I was wondering if i could inject pheasant wattles with super glue and make them hard. I figured this would stop shrinking but i dont know!
The bird is not mine so i need help.
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Wattles are fatty, they need a bit of spliting and a bit of fleshing out. What I have found works very well, is to gently split them, flesh and over build the wattle area with clay, then when mounting you can run a modeling tool around the edges this looks like a full and fluffy wattle. then work the rest of the head details in.
Pheasent hads are a good plce to use the real skull.
Get a good reference book on the birds and you to can figure this out.
and fleshed for the best results. I too then sculpt in wattles on the skull. Once the skin is back over the head, mold them to the clay, and if need be sometimes I will run some caulking through the eye opening to plump out the rear of the watter behind the eye. This will also help to smooth things out.
Keep in mind, that if you flesh the wattles properly, and you do not rebuild them back with clay/caulk.. something, then they will dry very quickly and shrivel and look like crispy bacon. Thats more or less why I use the caulk, to ensure that the bottom edge is filled out nicely.
Also a properly fleshed wattle will dry very chalky pink. If in a couple weeks time, the wattle still appears almost as red as it was when you mounted it, then it isn't dry yet meaning it wasn't split and fleshed in it's entirety, as it continues to dry, it has the chance to shrink and curl.
Jon