking measurements; I merely just ordered the Ellzey climbing form.. and ordered the glass eyes.. okay. I skinned, fleshed, tanned, and got the hide all ready. I could not fit the hide around the form's belly. So instead of sanding the form down, I merely stitched it as tight as I can. So, against the wall, you could see an inch or so of the form peeking out from the two side of belly skin if you were to look! (this is not apparent for the casual viewer.)

Also, I did not really research into the setting of the eyes properly. I merely drilled holes into the mount eyes with a knife, and inserted them; no clay. So the one side (wall side) sports a cartoony bulging eye, and the facing-side is pretty funny if you examine it closely around the eye. All that said, the mount passes casual, non-taxidermist inspection, for all it's worth. My friend ooh and aah over it..

I did not even use hide paste! Just glue. I did, however, buy the two-part Stay Plump mix and inject the feet.. so I did something kind of right.

I believe that lessons like these are more valuable than anything. You don't forget them.. and your later work can be compared to it, and it shows the best evidence of your improvement.

[insane1]

wanted to show customer new meder eyes it was my daughters 1st deer lighting in room wasn't good could not find flash light so i used a lighter and burned the eye lashes off the deer thought she wouldn't see it well it took about 2 weeks when she was dusting it i probably should fix that

[Bill Motzer]

The Joe Meder deer eyes have some white on the back side of the eye glass, the first time that I used them, I put them in backwards so the white showed in the front of the eye,, somewhere today,,, there are 6 deer heads out there with the eyes in backward's.

 T, there are more than 6 of them out there!       

[ginevive]

I love this thread.

I tried doing my first bird mount with a purchased body form. I put it in upside down and could not get the anatomy right. Ended up setting it aside and making a wrapped body out of cheesecloth and wire.

The mount looks like a bird version of a "soft mount" plushie.

[phoenix-cry]

Soft mount bird, awesome.