When can I take a break during the skinning through mounting process without damaging the bird by letting it dry out? Also, how long should a normal mount for a duck take?
Thanks!
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how long of a break? 10 minutes, 2 hours? if its skinned, washed, and tumbled, you can put damp paper towels in it the keep the skin side moist. dont get the feathers wet. if i have too much in my freezer, sometimes ill skin a bird as i get it and make my pattern, take measurements and freeze it before degreasing and the whole mounting process. dont let it sit around for hours.
What is tumbling. Is it when you put borax on it?
This is my first bird, and I don't know all the terms yet.
Son, taxidermy ain't like sex. The first time takes longer than the next. The first time I had sex, it was the happiest five seconds of my life. The first time I mounted a duck took days, but then I was only around 11 years old at the time.
A good bird man can do a duck in less than a days time, but there are steps involved that result in idle time. One may call them, "Breaks", I suppose.
Skinning is the first step. Skins may be refrozen after removal if need be........There's a break. Fleshing and de-fatting and degreasing are other steps, but they should be done at the same time. Again, the skin may be frozen if necessary after that, but I don't recommend freezing after washing and de-greasing.
Tumblers are rotating drums filled with corn grit or sawdust into which skins ready to mount are placed to accelerate the drying process and fluff the feathers. A properly prepared duck skin resembles a quality hand puppet after tumbling, with all feathers aligned.
Once tumbling is completed, the skin is best mounted at that time. Wiring and fitting an average duck skin on form can take from thirty minutes to two or more hours, dependent on position and attention to detail.of course there are always exceptions to any rule.
Once the skin is in place and the openings closed with stitches. There is an opportunity for a break, unless you are working outside in the Sonoran desert, before the skin is too dry for final detailing.
After detailing, and arranging the feathers, carding and pinning critical areas, the bird should be checked at least daily and tweaked as it dries.
Bird taxis all have pet procedures and methods that result in a final mount which meets with their approval. The steps outlined above are certainly not a, "how to" about bird mounting, but do include what might be termed, "phases".
I have mounted many ducks without the aid of a tumbler. Normally I follow de-greasing with a soak in a Dawn detetergent solution, and three clear water rinses. The rinsed skin is hung to drain off excess water before tumbling. (Some folks do not rinse after degreasing, but like I said, to each his own.)
In the old days, I used to slap the skin in a washing machine and run the spin dry cycle to get rid of excess water. (If you pick out any loose feathers from the tub after spinning, moms, wives or girlfriends will never know.) Following the spin cycle, I would wire and mount the skin and then use a muted hair dryer to dry the feathers from the base out, lifting and layering with a double preening needle until I was satisfied with the arrangement.
WASCO sells a lot of good reference materials re mounting birds. If you are serious about learning, you should acquire and study a number of those.
See ya