I screwed up the wattles on a ringneck and they look real nice if I was makin bacon! Now since George was kind enough to tell me not to trim the shrunken edges and rebuild with Apoxie Sculpt is there anything I can do to save this mount? Can I use artificial wattles and cut off the already dried mounted ones? Should I re hydrate? If so what is the process.
Thanks you all!
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You're too late in the game to add anything else I'd think. Use the Apoxie and then imbed a towel in the surface of the putty so you have a roughened surface to paint. I just don't see how it won't be noticeable after the fact.
Take a piece of deer skin (tanned), Shave it VERY thin. Cut the hair very very short. Paint it Red. Cut it to the shape of the wattles. Remove the old wattles, check the fit, and glue them in. Good luck. Mark
You *probably* could rehydrate them again, but it's risky and is still going to be a hassle. They are nearly impossible to split from the outside. Your best bet might be to trim off the shriveled parts until both sides match, touch up the edges, and then just treat it as a fall or winter pheasant which would naturally have smaller waTTles. (not waddles)
Spltting pheasant wattles takes a lot of practice, and I still have a few words with some of them on occasion ... even after doing bird taxidermy for several decades.
You *probably* could rehydrate them again, but it's risky and is still going to be a hassle. They are nearly impossible to split from the outside. Your best bet might be to trim off the shriveled parts until both sides match, touch up the edges, and then just treat it as a fall or winter pheasant which would naturally have smaller waTTles. (not waddles)
Spltting pheasant wattles takes a lot of practice, and I still have a few words with some of them on occasion ... even after doing bird taxidermy for several decades.
THANK YOU!