whats the best way to keep the waddle in the position it needs to be. all the photos i have seen of this the waddles are hanging dwown. are they filled with clay. thanks in advance
bob
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Yes Bob you can use clay. Make sure you split the waddles all the way
and you don't need alot of clay. Just do a little testing and double
checking before you finish it up. You can put a couple small balls of
clay on the side of the birds skull and work it in as needed and actually
flatten out what you don't need. Atleast that's what I do.
Good Luck
John_NY
I use a plastic syringe with the curved plastic tip (can't remember where I got them). I set the eyes first and then fill thru the area around the mandible or thru the mouth if using the real head.
ks
thanks again for yoru help. i will add some clay on the next one. this one i will have to inject because its already sewn up last night. thanks again
bob
I fill my Pheasant Wattles with little balls of cotton; i like the softer look it gives me.
This is done though the eye hole.
Remember to waddle over and check them the next day ;ajust if needed.
All of the following are good ideas, but, first you must determine whether you are doing a commercial bird or if you plan to enter it in a competition. The way I would suggest, for both commercial and competition is to clean the head skin well, split and shave the waddles clean, do your head work as usual, sew the bird up, position, and then pull skin gently away from the eyes and fill waddle with critter clay through the eye opening. This will allow you to shape and control the size and shape according to your reference. I know many that use chaulk but I find that chaulk shrinks as it dries and really is not good for a competition bird. Cotton does not give you enough control over the shape to give you an accurate shape according to your attitude. Hpe this helps.
wattle-2 : a fleshy dependent process usually about the head or neck (as of a bird)
waddle-1 : to walk with short steps swinging the forepart of the body from side to side
2 : to move clumsily in a manner suggesting a waddle
once again the people of this site are a great help. thank you all.
bob
My new heads with internal wattles? You split the wattles like you have to do with any method. Than you put the head on, glue it up in the front. Use a ten cc syringe with tubing on it and inject a small amount of caulk through the eye hole. Just a little on top and a little on the bottom. This is not to fill and shape. It's to make the wattle easier to move around and get it in the right place. It also acts as a glue to keep the wattles in place. I've had students use them on their first bird ever and they came out great. If your interested, They are availabler from WASCO, Van Dykes, Trufit Hide and Beak, Dan Rinehart supply and our newest supplier Quality Taxidermy Supply. Also AAA in Canada