I am interested mounting a hooded merganser to be used as a carving reference. I have seen on peoples websites these mounts anchored with a wire (or rod) that is roughly in the shape of a question mark. My questions are, what type of wire and size do they use, and how do they get the wire bent like that. I know if I tried to bend a wire in that shape it would not look very good, and the wire looks to heavy to bend (more like a rod). Also how do you sew the bird up with the rod anchored in the body...it looks like it would be in the way. I am VERY much an amateur, but I have done a couple dozen birds. If you have any insight from experience into my questions, or any other difficulties that an amateur might not think of ahead of time with this type of mount your advice would be much appreciated. thanks
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What in the world are you talking about with the "?"? I mount my birds to driftwood. If they are standing/setting, the wires go down inside th legs. If they're flying, the wire is sharpened and bent in a fine "J" configuration. The sharp "leg" of the "J" is pushed through the bird AFTER IT'S MOUNTED. I push it in under the wings so the secondaries and body down can cover the show side of it. If you're mounting a show bird, you pick points of attachment to push the wird through during the mounting process. Example: A bird is to be suspended from a cattail. You push an longer wing wire through the wing bones all the way to the wing tip and mount your bird as usual. Then you use that wire in attaching it to a metal cattail or the like. This ain't rocket science, but occasionally you do have to think outside the box.
what I am inquiring about is a bird mounted for a carvers reference pose (I may not be using the correct terminology), but that is what I see them called. they have a rod coming straight up out of the base , then it is bent to the right, and circles back up and keeps circling until it is going left (like a question mark). unlike a question mark it does not curl back down, but enters the bird at the rear, and suspends the bird in a swimming pose that can be viewed from every angle. I understand how standing/sitting/flying mounts are anchored with wire. I just had some questions about this pose. Hopefully I have made my question clearer. If I am not calling this pose the right name, and anyone knows what I am talking about please add that. Thanks
are suspended in a number of different ways. The type you are talking about, for a bird the size of a hodded Merganser, I would use a 10 guage anealed wire. It may take a couple of trys, but you can bend the wire in the shape of a 'C" leave enough wire to bend the top of the "C" 90 degrees up and the bottom of the "C" 90 degrees down. The bottom can be anchored in a base and the top can be pushed into the belly of the mount. Keep in mind that the mount will eventually be able to move. A more stable way would be to anchor the wire in the manikin before putting the skin on. then sew around the exit point on the belly of the bird. Both methods work fine. Good luck