I know this is George's favorite topic, so I thought, I would wake him up. I was sitting around bored tonight, so I went to the archives and started reading old post. In a spray tan thread, John Creger asked about any experiences with the longevity of this product. No one ever replied. Seems like the post was a few years old, so I thought I would re-open the thread. How are the spray tan mounts holding up? I called a friend of mine, who I have mounted several deer for in the past. I asked him about a particular deer and what it looked like currently. He said, it looked like the day I mounted it. I asked him about colors and had him pull on the hair in different places. He told be it had great color and was fine. Then he told me about a mule deer I had done and it was yellowing around the lip line a little. The deer I asked him about was spray tanned seven seasons ago. The mule deer was a commercial tan and about 5 years old. I am not currently using spray tan anymore, but I am really starting to wonder why not. In a span of 4 or 5 years, I used it religiously and never had a single problem. I just couldn't overcome the thought of preserving, instead of tanning. Any longevity stories.
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deerheads for another shop, I even did a few for myself.
One thing I did find out is use it exactly as the directions tell us.
sodium chloride is not a good substitute for Bens other chemicals, you will experience slippage!
I know it work well on short haired deer, and in the future when I start mounting up my new mounts for the showroom I will try it on a few long haired deer.
I even mounted several deer at the orginal shops direction of shave the hide and spray the tan on, let sit over lunch hour and while prepping the form, then mount again I used the 2 part table top coating Ben is selling for hide paste.
I feel its better than dp by a long ways, not as good as the Auto-tanner can do. But far better than some of the tannery capes, i.e. yellowing as you mentioned.
I will be doing a few small mammals with it in the future.
I will also be using KROWTANN-2000 on many small mammals
There is a place in the shop for every type of tan. It give you total control of the skins.
For larger studios with enough work for several people, it could well produce a goodly amount of money.
Hey its better than dealing with teenagers! Are you still coaching?
I have experienced spray tan for quite a few years. I am really, more interested how everyones spray tan mounts are holding up.
After 14 years, I gave up my coaching duties. Now I teach 5 1/2 hour a day, then come home and work in the shop. (hunt) Believe it or not, taxidermy pays more. With three young boys, I had to give up coaching, so I could spend more time at home. Luckily, the shop is 25 yards out the backdoor. If I would have taken Yox's advice several years ago, the kid count might not be so high. (That Unique Men Club)
I take "longevity" with a grain of salt...literally. In 1958, before I could afford the fancy magic powder that J.W. Ellwood sold, I mounted a squirrel and a bobcat with SALT. Just salt, nothing else. The squirrel was a black fox squirrel and it looked as good (bad) as it did the day it was done when it burned in a house fire nearly 30 years later. I saw the bobcat about 10 years ago, and it still looks as grotesque as it did in 1958, but the hair looks good on it. I think longvity depends more on care than it does on what went into or on to the skin. Just my thoughts, however, for whatever it's worth.
my first pigeons 35 years ago were put together with salt also , (jc elwood drop out).I have deer mounted from 1960's seam open maybe half in in back little cracking round eyes and lips. but NO HAIR LOSS.So much depends on the way the mount gets cared for, everyone thinks that it's the tan. I have clients that put tanned mounts in there frozen cabins then heat em up to 200 plus degress over there fireplace. Not even my Wilson 400 dollar leather jacket would last long. I use a tan, have moounted thousands and I mean thousands of whitetails with dp even borax in all my years. And they still come back. there's a lot to do with the care humitity and other factors. In all my years with dp and tan. dp mounts well taken care of ,well I agree it's not a tan but it will maintain a good mount. Now go ahead shoot me, look first www.artistryofwildlife.com go to whitetail artistry and write me back tell me which ones are dp and which are tanned? there is a place for a lot of different psroducts in this business, don't scorn a product by someones words, different enviroments call for different applications...
Where the mount was hung, did sunlight shine on it through a window, was there a heat source near, humidity, skill of the person using the tan(s), glue used,(yellow dextrine is notorious for bleeding yellow color through thin skin like that around the lip line). There are so many factors that it would be hard to have a real comparrisson without duplicating/limiting the other factors.
DaveT
Trust me. I fully understand all the variables invovled with the climate in which a mount resides. The 7 yr.old spray tan deer is in a gas station that is not controlled climate. Its condition, looks better than the DP'd heads, commercial tanned heads, and liqua tanned heads. It is my test pilot for spray tan. So, if all these stories, mine and my above friends, are true. Why is there such a big fight over what is right or wrong? George? 1958? You are showing your age to all these young pups. Be careful. People are going to think you're set in your ol' ways. Anyway, I still don't have anymore examples of these spray tanned capes holding up. I know George has no idea, because I begged him to try it years ago. It took forever, for him to quit using skulls, 2 x 4's, carpet tubes, excelsor and what ever they used in 1958. You know I am only kidding, George.
nice website Dennis. You do nice work.
LMAO. You got me. And I DID try it ONCE. I used DP for years and I'm one of those hardheads who still doesn't always pickle before using a paint on tan. Lord help anyone who relies on MY advice. But I continue to say it ain't the brush being used, it's the artist's hand who's holding it that matters.
You last line says it all.
But George, rub-in tans without a pickle, this is a taxidermy sin. You will be punished by the highest (whitetail) judge in the land. Get him Bill. HA HA Oh, I forgot Bill is using a rub-in also. We will have to turn this over to the highest judge in all Arkansas. Get'em John C.
I've been a long time reader of these Forums, but this is my first response. I mounted 2 deer heads 6 years ago using Ben Mears Spray Tan. One in my Game room and one for a buddy. They both look like I just finished them. I inspect them quite often looking for problems. I have not experienced any problems with the use of Ben's Spray Tan, just follow the instructions and use a good hide paste. I have tried several different tanning methods, but keep going back to Spray Tan. This forum has been very helpful in my work. I would like to thank everyone here who post information to help other Taxidermist.