I have a chicken skin full of feathers, very pretty, but should I tan it or borax it? It is boraxed already, I wanted to mount it for practice. What should I do? Can I rehydrate it as it is and mount it? Or should I get some krowtann and throw it in that?
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I used the searhc and had many opinons, but if I just use borax, how do I rehydrate without causing spoilage? What is the best preservative, DP or 20 minute tan, or liqua cure. What process should I use?
Simply because they're too thin. A chicken skin, however, has a much larger problem: grease. Ever eaten baked chicken and still found the skin greasy. Well, same with the one you have now. You can mount them reasonably well if you degrease them heavily before you DP them (or borax if you prefer).
Are birds line mammals where they can lose feathers if they are mishandled or gotten wet? I read that I should get the fat off as you suggested, by using a wire wheel then washing in dish soap, like dawn. Is this advisable or is this a mistake and will make the feathers slip out like the hair on a deer?
Feathers will fall out if you leave the skin too long in a soap that's too strong. Feathers and hair are similar in their structure being held in place by the epidermis. Strong soap (high pH) dissolves protein and the skin is certainly protein as is the fat that you need removed. I use the 20 minute rule. I never let anything set in soap or bleach any more than 20 minutes. If that doesn't work, then I repeat the 20 minute rule only once more. It's worked for me so far.
You have been so helpful and I really appreciate it. I just have one more question. After the degreasing and washing, what do I use to stretch it over the form? Do I do it wet or do I borax it then do it? thanks for your help!
When I finish washing them, I spin dry them in my shop washing machine, tumble them in corncob grit, blow them out, mount them and then pose them with my bird blower backblowing the feathers.
Thankd for the advice! That really helped fix alot of my questions, I'll copy and paste this. Thanks again!
Gina,I imagine a soap that is very basic meaning high PH could cause the skin to break down. I find leaving a bird skin in (Dawn) soapy water over night really brings a lot of luster out in the feathers. It also give the soap a chance to break down more grease. If there is any blood in the feathers it helps break it down also. I leave all competition birds in soapy water with a little bactericide over night in the fridge (not my wife's fridge) Your real enemy is bacteria.
If you keep the water very cold (fridge) Bacteria won't multiple very fast. I wouldn't recommend more than one night though.
I was looking through Van Dykes and found that you did one of thier eagle heads. Do you happen to know where I can get a pair of RIGHT and LEFT eagle feet? I have looked everywhere and they only sell right side eagle feet...thanks!
And since Dawn has such a low pH (8 versus water at 7) I do have a question about the refrigeration. Soap with pH that low isn't very effective in degreasing. In fact that's why dishes are washed in warm to hot water which allows the soap to act as a surfactant as well as a degreaser. It would seem that whatever fats it removes would be difficult to wash out the next day. Do you have any trouble getting that grease to wash away?
I wash the bird two or three times and rinse in between. Most of the degreasing is already done when I put the bird in the fridge. The first wash is done in pretty warm almost hot water and than cooled pretty rapid in a cold rinse Than a regular wash in cool water. If there are signs of grease another wash takes place. There is a taxidermist in California named Randy Huffman that is very good with bird grooming. His birds always looked shinny and perfectly groomed. He told me about soaking over night years ago and I have noticed a diference by doing it. I couldn't tell you the chemistry of it. I do know Dawn is the best degreaser I have found and I think others would agree. If it weren't for chemistry I probably would be a Veterinarian right now. I started out to be just that and settled for being a Biology and Phys. Ed. teacher. I never failed Chemistry. The "C" i recieved in 1a and 1b told me Chemistry was not going to be my forte. A quick change of major and the rest is history. I started taxidermy at fifteen and have never stopped . I'll be sixty Sunday.
I should have cast the Eagle feet when I had the chance. I got to mount some Eagles for the Forest Service years ago and I cast the heads. Than I got a larger one from a friend that did one for his Fish and Game department. There may be some Pewter feet available through a carving Supply Co. but I don't know for sure.
George suggested the puter feet too, but nothing larger than a red tailed hawk. I wonder what size difference they have...I need something that is at least (like and eagle) the width of 4 inches, back talon to tip of middle talon...
BTW Happy B-day!
On easter no less!
If you have some good reference and measurements. You can get them from the closest Natural History Museum. You could make a copper foot. Solder it all together and cover the frame with Magic Sculpt. It is still the strongest modeling epoxy. Do it in a few layers and texture the top layer with scaler detail. I assume you are doing a re-creation?
I know Michael Vaden has some Eagles that are legal to have. Non indiginous African type Eagles. You might be able to buy one and cast it's feet. He could tell you which would be closest in size.
Do a google search on his name or search the archives for his e-mail
I went ahead and asked him, I will await his reply. I hope he has a set. I found some pewter ones, but they were 1/3 sized. I cant believe that they are so hard to find! Thanks for you help everyone! Im still trying! LOL
Thanks for the heads up on the overnighter. I can't imagine anyone's birds looking much better than yours do.
I have also done what Tony suggested on occassion, even back to the mid-1980's. When you use a mild dishwasher detergent, it does not damage the feathers anywhere near George's favorite cleaner. High pH products run the risk of actually dissolving the barbules that hold the vanes together - especially in places like the underwing coverts.
The overnight soak also works well to loosen up the partially dehydrated tendons on bird that weren't packaged well when obtained from the collector.
It does seem odd that there isn't a manufacturer of artificial eagle feet as they are not that uncommon in museum collections. Gina, if you do visit a museum to actually look at the feet, look for one with pickled eagle feet - i.e. an alcoholic specimen of an eagle. Old Taxidermy mounts were often not injected with any material to plump them back up, and they shrink greatly. The Field Museum maintains an older inventory of anatomical specimens in Museums on the US and shows that at least 5 have fluid specimens of eagles. If the closest museum doesn't have one, attempt to estimate the live size by comparing a photograph of the feet to certain proportions such as of the claw to diameter of the toes. Actual feet function much better than a photo, but you must adjust for shrinkage.
Happy Birthday Tony. I still haven't had the owls transferred to my collection yet, but when I get them, I'll try and copy a few bills. My silicon is a bit old - do you know the shelf life of the white silicon with blue or red (thixtropic) fixatives?
Six month shelf life is what most manufacturers say. I don't usually have it that long, but I have had some old stuff that I used to make waste molds and I didn't think it would ever harden but it did, four days later. You can ruin a master if you take it off too soon. Been there and done that. It's the catalist that loses it's potentcy. I think the rubber will last much longer. Thanks Steven give me a call if I can help out.
Tony
909-886-8640
I have a mold that I made from some eagle feet a few years ago. I haven't pulled a casting from it for a long time, though. They are posed to be perched on a rock.
Do you still have them? Any pose is good enough...
I'm not sure if it went through or not. I got an auto response of some sort.
Anyone emailing me will get that, I get the email, but it is to detere the spammers. I hate spammers! LOL Sorry!