BEEN STUFFIN FISH FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY,FEEL CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO OPEN SHOP. CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE GOING PRICE PER INCH IS, THANK YOU! PS I LIVE IN CALIFONIA
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Pricing is a very controversial subject, first and formost, you MUST charge what you believe your work,(and time) is worth. tyr doing a complete cost/profit analysis. You can also access other taxidermists web sites from Cali, from this website's homepage. Best of luck! Marc R
I'm goin to bed {^)zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Patrick,
Are you using crab meat, shrimp, or lobster to stuff your fish? Professional taxidermists don't "stuff" anything any longer. We mount. If you want to be a professional and talk (especially on this site), it time for you to use the right terms before you worry about how much to charge.
Get a life. Do you have nothing better to do than constanly correct others.I for one really get tired of you responding not to answer the post but to be rude.I don't believe you get to pick and choose who gets to talk on this site either. When we get new people in our line of work we need to be positive. Acting as you often do is a bad representation of the rest of us.George, you may be a great guy. It's just not what I think comes across on most of your post.Does it really bother you that much? And to answer Patrick we get $12 a inch .
Patrick
I ask $10.00 an inch for fish. On most things I base it on $45. an HR, so it
takes me 3 1/2hr+- for a pheasant=$150.00 and so on.....
Over head is $30. A day. That's $3.00 an HR based on 10 HR day. That
is with inc.,el,gas,rent and were and tare
I dont care what George charges to stuff things.
=
Is THAT the very best you can come up with, the tired jargon of the "gimme" generation? I guess you must be used to it by now, but I don't play this trade down to you or anyone who wants that "feel good, be nice" attitude. I've worked long and hard to give some degree of respect to the industry and I correct "Canadian" geese and "stuffers" as well. Too many beginners want to start in the middle with little or no appreciation of the effort or history of the trade. They use exotic chemicals haphazardly and kill themselves because they don't even take time to read the labeling. Surprisingly you might find that my shop name is "The Good Stuff", but it's talking about quality not procedures. I spent 30 years working on high performance jet engines and I never heard the greenest mechanic ever refered to as being a "grease monkey". And as far as taking your comment literally, I've had a long and fruitful one and I credit "playing by the rules" for a great deal of it. If, and I mean IF, I've ever given anyone bad information on here in the last three years, I would hope someone jumps on me with both feet (I have and they did, by the way) as I deserve it. I surely won't make that particular mistake again. And I know I come across as a grouch, but only because what you see of me is the words I type. That doesn't effect the point I make being valid and strychnine won't be any less bitter or deadly if you add sugar to it. My generation played by those rules and we got the world to here. Now, where does that leave you?
You know its a real shame that we all have to be so politcly correct now a days. Before I responded to this I had to check to see if it was under the Beginners heading, and it is.
I guess you need to be a professional before you can be a ametuer!? Is the way of the world this way because of your generation George? This sight I beleive was set up to make taxidermy information more accessable to ALL... Not just professionals... I can think of alot worse things to call taxidermy then stuffing! I mean if we need to be exact about our wording as professionals we should do just that all the time ,I guess.
And thanks for working long and hard to make this industry what it is. I am sure all the beginners out there are looking forward to asking another stuffing question real soon!
And Patrick for starting out check with other taxidermist in your area. I am from New York and I charge $13.00 per inch on fresh water fish. Best of luck to you and keep On Stuffing... Had to say it ha, ha, ha,
Give em Hell George! I am tired of these amateurs screwing up the nice fish and then their customers show up here wanting their fish fixed.
Here is something georoof said a few years ago,[12/10/99] mabe he should have said mounting critters.
{It's a black hole run by a few (adjective deleted) holes who keep deep dark secrets of stuffing critters to themselves.}
sorry roof couldn't help myself.
Trigger was Mounted, Not "Stuffed"
This response submitted by Ken Edwards on 8/14/1998.
ken@taxidermy.net
Your question is not at all frivilous. As a matter of fact, I was personally bothered by wire reports describing Trigger as "stuffed". This might be a good opportunity to correct some definitions in the AP style manual. A "stuffed animal" is a plush fiberfill toy, the kind children arrange on their beds. An animal which has been processed by a taxidermist is a "mount" or "mounted animal". "Stuffed" as referring to taxidermy work is slang, and most professional and museum taxidermists shudder at the word, as it minimizes the artistic talent and skill required to successfully recreate natural specimens. The taxidermists who mounted Trigger had to first recreate an artificial body; a full lifesize sculpture which matched the exact anatomy of the specimen. This involved hundreds of hours of work to build the mannikin before the tanned skin was mounted over it. When someone refers to Trigger as being "stuffed", the mental picture is of a much less meticulous process.
What do you mean you can spell? That's Mark with a "K" - NOT a "C" (lol!)
I know a several taxidermist that dont use manikins they put a substance in the animals to "fill" its void space of a body.they are not mounting the animal so is it called stuffing or filling.
I don't stuff either. And the only thing I mount is my wife. Sometimes it's the other way around. when It comes to fish, I perform "taxidermy services" or I "preserve" them, OR I produce a beautiful "fish display" for my customer. Whatever man don't get all hung up on the nomenclature of the trade. refer to what you do any way you want and forget about all the B.S. HEY I charge $10.00 to $15.00 per inch on my fish, just depends on what kind of fish it is. I would check around your area to see what others charge and see how good their work is. charge what you think is competetive. If your loosing money, then you need to become more efficient or charge more if you can.
later, JT
All of this rhetoric is quite amusing to me.The only question the boy had was how much to charge for well,since all of the other terms have been used, artisticly re-creating the likeness of a fish.But, since we are on another subject, let's discuss it. Number one this is a beginners forum. People from all walks of life are interested in taxidermy.Hence we have people with poor grammer and terminology.Although a beginner needs to be corrected or atleast warned about having poor communication skills, and the effects on public image, it will be his business not yours that will suffer.(If some of your attitudes don't drive customers away).For those of you begginers who are looking to start your own bussineses,Keep in mind that first impressions (including proper speach and appearance) may be a potential customers deciding factor-along with your work.If your work Quality isn't there, have no fear you will keep that guy who so graciously complained above in business.So if you think you have what it takes to make some money,figure out your costs,find out what others are charging vs. their quality.and make your own informed decision.I might add that the Breakthrough manual on business management is a graet referance for a beginner.As for all of you grumps out there, Take a pill, maybe he really does stuff fish.
Tina
George's method is called TOUGH LOVE ! You will use it on your children when all else fails and then you will understand. If you use it from the day they are born you won't need it as long.
im still shocked that it takes "smiling" only 3 1/2 hours to do a pheasant. you must have learned from dave luke. if i have a thawed pheasant and i get through the whole mess in 7 hours then i am satisfied.
Who cares People get upset over some of the dumbest things.Quit arguing and do something constuctive fight the antis.
if i dont wash and dry the pheasant i can done in 2 HR, but 31/2 to
do it writ.
an old student of mine [now a master], said, he can do a quail in 45 min.
i don't know how he can do that either. haha
i think i have done somewhere between 700-1000 in the last 22 years.
I, too, can mount pheasants in that time, but I can't even SKIN quail in 45 minutes, much less mount them. I'm also surprised that you've made several errors in both spelling and grammar in the last few entries and even more surprised that you'd peruse the achives and take a statement out of context. Thanks for the date in assisting me, but if you really READ what I said, you'd see that those words were attributed to what the NON-TAXIDERMY side of our business thinks about US! No wonder you're smiling.
george,,, why don't you stuff it up yours
George
we all have opinions. most of yours are valid but in some posts it bring me back to the old days, 20-30 years ago.try some sugar,
you'll need it in the nta.
if i had a choice of working on spelling or skinning a skunk, I'd be sharpening a knife now.
I'm with you on the quail.
sorry for the cheap shot haha. mama always said if you write it down it'll come back and bit ya.
Patrick i hope we helped with your ?.
some price on others
some price on what the market will bear
some on an hourly wage
George ya forgot the r in Archives.
george sounds like an ignorant ....! he should probably stick to MOUNTING,because all he ever does is critisize beginners. george ,you must know all there is to know about taxidermy, but did you ALWAYS?
I'm going to shock you and admit you have a valid point. My real fallacy was in reading the "RECENT" icon postings. They don't fall into neat little categories. They're chronological. Had I seen it was a green beginner, I might have taken a different approach, but I assure you, I'd have still told him it wasn't "stuffin". As for beginners, I guess I just EXPECT them to come on here with some modicum of basic knowledge. You have to at least be familiar with the aphorisms of the trade before you barge into a conversation with strangers (or at least I do). No one would hire someone to run McDonalds because they grilled burgers on the family grill on weekends, would they? And because I've been in this business all week, do you think a guy who's just beginning can use the prices I charge as a guide? Jeff Lumsden charges twice as much as I do for a very good reason. My having been in taxidermy for over 40 years means absolutely nothing by gaging what I charge compared to Jeff's. The best answer to this particular question was probably given by Marc. Most of the rest of you tend to get ticked because you saw my name there, not what I had to say. That's your decisions. I just won't put you on my Christmas card list, I suppose, but to say I'm not interested in helping ANY beginner is an outright and blatant lie.
say the following very slow:
i am we todd did
i am sofa king we todd did
if you said it slow and out loud in front of your family, i bet they got it and are LOLing right now...have a nice day
for responding to the questions here. I asked a question several months ago about a moose that had fallen off the wall and you, sir, were the only one to answer for me. I thank you for that. I also respect your responses to all other points of interest herein. I don't understand why people have such short fuses. For those folks there are anger management classes in most communities that can help. There is nothing wrong with learning and using the correct nomiclature for anything you are doing. Is there a reason that for everything there is a term? When we went to school, vocabulary was part of the learning process.
I do not have a short fuse but I have a fuse.My wife (Tina ),entered the responce earlier about snapping at people on here.This is a beginners catagory and beginners are many ages mine are 6,10,&13.
I am moving to a location across town and there is a young man in the neighborhood that is very interested in taxidermy and I refered him to this site . I was told by him ,he would not ask any thing on here because of the way people jump on beginners on here. I sure would not want my sons being treated like that but I guess some of our EGO'S get in the way.We should welcome beginners and get them involved one less anti one more of us.
Thank You.
I have 4 children. I have never used tough love and I can assure you they are wonderfully behaved and polite children. They are 17, 13, 10, and6 years old.My kids are active youth members in our state assoc. I think you get a lot futher with honey than you do with rude, arrogant behavior.I think there is always a polite and kind way to get your point across. If this works with children surely it can work with adults.I also think if you treat others with respect you will recieve respect back. Respect is something that is earned over time not just giving to you because you think you deserve it.
And we're talking about how we raise our kids from THAT?! John, the 17 year olds not interested in taxidermy eh? Mine neither! It's cars for him.
Ten bucks an inch Patrick would be a good place to start. YOU know how much work it entails right? Do you feel confident skinning fish? Do you feel confident mounting them? Do you feel confident painting them? Do you feel good handing that finished mount over to your friends and relatives? Do you feel you deserve to get paid for your time and talent? If the answer is yes, then you deserve to start at a decent price. (Sound familiar Legs?!)...inside joke sorry!
NOW. I have to defend George. Not because he NEEDS it or wants it, but because I get sick of people jumping all over his a$$ for telling it like it IS. I've been on the forums nigh two years now reading these people who contribute so regularly. You get to "know" them so to say. George is not one to dip his nuts in honey and then candy coat them. He says it down right. Get used to it. He's blatantly forthright with his information and speaking of his information.....have some of you out there in Candyland realized the incredible amount of help this Roof guy has GIVEN? SO WHAT if he doesn't speak in daffodil language, do the ones who DO speak in daffodil tongue get criticized? NO. I think that is being prejudiced. And doesn't THAT sound stupid? YES.
People immediately assume, that to come out with a to the point comment such as "Professional taxidermists don't "stuff" anything any longer. We mount. If you want to be a professional and talk (especially on this site), it time for you to use the right terms before you worry about how much to charge.", it's cause for upheaval. Why? It's a lesson in professionalism as I see it. George told us like it is.....and especially to the beginners, do you think they will call it "stuffing" anymore? I bet not. At least they will THINK about it first, if they are true in heart taxidermy "professionals". That statement is a tacky one and it should be shamelessly stressed to get rid of it, as it was.
I think so much is lost on this forum, because people are reading their insinuations as to what the tone of voice the TYPER is using, rather than seeing the incredible wealth of information that was unselfishly relayed to us. This is TPYE WRITTEN WORD guys and gals. YOU are TAKING as being rude and arrogant, when in reality it is the "style" of the writer. Toughen up your skin and get a more positive attitude when assuming what emotion the writer is typeing out, without the facial and body language being visual. And if it is a tuff and gruff-nitty-gritty-response-down and out basic-remember-this-lesson-response, well....tough love!
Kids out there reading this, good luck to you and stick with mounting animals if you really love taxidermy. You will find alot of help on this site, thanks to Ken Edwards who runs the forums. Think positive when reading all the information answered here and go ahead and use those Language Arts and English skills you're learning in gradeschool and highschool when you type out a question or response. It's good practice. Too, don't expect things sugar coated, that ain't the real world and never was, and it won't get you any further in life.
And lastly, gosh this is entertainment isn't it folks?! LOL This turns into such a Soap Opera sometimes! Lastly, if someone on here bothers you and you just don't like to read them....THEN DON'T! OR just don't respond! (Thats how I deal with "smiling"...LOL)
I thank all you regular contributors who spend your time answering our questions and share your knowledge with us who can really use it. I really hope this site is never taken for granted, because it sure has helped me out tenfold. Thank goodness you all have a unique style of personality and of the written word, otherwise it'd be SO boring! And thanks for caring enough to even bother sharing with us, ESPECIALLY when you are criticized for it.
And hopefully, I have made enough spelling errors and grammatical errors to keep "smiling" busy for a few hours!
Great job Contributors! And a very sincere thankyou, to all.
the we-todd-did one! I laugh EVERYTIME I read it. It gets me EVERY time!
How is it that when someone really NEEDS our advice and answers, we are OK, but if they are just sorta asking advice and dont get just the answer they expected, someone from the peanut gallery has a bitch, and we are NO GOOD? One minute you are helpful, then ego problems cloud your name. Isnt that funny? Why dont all these thin skinned folks get off THIER ass and answer all these posts? Yes, guys like you and I dont answer as much as we used to, thats one way to get folks to use the archives. But some folks ONLY complain or stir the pot, and SELDOM add anything positive. George, answer the questions with your stern approach, just as my father and grandpa used to. Thats the way it used to be, and that was the better way. Nowadays we must pamper and coddle, and NO, I wont. Stick to your guns. You ARE right, my friend. TBaker hit the nail on the head with the anger management idea. People just love to jump into the fight (sorta like I am here...lol) but it serves no purpose. Hey guys, if you are really so thicked skinned, and we are THAT abrasive, go get your free lessons somewhere else! To those of you who DO get it, hope we can help you more in the future, and even laugh at each other a little.
i think you overlooked something George didn't answer the ? .
he preferred to correct Patrick's terminology.i think thats where
the burr came from.
The question Patrick posed was the same as "Have you stopped beating your wife." There's no way to answer that question. I charge $12 an inch but I've been doing this forever. How much do you charge? Do you really think Patrick can charge what you do? If he can, he won't need to ask. If I tell him $3 an inch since he's a beginner, how many people are going to be screaming like raped apes? Of all these answers, Marc R gave the only valid one up there. I don't care how you raise YOUR kids or how many you have. If the WORST thing they find on this internet is me raking someone over the coals, you'd better be in church on Sunday thanking God for that miracle. At least they'll see in the real world, blowing roses doesn't cut it. Whether you give them "time out" or "times UP" is on you. I do know that this past two decades have led Americans to be the only people in the entire world who believe "being nice" will make the world a sweeter place and that correcting the problem place "psychological stigmas" on kids. I can only pray that generation never leaves America to see how the real world operates. For that matter, I hope they don't leave Kansas cause, Toto, its a brutal world out there.
you directed your post at me. mabe you didn't think i should have an
opinion. what i meant to say, i thought you handled Patrick's question
wrong
The style George chose was to get him on track first, then try to encourage a dialog. Im quite sure that would have resulted in the answer he wanted. By the way, did anyone notice that Patrick hasnt had a problem with this, either way? Please dont say we ran him off, as not EVERYONE has such thin skin as those above. I think the correct answer has been out there all along, archived and otherwise. Charge what you have into it, plus your overhead, plus your time. Hopefully that figure is one that is comfortable to ask!
This response submitted by George Roof on 5/18/99. ( georoof@aol.com )
Gentlemen, gentlemen!
I've only been stuffing things for the last 40 years, but somewhere along the line I did pay attention in school. What we have here is much ado about nothing. Use your dictionary's instead of the spell checker on your computer.
Continued sightings of two bird species. The PA bird (pompousis, assisis) and the PD bird (primis, donnasis) have found a home at the taxidermy.nest.
Both colorful strutters, their raucous cries (Me! Me! Me! I'mmmmm Greeeaaat!) are designed to attract attention for no apparent useful purpose.
Easily recognized by anyone EXCEPT THEMSELVES!
Given to driving away other species.
i'll say it first. squawk all you want to, but i thought your species bawked as in the by bird (barn yard) BAWK, BAWK you didnt leave your name BAWK BAWK....BAWK..BAWK
can i be the red one.