I was starting to ponder the idea of using the artificial septums on all my deer mounts. I currently only install them if the customer pays extra. I use speed septums for all my commercial work. How many of you use them on all your mounts?
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I show the clients the viens with a flashlight. most of the good ol boys that know nothing about deer are sold on that! Most other taxidermists in my area just fill up the nose with wax, at the most epoxy sculpt. I think it helps as repeat clients ask if I still do them that way from year to year.
Tony J.
Gotta ask: WHY? Speed septums are almost an automatic. Now if I were going to use a competition set up (ain't happening), I'd use an artificial nose with the septum built in. But Speed Septums? They're an expected part of a good commercial mount and I considered that part and parcel to my work when I decided on a price to charge.
I don't like the look of the speed septums, they look cheesey, especially the ones with the bright veins. I use a cutting dremel bit and a long drill bit to shape the interior of the nosrals properly. I cut them five inches back into the nose. I tuck in lots of nostral skin, about one inch. When the mount dries, I finish the interior with Majic Sculpt and then airbrush it. It takes me about 1 hour in total of nostral work, but it's worth it to me as I have been told by many experts that my nostrals are very good looking.
Mike, please don't tell me that you've installed those septums with those "cheesey..bright veins" backwards. A dear friend of mine called and remarked the same thing. She'd installed them BACKWARDS. The veins go towards the center of the nose with the spider-webbing spreading out towards the nose tip. When installed properly, the Speed Septums only show a subdued pink appearance and make blending the flesh colored Apoxy much easier if the nose is routed out correctly. I use less than a half inch of nose skin on my nose interiors because of this. I use plenty of hide paste and pin them down overnight. Next day, I pack the nose cavity with plastic freezer wrap (paper towels work but oftentimes get glued in as well and make a mess at clean up) which pulls easily out after a week of drying.
I have never actually used them myself, but I did see one (I know now) installed backwards and it looked awfull. I have also seen some that were done correctly and in my opinion they just didn't look natural. I just thought they were different options available. In all cases I could clearly see the juncture where the plastic begins and the nostral skin ends. I do understand that using the speed septums would speed up the mounting process and for that reason I understand why people use them. It makes good business sense.
George, what I was trying to say was I use speed septums on all of my commercial work but was thinking of just raising the price of my mounts 75.00 more and cutting the nose off the form and installing the full artificial septum.
i cut and then rasp my nostrils deep. use lots of skin and then apoxie sculp. mix up some red with flesh and paint inside of nostrils and looks great when done right. who goes up to a mount and puts a flashlight into the nostrils except in competition. with the right depth and color your nostrils will look great with limited time spent.