I do restoration of antique mechanical musical bird automatons. I know nothing about taxidermy but was pleased to find this forum. I am about to start restoration of a movement that is more than 100 years old. The feathering on the bird is in pretty good shape but is beginning to shed. Is there a product that can be brushed or lightly sprayed on the bird to prevent further shedding. The shell of the bird is hollow brass with gearing inside for the mechanics so I wouldn't be able to dip it into a liquid but could brush or lightly spray a solution on it. Also can anyone refer me to a legal commercial source for hummingbird feathers. Some of the small antique automatons used humming bird feathers applied over a brass shell. Thanks for any help.
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There is nothing that can be put on the feathers unless you are willing to have them look gummed up and matted. After 100+ years they may be close to disintegrating if they were exposed to sunlight on any regular basis. If not, they might withstand some very gentle cleaning. Chances are the glue may be breaking down with time, and if so, there isn't much you can do about it. It's hard to say without seeing it.
As far as I know, there ARE no commercial sources for hummingbird feathers. If you are in the US it is illegal to posses any of the native types OR their feathers. There might be a slim chance of finding a type that isn't native to the US, but I don't know of any dealers that sell them.
I have re-upholstered several vintage mechanical singing birds and I ended up having to use feathers and skin sections from a variety of cage birds in order to approximate the originals.
Good luck!
Nancy
Thanks for your input! You confirmed my past experience and years of re-feathering. I had hoped that someonelse might have a different approach than what I had been doing but sometimes there are no short cuts! Thanks again!