hi, just wandering if anyone here has ever mounted an ostrich before and if so what tanning methods did eveyone use and how do you feel about the mounting process? thanks
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I don't recall the precise tanning method, except that it involved some sort of acid and a lot of salt. (I didn't do that part of it.) It may have been formic acid, but I'm not sure. Anyway, I believe the skin was pickled rather than tanned. It worked fine.
The mounting process was a pain because NOTHING fit and I had no measurements of any kind to go by. I visited an ostrich farm to get reference, which helped, but not a whole lot. The fact that the client wanted a specific pose was somewhat of a challenge but, since the whole form had to be re-sized, a position change was minor.
Trying to get the salt-dried goo off of the skin so that it could be pickled was probably the worst part of the whole ordeal. That, and the skinning cuts which went every which way across all of that naked skin. I think if I were faced with a fresh one that I could skin with hideable incisions, and MEASURE, that it wouldn't be so bad. Also, there are some better looking forms available now, and they come in different sizes.
Nancy M.