hanging mount

I have a customer that wants his mount hanging from his ceiling. I want to know how i can make the mount do this? Thanks alot

dp

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What kind of mount?

I suppose it is a bird in flying position? If so, its easy to do. Find the balance point and push a wire through the back of the body so it extends at breast side before sewing it up. Then bend and push it back in and eventually secure it with hot glue etc. Sew the skin and card etc as usual. Now you can form the wire on the back to a loop and attach it to a string. The only thing is the balance point. Be sure to place the wire right, so the finished bird hangs at the angle you want it to.

balance point

whats the easiest way to find this? but yes i want it flying or coming in. thanks

dp

Mostley toward the neck union.

The body neck union is going to be where you start. Or in my experience thats been the place.

Use more than one wire.

Using at least two wires allows you some flexibility in the position or angle of the bird. Your balance point is much easier to find and work with, especially with bigger birds.

Finding the balance point

....is the same as finding it on a fish mount. Take a piece of one inch pipe and put it on the table, now place the bird's back on the pipe and move it back and forth on the pipe till it balances. Thats the balance point.If you want the bird pitching down move the attachment point to the rear of the bird if you want it climbing move it foreward. You can use the same system to measure for a right or left banking bird. Best incision for a cieling hung bird is a dorsal incision. Good luck..JL

one thing to remember

If you are mounting a Giant canada goose or tundra swan once the head and the neck dries out your ballance point will change a bit. This has caused some problems for me in the past. You either want to use more then one wire, or use a heavy enough wire so that it is strong enough to be bent either forward or backward to change the attitude of the mount. This will also be a problem if you use the original scull apposed to artificial, because the amount of clay used in the original skull makes the head even heavier until dried. Make sure the feathers are completely dry before you attempt the find the -B- point. I just use the heavy long wire so I have something to work with once the bird is dry.

One other thing is wiring the wings. This type of mounting requires the wings to be wired to thier full length,(dont cheat on big winged birds) or the feathers may droop down. I also place a wire out of the bird just above the legs to support the rear portion of the feathers until complete drying is achieved. These wires are removed once the mount is dried.

Hanging,

Heavy mono fish line works great if you use two wires, but if only wire one is used the bird will spin with very little breeze. If only one wire is to be used you will want to loop the end and put a screw into the ceiling. Or, maybe you want it to spin slowly.

I did 6 hanging snow geese this year for a guy. He has them hanging from a vaulted ceiling. The top geese are wired directly to the ceiling with a screw, and the lower ones have two wires with fish line.