I am going to use Envirotex for the first time and plan on putting a wood duck on a stump in a pool of water. What type of material is needed to simulate the bottom under the envirotex and how does a person go about doing it ex. sand or mud?
Return to Bird Taxidermy Category Menu
Newmyer's video available from WASCO, its old but filled with all the info you are looking for and more.
Whatever you use, make absolutely sure it is bone dry all the way through! If you use a dirt and white glue mixture it may take 10 days or longer, but that will make a nice underwater surface if you give it enough time. Very dry dirt mixed with catalyzed resin should be faster, but I would still give it 2 or 3 days.
Suggestions ... use a dark colored mud or dirt. (You can actually use any color and then airbrush it.) Shade it darker in the center and around the stump to make it look deeper. Float some "duckweed" on the surface. You can make it from tomato seeds dyed with green food coloring and then blotted between paper towels. Let them dry completely. If you let your first pour harden and then pour a very thin coating over it before adding the duckweed it will look like it's floating. (If you try to put it on a deeper pour it will sink to the bottom.) I like to stick in little points of interest for those who are curious enough to look ... like a little snail shell, some filament algae (green dyed cotton strands) or some such thing.