Molding and Casting Artificial Bird Heads

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

Thanks yet again for the great info, taxos!

I have a couple of pheasants coming that I want to try casting the heads on. I figure since I am learning everything, and all aspects of bird taxidermy are new to me, what can it hurt to start out by learning how to cast my own heads right from the beginning? After casting, I think I may even try to clean the skull, and leave a bit of it attached to the original beak. Then, I will reinsert the beak into the mold, and use the actual beak combined with the cast head. Is this a good idea?

For my first duck (when I get to that point), I was thinking to use a cast head, including the cast bill, that first had the lamellae removed. I then intend to use the real lamellae, replacing them on the artificial bill, as so excellently demonstrated by wingman in his thread "Wing 'Tips' #23: Lamellae 'Transfer'".
http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php/topic,46407.0.html

It has been asked by Turkeyman04, and I also wonder, would this casting method have satisfactory results on casting turkey heads? Has anyone tried this?

I can't thank you all enough for the tremendous amount of information, inspiration, and help provided in the posts of this forum! After extensive study of the information so generously shared here, I actually have a bit of confidence that I may be able to pull off a successful self-study in bird taxidermy. I hope so at any rate. And if not, I am sure the fault will be mine, and not due to a lack of resources provided. The info is here, it just takes some searching, and occasionally asking to get it.

Thank you,
- Dave

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

ok i will
-thanks

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

Just want to say thanks for doing this again Jeremy. Right now I am in the middle of casting my first bird head. I got a swan in and the bill was pretty much still fresh so I figured what the heck lets try it. I know in the back of my mind then if something goes wrong atleast I can find a head for it. Any how so far the only thing I can see wrong is I got White silicone vs clear. Not too big of a mistake. Any how will I have to make a small cut on the underside of the head to get it out ? Thanks Again

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

Fantastic tutotial! I'm going to try this out!

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

you do rocks and logs same way mark c

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

Totally nominated this for the (hopefully coming sooner than soon) Tutorial Category Jeremy. This is VERY helpful & I'll be doing a couple next week. Thank you SO much for taking the time to share your methods with us!

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

Thank You for the wonderful post. I will have to try it out. Have you ever done any open mouthed Pheasants? Thank You Mark Binnebose

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

OK so like I said I gave er a try and this is what I got. I got 2 rather nice Tundra Swan heads how ever on the 2nd head it kind got stuck and I got a little eager and ripped my mold which is fine I plan on sometime paying the big bucks for the RTV Rubber and cleaning up the better head and smoothing it out and making a Master mold. Any how here are a couple of pics the camera didn't like the plastic. Also I used the Smooth Cast 300 cant believe how expensive it was $25 for a Pint kit next time I will get the bigger one.

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

Yeah I got in a hurry I pulled the 2nd head pretty much right after it turned hard. It was late and I was wanting to see if the 2nd pull was better. (I had a little bubble spot) Also I wasn't sure about using the lube in the casting part so I didn't use any since I didn't know if it would effect the Smooth Cast or not. Any how I would rather clean the 1 up and cast the master mold again anyhow the other is going on the Swan. Next time I will do something a bit smaller

Ps I don't know about you guys but I screwed a screw to the back of the head to pull it out easier.

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

hey Jeremy, I trie to cast a fowled up repro duck head that I had laying around the house and the silicone stuck to it like glue, I had to shave it off piece by piece with a knife. I followed your instructions word for word step by step and even let it cure for two days instead of one. What went wrong?

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

Anyone tried turkey heads? I would like to for decoys for myself. Would be neat to learn and play around with. Also My 6 year old wants all my turkey heads so I could make and paint them for his room.

 

Re: For those that want to try to cast heads but havent yet.

Jeremy, read through your post again, didn't know you had to make the cut down the sides, but Ialso read where you said that the silicone would not stick to anything except glass and something else that i can't recall right now. I sprayed the head with a good coat of release agent and like I said, I had to pry it off in little pieces. Are you saying that the head I tried to cast might have had glass on another product in it so you would have trouble making a cast?