followed all the direstions from Breakthrough-rubbed head all over with a tooth brush to rid of epidermal flaking then painted the whole thing. -anyways the paint stays on good but you have to handle it gently -because if you accidently scrape any part of the head the paint will come off. any ideas on this. could i use super fish sealer over the paint job. thanks.
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If you spray a sealer over a freeze-dried head, it will stick to the little hair-like feathers and look like crap. What I do is I paint them, and then mount them. If there are any scratches, I touch them up when I do my final cleaning of the mount.
I ALWAYS seal my freeze dried head. ALWAYS. Then I paint them with lacquer. Once they are dry, I then seal them again with semi-gloss artists "fixer" in a spray can. Once it dries, I take a tooth brush and brush the hairs. Then I take black mascara and touch up the hairs on the head. Never EVER had any problems with the hair "looking like crap". To paint any skin on any animal without priming it is much like putting an egg in a Teflon pan. There's nothing in the pan to hold it and it's going to flake off at the least little bump or bang.
I have done a lot of turkeys. While they may not be world class, my commercial birds are good enough to win Best of Categorys at the state level. I have tried and tried to find a way to seal turkey heads with a spray. I havent found it yet.....and neither has anyone else that i have met.
I think James is right. After you spray as many coats as George does, and then glob mascara on top of it......your fine (nearly invisible) hairs are going to look more like pubic hairs with chunks on them.
If you really want to seal your turkey heads......here is the way Harry Whitehead does it for world class results. His turkeys are second to none.
Thin down matte finish Mod Podge with water until it is at a paintable consistency. Then, with a very small brush you slowly coat the entire head (AVOIDING THE HAIRS AND FEATHERS). It dries clear and with a nice fleshy look. I have tried applying a coat before painting to seal the head....and after painting to seal the paint. It works. But it is probably too time consuming for commercial mounts.
But PLEASE, don't try to tell me that a waterbased acrylic is thinner than lacquer no matter HOW THIN IT IS. Lacquer will not stick to hair aggressively and by simply brushing the hair, it flakes off. After you've painted your head, use a baby brush as I do, and you'll see there's no matted hair. What little residue is left is easily covered by the mascara.
i would never try to say that water based acrylic is thinner than lacquer. i never said it in my first post, and i wouldnt say it now.
the key to the whole procedure it to apply the sealer with a very small brush and AVOID the hairs.
maybe there is something about your method that just doesnt click with me. but i know most taxidermists have tried it...and it didnt work for me either.