been doing taxidermy for about five years. entered into three shows and can't seem to take a first place in birds. this guy Bowen smokes me. his eye work is awesome. asked him a few questions on how to do eyes but he really did not share any info with me, just keep on trying you'll get it. buy the way, he's in the masters division, i am only in the pro catagory. i have taken seconds and thirds, maybe you can help. bird types are buffleheads, canadas, mallards, woods, basicly all waterfowl and upland game is what i do. have upcoming show in march, want a blue ribbon.thanks for all your help.
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It's kind of a tough question to answer without visual aides....however, I can at least give you some material advice. Not sure what you're using now, but Sculpt-all, or magic-sculpt both work very well for finishing eyelids. If I'm doing competition work, I'll actually sculpt the eyelid on the eyes before they're set in the head - it's much easier to get an accurate size and shape. You can save yourself a lot of trouble by coloring the sculpting compound beforehand with waterbase paints. As always, get some good reference. I often use a fresh specimen to get an idea of eyelid size. It seems that a lot of people get lids way too big. If you have trouble getting the sculpting material to stick, use a tooth pick to put some gel super glue on the actual eyelid - it will hold the epoxy compound securely as you sculpt it. I use paintbrushes and various dental tools to recreate the eyelids. Get your basic size and taper done, and then wait for the compound to stiffen a bit and then do your detail work.
Cheers!
Patrick Rummans