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Looking To Improve Please Tear These Apart

Discussion in 'Bird Taxidermy' started by Kostyniuk-outdoors, Jan 25, 2021.

  1. Jan 25, 2021 #1
    Kostyniuk-outdoors

    Kostyniuk-outdoors Alberta free and proud

    37
    85
    Edmonton ,Alberta
    Just getting back into taxidermy after about 10 years of not practicing and consider myself a total beginner. These would be approx 18th and 19th ducks ive done and first 2 done since 2011 so im very rusty.

    The mallard. ok- theres about 100 things wrong with it and im not happy with the result. neck too skinny/too long. wing postion, chest postion, wrong. First project in 10 years and I made the newb mistake of not having my reference in front of me while mounting. This was my biggest mistake 100%. Early season pin feathered bird that lost feathers if you looked at funny. over fleshed and the skin basically fell apart had to sew about 8 large tears (2 inches long on average) in skin after over fleshing it. Then looking at feathers I can tell I didn't rinse it long enough in clear water b4 drying. overall im "ok" with it for being first bird in 10 years and 18th total bird. but I can see a ton of errors and learned a lot of "what not to do" End of day my friend that shot it likes how it looks so that's good I guess. But I don't like it. If theres anything I missed in this paragraph let me know please.


    The Buffie. Done 2 days ago and still drying. Night and day difference here. mounted with reference actually printed out and hung above workbench as I did it and im actually 90% happy with it but know I can improve. Things I can see wrong now is body appears too long as I didn't carve a deeper slot in front of form to allow neck proper s curve to seat down. But fleshing went well zero holes and I rinsed it after soap about 8 times to make 100% sure feathers dried nicely. Like I said im 90% happy but please tear it apart as I do want every mount to improve and my goal is 2 years down the road to open a shop. so lots of improving to do.


    Thanks in advance for all advice guys!







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  3. Jan 25, 2021 #2
    killitandfillit

    killitandfillit Member

    48
    5
    Zero holes in fleshing I think I need lessons from you.
     

  5. Jan 25, 2021 #3
    Kostyniuk-outdoors

    Kostyniuk-outdoors Alberta free and proud

    37
    85
    Edmonton ,Alberta
    Considering I just about tore the mallard into pieces lol idk. The buffy though was so nice to flesh. Scissors and a metal bristled toothbrush took me about an hour. Same method on mallard but wow
    .. the amount of tearing that happened at 4 points I was tempted to toss whole bird in garbage. Must just be the difference in skin between divers and puddle ducks.
     
  6. Jan 25, 2021 #4
    killitandfillit

    killitandfillit Member

    48
    5
    Them dag gum mallards.
     
  7. Jan 25, 2021 #5
    killitandfillit

    killitandfillit Member

    48
    5
    Definitely difference in skins. Divers always seem to hold good but the mallards and pintail seem to want to be a pain. As far as the birds go they don’t look horrible the neck seems thin on greenhead I’m sure others have more to say. I’d say just keep at it and study the carcasses of the bird. I prefer to keep my head connected to the neck after skinning. Then I can use it to mock as build my neck and head junction.
    Also I mount my head and neck as the first step after wire in the hide (wings legs). This affords me the opportunity to get a very accurate next length and Diameter. Furthermore to me I find it easier to set my eyes and glue the skin around the bill of ducks. Toy with this once or twice. Once I tried it as opposed to the way I was thought I was happy with the results and found it easier to work the neck and head not to mention I could get a stronger head to neck connection.

    The main thing don’t be afraid to experiment their is a thousand ways to skin a cat and a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. Keep up the good work you got this.