I'm going to have to pull a rabbit outta my hat this time. I just took in a mule deer, antelope, wolf (lifesize), caribou, elk, and a mountain goat. They were all mounted in the early 1950's. They came from a soming home and to top it off they were displayed over the fireplace. The worst one of the bunch is the mountain goat. He is black. I was thinking of mixing up some whiting and 20 base and leaving it on until it is dry enough to brush off. I do not want to get these guys wet. Any advice on cleaning him? I am also supposed to unplug their noses and redo the work around their eyes. I dremeled out the mountain goat's nose and found that the form is made of paper and after only dremeling it a small amount the nostrils opened up into a deep hole going into the paper form. Now I'm wondering if this is fixable. If any of you have any advice, I would appriciate it greatly. I have limited experience in restoration, but it seems like a profitable side of taxidermy.
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The last thing you WANT to do is the first thing you HAVE to do. Take all the backing panels off them, set them in the driveway, and hose their asses off with a good soap. If they dissolve, then your problems are over. Get new hides and remount.
The mountain goat especially needs a good washing. I HOPE YOU CHARGED ENOUGH. Mix a Dawn dishwashing solution and soap it down from top to bottom. Don't massage the hair, just soap it. Then rinse it off. Next, get some peroxide 40 wt with Basic White and cover the hair with this. Let is set for 20 minutes only and hose it all off. Take your hands and squeegee the water off. Then take a good hair conditioner and cover the hide with it. Repeat the rinse and squeegee technique. Take shop air and blow the water off the hide. Once that's done, let it set of a day and then take a hair dryer and a curry comb. Start at the bottom and back brush the entire hide. You'll be amazed at the results. Then rework your eyes as they'll no doubt lose their paint and wax finishing. Rework and repaint the nose.
Then you'll find that this is the LEAST profitable side of taxidermy. The customer is going to expect miracles at a cheap price. There's tons of work in trying to save old mounts and I stay away from them like a plague. It's easier to offer a "freshened" mount with a new hide than it is to clean old, crappy work.
You're undoubtedly dealing with PAPER FORMS. So don't let the water soak into them for any length of time. They were shellacked so if you make it a slam-bam-thank you maam operation you'll do OK.
Thanks George! This sounds much more daunting than I imagined! The goat is by far the worst, which is why I picked to do him first. I took a rag with some acetone on it and rubbed the chin. It is green from someone leaving copper to oxidize on it. I managed to get most of the copper oxidation off with that method. Hopefully I did not make my problem worse by doing that. And to answer your question, NO, I see now that I did not charge nearly enough. OK, this raises another question...
How am I going to survive this mess and keep what is left of my sanity?!
Chalk it up as a valuable lesson that you'll never forget nor repeat.
Copper sulfate? That rings a bell, but no one's home. Didn't that used to be used in leather work extensively? Maybe Bruce Rittel knows about that one. Too long ago for me to remember.
Nah, this is just regular copper like on the bottom of a pan. They let it get wet and it sat on top of the goat's face and turned that crusty green. I'm having a lot of fun with this one...