I mounted my first bird over the weekend. Its a standing pheasant. Could you kindly take the time to copy and paste the url's to examine the bird and give me a critique on what i may have done wrong. I have not painted the beak, wattles, or legs yet since i mounted it on Saturday. What is the best way of painting the wattles? Ive heard of sponging them or should i airbrush them. Thanks Oh and by the way i made the base myself out of wood, wire mesh, mache, elmers, and dry dirt.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/foxtrapper123456/1st20pheasant20broadside.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/foxtrapper123456/1st20pheasant20quarting20towards.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/foxtrapper123456/1st20pheasant20dead20on20shot.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v248/foxtrapper123456/1st20pheasant20side20shot20of20head.jpg
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matter of fact... I think it just might look better than my last bird mount too. joe
Matt, You are on your way. A couple things to look at, Your shoulder(scapulars) are too low, your neck is taxied to far back, your feet could be a little closer in line and your neck body union is a little rough.Did you use reference? Did you use caulk in your neck, head, under scaps etc...? I believe pheasants are very tough to pull off well and few people do so . For your first one you did one nice job. My best, Jim
did you use to clean/degrease the feathers?(They look great, that's why I'm asking).
I used reference for the most part. Thanks to all who replied. I used acrylic latex caulk on the head, neck, back, but i should have placed some in the wings. I did degrease in coleman, washed in dawn and tumbled in fine grit. I believe grit makes the difference from a shiny bird to a dull bird, wouldnt mount a bird without tumbling it. What do you mean by neck is taxied to far back? Thanks, the caulk is still moveable so i will make some adjustments.
iv'e yet to do a bird mount ,would be very pleased if it looks as good as yours.
refers to how you set the neck skin. you can pull the skin forward (towards the head) or back (towards the body). Most birds that I have done have needed the skin to be pulled towards the head. If you use a reference photo, pick something specific (like the white neck ring, and pull the skin whichever direction you need to so that that point is in the same spot as in the picture. I found when using a foam neck that If i swab a little dish soap on it, that it slides much easier and allows you to move it. certain poses require you to move the neck skin more than others. say a duck mount where it is preening with its head turned towars the rear, or a resting duck. Otherwise the bird looks VERY good for your first try. keep at it.
Now i understand what you mean by that. The caulk is still moveable so i went back and pulled the neck skin up. It looks much better. Thats what i kind of thought i had to do cause when i looked at reference, the neck (white ring and above) looked like it was closer to the head. Cant wait to paint him and display my first bird.\
Thanks to all of you.
Hands down, you are a natural! Your bird looks great. I especially like how everything lines up to a tee. You should be proud of yourself, and keep on doing birds. If this is just your first one, I bet you'll be entering competitions very soon:o)
Becky