I tried to turn a green head lastnight and the head ripped off the skin. Is there a way to cut a relef cut or something on ducks...this is my first try on ducks and don't want to screw up another. I was doing it like a Phesant but now I know that isn't the way. Any help is great.
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You "turn" a ducks head as soon as you put the skin on the mannikin. Turning it anytime after that risks the skin having dried and what happened to you will happen again. The skin has to be WET in order to pose it correctly. That doesn't mean the FEATHERS have to be wet, but the skin sure had better be.
make a cut on the top of the head about two inches and remove the skull from there .
most ducks have to be done this way because the head is bigger than the the neck
I assume you use the real head? If you use a repo head you skin from the bill back and never cut the skin on the back of head.
Mark
Sorry to be this dumb...so do you cut the 2 inch gap starting at the top of the head and down the neck bring the skull out the gap instead of turning the whole thing inside out? thanks
cut on the side of the head bind the eye down the neck. I will do this
on a flying mount on the wall side. i have only done about a dozen ducks. my sewing is not the best therefor my feathers did not lay the way i liked so i cut on the blind side on most. the answer to your question is yes if you are using the original skull.
Jt, like the others said You have two choices with waterfowl. Either take the head out from the front or make a cut to ge the skull out. Don't pull stitches too tight when sewing. Just pull the skin together. Send me an e-mail or call and I'll talk with you about it.
Tony Finazzo
909-886-8640
JT-Mark had I think the most valuable advise here. Rather than using your ducks real head, try a cast head available from most suppliers. That way you can make an incision around your ducks bill and pull the skin back down the neck. A precast head eliminates cleaning the real head, shrinkage and allows you to paint the head before you put it on so you won't get paint on the feathers when you paint your bill. Give them a try the end results will be very pleasing. As for a relief cut on a real head, the feathers are longest on the exact back of the head so you can hide your sewing the best right there. Don't overlook videos and magazines, they can be your best source for getting started the right way.Keep at it!
relief cuts are the way to go, however, I would incise on the throat area and not on the side or back of the head.. just makes more sense to me.
Take small presice stiches to sew it up and you'll never see it.
Jon
I read "turning" in its truest sense I guess. I've never, in all these years, heard the head being skinned out referred to as "turning".
On them Green wing teal I make a cut from the ear hole down just big enough to let the head out. Do it on the wall side. I learned this from Sally Dhames on her vidio. My first birds were a pair of teal. I don't do it that way much any more but it is another way of getting it done.Wet the feathers along the incision while stitching up. It helps a lot and don't pull tight on the stitching. If your not good at sewing you won't see it like a throat cut will.