A friend gave me raccoon and a fox to mount, but there are no mannikins in the supply books that will work to what he wants. Can I make a mammal mannikin out of wood wool,jute tow,thread,and wire?Any info would helpful.
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It and that was the old favorite. Just ask George I'm he did when he was just starting out. I've done it also when I tried taxidermy as a child. You leed to take all the measurements from the body and start wraping. But there's just a bit more than wraping the body. I hope you have a book on it. It will help you out immensely.
The other way is to make a body cast of what you want. There are some good videos out there showing you how to mast a body cast. It may or mau not be as easy as wraping one.
Brad,
Yes, it can be done, and museums are filled with mounts that were done just like that. Once the armateur was completed, clay or plaster was used to smooth out the appearance (otherwised you had lumpy mounts that looked like Aunt Matilda in her Sunday dress). I personally didn't like them, was never good at it, and my old mounts looked like her. Franks comment on casting is the best. You're assured of anatomical correctness with appendage locations and you have a size that will fit. If that's not a method you'd like, why not buy a block of heavy foam and carve your own. Both methods produce chances for better results, I feel, than wood wool.
take the body out and trace it, or better yet keep it in front of you while you're wrapping, your legs bones get wrapped with jute, newspaper, paper towels or what you like, wired and plugged into the wrapped body. The skull gets boiled and cleaned 100%, bondo a wire into the brain cavity, attach to wrapped body and rebuild the facial flesh with mache or clay. It's actually alot of fun, I still do it on occasion, it used to be just about the only way.
As said above you MUST know the anatomy to do these things first. I would personnally use a commercial mannikin in a pose close to size and pose and alter it for the pose. Otherwise if you are going to make a wrapped boddy atleast buy a good commercial head form. Sounds like your friend is looking for something custom and your in for alot of extra time ($$$$$$$$)
Critter
Brad,
The techniques utilized by early taxidermists were as varied as the practitioners. Leon Pray in some of his early writing described a soft fill method, similar to how Patrick Rummans mounts birds, simply wiring the four extremities, using a carved balsa wood head and loose filling the body. Threads were placed in strategic areas to prevent distention of anatomy - This technique takes takes a great knowledge of anatomy.
A Far more accurate and excellent technique was developed and improved at the Iowa State Museum first by Homer Dill, and later improved on by Walter C. Thietje and George D. Schrimper. Back through the 1930's through the 1960's (from what I gather) they offered regular Taxidermy classes in the curriculum. Homer Dill who initially was a Ornithologist, e.g. going on field trips to for instance the Laysan Islands, later became a major innovator in the techniques of Taxidermy. His main mode of publication was in Museum News which in those days had detailed articals on diorama making, lighting, museum layout, and even advances in Taxidermy. Dills' publications in Museum News included:
1932. Mounting Mammal Ears over Cast forms. Volume 10(1):6. Probably the first publication using cast paper ears instead of using pounded lead or copper ear forms (casting actual ears is certainly not a new technique)
1932. Mounting large Mammals without opening cuts in legs. 10(2):7-8 where he described creation of a mannikan of a large mammal which assembled in three pieces so that the animal can be mounted with a single abdominal cut (like cutting apart urethane forms. This technique was also a major innovation at the time)
1937. Laboratory methods of mounting small and medium-sized mammals. 14(15):6-8, and slightly modified in Volume 27(20):6-7. Mounting of small and medium-sized animals.
These techniques were improved at Iowa and the final version published as a Museum News, Technical Supplement no 16. by Thietje and Schrimper. 1967. Laboratory Techniques for Mounting Rabbits and Other Small Mammals. In it they describes the epitome of small mammal taxidermy prior to advent of urethane forms and casting true to life scultures. They cover making a "death mask" which is used to attach to a carved head of balsa wood, making paper earliners, carving legs in wood, wrapping the body with excelsior, preserving the skin, etc.
I don't think Iowa still has much of a taxidermy department now, but I think that Joe Meder graduated from Iowa, and I seem to remember him telling me long ago that he actually has one of the knives that Thietje used.
Most people on this forum don't care about such trivial information, but the techniques in these papers often have applications for today. I learned from reading books, papers, etc. basically in a vacuum, and am self taught except for the relevant material contained in publications - Them books done me good!
Anyhow, Brad, if you would like I will xerox a copy of the Theitje and Schrimper paper for you if you send your address.
Good luck whichever technique you use.
The Taxidermologist