Has anyone tried casting a Balistics Gel mannikin to make the finished product more soft and pliable (say a rabbit in a wolfs mouth)
or would that interfear with the wear of the rabbit pelt
I'm toying with making muscles and other softer parts with Gel (over layed over normal foam mannikin) to give the final product a NON cement feel
anyone got any thoughts ?
Charles
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Taxidermy work should only be touched with the eye anyway. The animal isn't soft, so what's the purpose to be served in making parts of it supple and soft? How would you ever adhere anything to the gel?
good point bout the touching, but everyone knows that they are invariably touched. unless ofcourse they are encased in glass
when i said soft i should have said fleshlike
as for adhesion ,the gel has the consistency of a Gummy Bear or those soft worm like fishing lures ,with some tryal and error,would be a good substitute for flesh and will accept any kind of glue you would need to use,commonly i use black or brown urethane rubber for glue (windsheild rubber)
to me Taxidermy is an art form ,where the REALNESS of our work is the main objective ,so many times i've looked at a good mount of mine then when i touch it the sensation of concrete disapoints me
as for cost ,well ,with most people ,if money is a problem and they want a 5000 mount for 2000 then i just send them somewhere else .I won't do bus. with people that i may not get paid from anyways.
i think the cost may not be insurmountable when it comes to REALISM
i think i may try it but the double casting will be a pain ,i have no rabbits on hand ,but i do have some coyotes maybe i'll try one of them
anyone else got any input before i take the plunge ?
A few years back, a dear friend of mine died of Pancreatic Cancer (one of the fastest, untreatable types known) and he insisted that his funeral be closed casket. He related, "Nothing is more stupid than people standing over an open casket saying,'Doesn't he look so good'. HELL NO he doesn't look good, he looks dead."
Well, that's a fact of life in taxidermy as well. Once you get past that you have Billy Bass and Buck the Stag, or animatronics. I guess they're "art" as well, but I still prefer that Leonardo's work stay on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. I have enough problems keeping the eyes tucked and Apoxing the lip lines now.
BTW, just for info, Ken Walker used "Carcass casting" years ago. He filled the mouths and covered the heads with RTV and let it cure. Then the animal was left to rot in the sun. When the deteriated meat was washed away, the teeth and the hair stayed in the RTV. Then he cast the void with casting material which imbedded each tooth and hair where it belonged. When he peeled the RTV off, the hair remained in the cast and he'd created a plastic gopher with real hair and teeth. Not many thoughts are original, are they? LOL
Ken calls it "Slip Casting" and he's set to demonstrate it at the Nationals in Billings this summer.
The cement-like feeling, that you are feeling, is the dried hide paste adhering the skin to the form. Even if you cast in a polymer tha's soft, the hard hide paste will make sure you always feel a hard-feeling mount. Each time you touch a "soft" mount, you are flexing the hide paste which will eventually ruin the detail and pull the skin from the form. (making it look even more unrealistic/more dead). Without using "slip casting" or no hide paste at all, the mount is always going to feel hard. If you want stuffed 'real' animals to play with, soft (garment) tan the skins, then stuff them with polystyrene beads.
i'll have to reconcider maybe
again thinks