I have been doing a better job on my deer. After they are dry, I rebuild the nodules on the nose with modge podge and finish with liquid crystal. The color seems great without any paint needed. My question is ó will the nose pad keep this color over the years since it is sealed or should you always paint the nose?
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What you are currently doing is leaving your customers with a typical dead deer nose. Live deer(and life like mounts) have a softer colored nose. Good photo reference will supply the necessary information you need to accomplish this color. The rest of your method is good.
what if by chance your finished nose without paint matches your reference? I remember reading an article in Breakthrough and Mary Coombs won her state competition with a deer finished this way. If your tanning process and oiling can produce a realistic nose, why paint it if it looks good? If it is sealed after it is dried, it should retain its color unless your customer hangs it in the sun. But I have only been doing this 3 years, so I couldn't tell you about longevity. Good luck.
Not one of them has had a truely black nose. Usually more of a pinkish dark gray(it is a hard color to put into words).
With over 700 Deer Heads mounted to her credit...sure she can shed some intelligent life to this subject...since she also raises Deer as well.
~ ETCC
Actually, I think the number is closer to 650 deer I've mounted in the last 9 years....(first couple of years I only mounted about 50 deer each year).
I must differ with Old Fart, though. We only have 4 whitetails right now, but at least two of those have very black (solid black), shiny noses. They were bottle-fed, so they'll eat out of your hand. One of the others has blackish shading to dark grey. I'm not sure about the big buck...can't get as close to him. Being that he is a "Northern" deer, and has a more red coloration than our other deer, he may very well have a more brownish nose.
A customer once told me he didn't think deer had black noses. I showed him our deer. He was surprised. Maybe it has to do with the part of the country they are from. These southern Missouri deer usually have pretty dark noses. I have noticed several variations in their body color, though. Have had some almost blonde colored, the dark "blue" ones, and ones with a lot of red coloring. The more reddish ones usually have a more brownish cast to their noses. The blue ones usually have the blacker noses. (Similar to dogs...the brown noses are often seen on certain color variations of dogs, such as a liver/white dalmatians.)
When painting a customer's deer's nose, I use the deer's natural coloring as a guide. I usually don't use a totally black paint, but more of a paynes gray/black/brown mix to give it depth, shading lighter towards the bottom of the nose.
At the 1999 World, a taxidermist from Ohio(?) and I were discussing the deer mounts. He wanted to know why so many mounts had gray noses. He said he'd never seen deer with noses that light, that they were basically black in his area.
Sooo, use your best judgement. Maybe you can find a deer farm in your area to study them. There are usually deer on display at the major shows, too. (WASCO had a neat display, with deer and bobcats.)
Study freshly killed deer, although the noses change/dry quickly. And always remember, nothing is nature is as though cut out with cookie cutters to all be just alike, be it people or deer!
my turn. If photographs will stand up as evidence in this court, then
I would have to call each of you correct.
This kinda reminds me of the Indian fable where three blind men are
describing an elephant by what they could feel, one was feeling the
trunk, one was feeling a leg, and one was feeling something else....
Each person has described what they are familiar with. I went back
through a number of my reference photos to make sure I wasn't "seeing
things". Some of you are aware of the fact that I have a number of
whitetail photo reference disks. I went back through those to be sure
that I did indeed have photos representing the different nose colors
discussed above. They are there.
The pigment mellanin is a genetically influenced pigment, in this part
of the country, it will show up as the expressed characteristic for
the greater part, but still, here and there the "unique gray" will show up.
In my files, I have a number of different nose shots of the same deer
at different times of the year. Needless to say, different temperatures and humidity levels were present. The amount of moisture on the pad will give a different appearance to the degree of
"shine". Higher temperatures and exercise will relax the capillaries
under the nose pad, giving that pink color around each of the nodules,
which is the most obvious in the gray variety.
The disks are available through WASCO, Research Mannikins, Van Dyke's,
TaxidermyReference.com, Hilton Eppley Forms, Quality Taxidermy Supply,
and WHITETAIL DESIGNER SYSTEMS. You can check out the most comprehensive descriptions at www.whitetailsystems.com, and you will
see that noses were not slighted in regards to reference photos.
I was editing photos and got bored and decided to check up on you guys. There is a photo department here that is printing 8 x 10's for
less than two dollars each. I'm taking a number of pictures there tomorrow for printing. Figure the cost of a disk with the number of
photos, take that times two bucks.......hmmmmmm, you can't do 'em
yourself that cheap.
GLEN - ONLY from YOU...Elefunt man...LMAO.
VICKI - Well done. I quoted '700' heads because fur Lady's...I like to see 'Rounf Figures"...LOL.
Okay now...for those having trouble Coloring Deer Ears...could you illucidate on that topic here?
~ ETCC
If I don't paint the nose and only seal it, will the color of the leather stay the same over the years?
It will depend greatly on the "quality" of the seal. I would use a different sealing practice, but you didn't ask for that.
I've heard of people doing that and it worked for them. Seems to me I even heard that tip in a seminar somewhere and/or read it in Breakthrough or Taxidermy Today.
ETCC...think I'll let the archives answer the question on deer eyes...
=)
Think ya needs to clean the cobwebs outta yer Blue Glint Cyclops Glass Eye gal...Deer E-A-R-S...not eyes...LMAO.
~ ETCC
Hey, it was late. I'd seen a previous post asking for help on eyes, and guess my tired brain(?) thought you were refering to that.
As to the ears, same answer....LOL!
=)
bill yox paint schedual in this issue cant be beat! easy fast effective, you can even deviate to your liking. as for your original ques. you will just have a sealed dead deer nose in my opinion. best wishes