/ Register

  1. Welcome to Taxidermy.net, Guest!
    We have put together a brief tutorial to help you with the site, click here to access it.

pintail bill color...help

Discussion in 'Bird Taxidermy' started by Ittybit, May 28, 2010.

  1. May 28, 2010 #1
    Ittybit

    Ittybit Member

    345
    0
    IL
    Just started my taxidermy business this year and had 14 deer without any complaints. My son took up duck and goose hunting and has given me a wide variety to do...problem is he has also gotten me several customers. I have been upfront and honest with them that I am just starting to do birds. I have been reading the forums all week and can't believe the amount of help I have already gotten. Here's my problem. I have 2 woodducks drakes, 1 mallard drake, and 2 teal hens under my belt. I am starting on a pintail but I am having a great deal of difficulty getting the blue color right. I have 3 DVDs I have watched and several books and references..the DVDs are Stefan Savides "Mounting a Flying Waterfowl", Joe Kaiser "Mounting and Finishing a Flying Pintail" and "Painting Waterfowl Bills and Feet". I still can't get the color right. The Pintail gray is just too dark...I then tried to add a little blue..that made it worse...should I try a different color or maybe add some off-white? Please help. I will try and post a picture of my good woodduck later this week...the first one came out OK...but I was very unhappy with it and spent the whole day before I did the other one with my references...the second one came out very well in my son's opinion. Thank you so much for being here and helping us beginners!
     
  3. May 28, 2010 #2
    laruebcasino

    laruebcasino Member

    117
    0
    Try using some diver grey instead of blue...it is lighter than pintail grey and will help lighten it up a bit
     

  5. May 28, 2010 #3
    Sitting Duck

    Sitting Duck Member

    370
    1
    Ft. Worth Tx.
    Ittybit, there's a color" French Blue/Grey",by Liquitex, Acrylic. This color is so close to the color you need for the Pintail you really don't have to do much to it if anything. I bought it at Michael's, or Garden ridge might have it.
     
  6. May 28, 2010 #4
    trophybirds.com

    trophybirds.com New Member

    692
    1
    north alabama
    i use polytranspar wigeon blue on mine over the whole bill.then black it in and finish up with a good coat of matte modge podge.
     
  7. May 28, 2010 #5
    Ittybit

    Ittybit Member

    345
    0
    IL
    ;) Thank you all for the help. I used the divers gray with a few drops of sailfish blue I had on hand....I had gotten the bird paint kit from WASCO. I personally think the color came out pretty much like the pictures I have...thank you...thank you. I will look into the other paint when I can....we live in the country and in order to get to a hobby shop it takes an hour. The nice thing though is we live only 3 hours from Research Mannikins so I get most of my supplies from them. If I can figure out how to and get the time I will try and upload a picture when I'm done.
     
  8. May 29, 2010 #6
    alan webfoot

    alan webfoot New Member

    2,821
    2
    I mix all my own but diver grey or widgeon blue are a good choice ,,a pintail ''blue '' is so pale its almost nonblue if that's a word
     
  9. May 29, 2010 #7
    mark11

    mark11 now accepting new wholesale clients

    973
    0
    mt gilead, ohio
    alan is dead on, there are a lot of colors out there that can come close and you can get by with them, but learning how to mix and match will put your work a notch above the competition. find some good live reference pictures that you like and get some clear acetate sheets, start playing around with your colors and mixing and paint this on the acetate that you have placed over the reference picture and then see how they match up, take notes on the mixes and it won't take long till you are guessing very close on the first try or two.

    mark