WHat is the best method for making and wrapping your own bird bodies?
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to use jewlers hemp. It's easy to work with and has great results. You can buy the same stuff at a crafts store,it's called excelcior. Sorry If it's spelled wrong, you still get the picture. You can also purchase a good dense foam out of one of the supply catalogs. LOL.
Get some excelsior made from ASPEN...aka POPLAR and soak it in hot water until it gets like spaghetti. Drain it nearly dry but still soft and wrap your bodies tightly out of that. Now let them dry. You will end up with a rock-hard body that will take pins and will lock in your wires a lot better than foam.Just a tip from an oldtimer who still does them this way..lol. Good luck, JL
Tell you the big secret if you wanted the body real firm but I will. Shellac it with amber shellac after the excelsior is dry. Keep the original body frozen for reference and size .
The above materials all work well. The process is seen by some to be less obvious. You start with a small roll of the material you choose the approximate length of the original body. I make a drawing of the body first so I do not have to save the original. Then wrap with tightly string going around the roll and lengthwise. Keep building this roll until you have the aproximate height of the original body tapered on each end. Then using the same roll method start adding material on both sides for the breast continuing to wrap with string very tightly. Once this is done move to the hip area and add mateiral for the hips. It is important to identify the "belly side" and the "back side". It is also common to have to use your hands and "shape" the wrapped body as you go. It will take a lot of string. Once you have the body the approximate shape, I use a large needle and sew the body in the area of the shoulders to make places for the wings. The tighter the body the better. It will take a little practice but you can produce a fine manikin this way. Good Luck
Guys, do you think it would be eaiser to make a cast from the body than wrapping your own? Then you are sure everything is ok. As you can see I have not done it but was wondering?
Rob
If you want easy just buy them. I still cant figure out why some people still wrap bodies. I understand it if you have a bird that they dont make a body for but in most cases you can buy them. If you are trying to keep your costs down use the time that you would normally use wrapping for somethine else more productive.
... I prefer to wrap bodies versus buying foam forms, or for that matter versus using "free" foam forms. I've wrapped bodies for 30 years and can make a tight and proper shape body in just a few minutes. I've also seen others attempt to do so and fail miserably. I prefer a wrapped body because most birds are very fatty and as good as you can remove the grease there will always be some residue and the wrapped form will absorb that and the foam will not.
Breck has a good point. Using a wrapped body will have a whicking effect. I personally just use a smaller body and pile the borax just in case I didn't get all the fat off. Generally speaking the little bit of fat you leave on a bird if its done correctly will never leak through unless the bird is displayed in an unusually warm area such as close proximately to a heat source or in direct sun light.
...that's the average summer temperature where I live and the morning lows are in the 80's, and if we get a heat wave we've seen temperatures reach 118 - 120+ and since that's when most people take there vacations and the a/c is not on, I don't want to take any chances and have it bleed fat and ruin my reputation. Besides all that I enjoy wrapping the forms.
I like to wrap my bodies too. I think I will try wetting the excelsior next time, because that sounds like it will work very well. Even if you like to use foam bodies, you should learn how to wrap anyways, just in case you need a body and don't have a foam one on hand. Everyone who already posted has basically outlined the process, so now all you have to do is start wrapping:o)
Wrapping bird bodies with 4-ply cotton twine, and super-fine woodwool, aor fine excelsior, is the ONLY way to go. With the cost of store-bought, foam bodies, what? Five, six, seven, eight dollars apiece?, I can wrap, a large mallard, in less than four minutes, complete, and I've spent about seven cents! The bodies are tight, hold wire well, easily positioned, alterable, and will absorb excess moisture,,you can dampen them so the bird skin dries slower than normal for good taxi work.....Why cast? Before you have the plaster mixed from the bag, your body is wrapped! Why purchase? You must have two or three dozen on hand for the bird you desire at any given moment within your work day, you can wrap a body before you even pick up a catalog and dial the supply company number! You also, in most cases, have to "alter" a premade body anyway, I've not found the perfect store bought body, and the "average" mallard, isn't so "average". By taking a bit of time and learning to wrap, everything you need is right at your fingertips, within your studio, to produce the finest mannikin available, and, very, very inexpensively.