Carding a Flying Goose

[bird artist]

So here I am on a Friday nite having just completed this flying goose, pretty sad I know, but I've been putting it off and it had been sitting out there all day mounted up but not yet carded.  I know there are a lot of beginners out there and I know I always wondered when I was starting out "how do they get those wings so perfect?"  Well, not saying that mine are perfect, but you'll get an idea on how I do it through this little tutorial I've put together.  First off, the goose is to be hanging from the ceiling so I dorsal incised it, that means lengthwise down the back.  It's a little more work wiring the wings and all, but I think it's worth it not disturbing the breast and chancing seeing the seam, especially since the belly is the focal point.  Next, notice it's attached to a mounting stand by a stout wire, not sure the gauge, but pretty hard to bend.  I've tried mounting these flyers just hanging from a wire from the ceiling and although it can be done, man it's a job cuz the darn thing keeps moving on you, so being stationary and being able to turn it to any angle is much easier and you get much better results.  Notice too, that I don't use any wires running under the wings "shaping" the wing, it's all done by manipulating the carding which is of cut up cereal boxes.  Sometimes I will use wire run under the wing for something really trick, but generally just bending and pinning the cardboard strips creates amazing affects and with enough carding you can the wing to lift and suspend or whatever.  Keep in mind that the shape of the wing is determined by the angle you set your wing at and no amount of carding will make it good if this angle isn't right to start off with.  The biggest thing with me is symmetry and one good thing about the dorsal incision is that I can see the wing bones before I sew it up to make sure they are each at the exact same angle, same with the legs.  Doing this saves a lot of time and guesswork.  Remember to work big to small meaning get your anatomy right and then work on your grooming because you don't want to put in a bunch of time grooming only to have to adjust a wing or neck or whatever and mess all the feathers up.  This may be the one of the most important things I've learned in taxidermy- big to small.  Ludvik had posted a pic of his mallard and I said it was stocky looking and too full.  I'd given him tips before so I knew he wouldn't get mad at me for saying that.  What he needed to do, as many of us do, since I notice some of the flying mounts are "droopy" is to pin certain areas to the anatomy of the body.  You need to conform the skin to the body, especially on a fatty bird since the skin has "blown up" so to speak and needs to be brought back in.  I wrapped this goose body and one advantage to that is that my pins go in pretty easy incluing the neck which is excelsior too.  The real head was used with clay only in the eye sockets to not create too much weight, and the bottom jaw was kept attached not cut off, to keep the anatomy right, and then the jowels filled out with cotton through the eye holes and mouth.  The pics pretty much speak for themselves and show how the wings and tail were carded and the body pinned to show anatomy.  I've got two more of these suckers to do and this was the smallest, good grief!
aaron

[bird artist]

Also in reference to some of the questions that have been asked about "how to hang a goose from the ceiling", I've run a wire down thru the top of the body and back out the top to attach fishing line to.  This is done before it's mounted after having found the balance point and I leave about 4" or so out the top of the bird to fine tune the balance by moving it one way or another.  The stout wire coming out the side of the bird will be cut off when dry and hung. 
aaron

[Hillbilly Andy]

Awesome post!!!!!!!!!!!!  Thanks for taking the time and sharing.  Very nice goose too!  Its posts like these that help people like me to give birds a try! I've got a goose in the freezer and been putting it off.  Have to try sometime.  Sooner than later I guess.  Thanks.

[birdgirl]

I would like to see how you skin your birds using a dorsal incision from start to finish if you ever do another and have time to take photos of the process, I have never tried it.

[SteveP]

Thanks Aaron,
Another great tutorial showing that a realistic looking bird can be mounted using more traditional methods. A lot of talent in those hands of yours.

One question, how far did you run the wire into the wings?

Steve

[show me]

Aaron those raisin bran Canada's are the most colorful aren't they?.. I like that positioning, great tutorial

[ludvik]

what type of birds did you guys have here in norway we gives the birds foods so they looks round and nice 
not like they didnt get food lol.  just kidden
that is way i like to get bad critiques!. becouse it is somthing i learning from and when they show how i coud do it next time like this. i love it. so next time it will be perfect ( so that is telling me i most use the referens photos when i mounting every time)
so thank you! to you guys some give me good or bad critiques and helping me. 
and thx to every guys some showing post like this.
it is a great tutorial Aaron.

amature,ole cm

[muleyhunter]

Aaron, Is there a way that you can take a picture of the wire in the back to show how you will have it suspended ? I have one that I have to do flying like that. I would have never thought that just carding would work that great. Taking the time showing us sure hasl helped me out tremendously. Thank you very much.

[born2shoot]

this maybe a dunbquestion how do you pin it on the wings is there better places to put the pin through

[Jubela]

Thanks for sharing.  As with all of the othr informative posts, this one is going to my email.

[Curt]

wonderful post!! Thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge.

[bird artist]

Hey guys, I've been out of town, so haven't had chance to answer your questions.  Born2shoot, as far as pinning the wings there are two identical lengths of carding, one on top of wing and one on bottom, and all you do is run your pins thru both sandwiching the wing in the middle.  I get just about everything for mounting a bird from Walmart including string, borax, white gas (although they've stopped carrying the Ozark trail brand), pins, some wire, wood bases, etc.  The pins I use are steel, which makes them pretty rigid so they don't bend when carding, and have little colored balls on the end making them comfortable to push.  I use the 1 1/4 length I think.  Muleyhunter, I'll try to get a pic of the suspension wire soon.  And Jeremy, I run my wires into the wing so that they sandwich in those last digits in the wrist I guess it would be.  So you've got about two inches or so of wire to move and control the primaries.  Some guys will go further and exit the wire but I've found, as with exiting a neck wire from top of head, that this disturbs the feathers and is hard to cut off and hide, but mostly there's just no need for it.  I can get those primaries to spread as far as I want just through careful placement of the carding.  Remember, this is just one way, but it's worked good for me and is what I use.
aaron