Well for a couple of years I have wanted to learn how to do taxidermy. I had bought kits and stuff but the instructions did not make sense. I finally found a guy that works with my dad and was willing to teach me. Well he helped and guided me through the bird and then I did the mud base and reeds on my own. I know it is not quite full plummed and it was an early season bird. So other than that what do you guys think?
My first shot at taxidermy
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When I first saw the bird it looked like he had his bill open because of the shadow. It looks good, something to be proud of for sure. Anyone can hang a trophy on the wall, but how many of them can say they made the trophy look as good as it does?
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It looks like it's staring at me. :shock:
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I'd say not too bad for a first.... looks better than what I've seen by some other guys that do their own. I hear you're supposed to hang onto pictures of or even that first mount, because as you get better, its fun to look back at your progression.
That looks pretty dang good. I started doing my own birds about a year ago. The major advice I always recieved was Reference, Reference, Reference. Some advice that I've been given on my birds is to make sure that the wings are tucked into the side pockets and pinned up enough. Also it took me a while to get the eye area to look right but I'm finally getting the hang of that. But it looks to me like you did a lot of stuff right. Also you can bend a wire in sort of a ? shape and put it under that tail to keep it up. Then card it while it dries. Keep it up though, you'll be surprised at how much you'll learn with each bird you do. By the way that base looks really good.
The base was fairly simple. I cut my own reeds out at farmington bay and hung them in my shed for awhile to dry. I then got paper mache mix from Tru-Fit. I died the paper mache with a die that I got at the local craft store. The key is just don't do it in the house cause it makes a huge mess and the dye is hard to get out of stuff. I did learn that I should pre build the bases before I taxidermy the bird so I can let the birds feet dry to the surface of the base, and I wont get the paper mache on the feathers cause that is not fun to clean off either.
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Not bad at all for a first timer! Do the research and pay close attention to reference and you'll get the hang of it in no time!
Good Job.
SD
Good Job.
SD
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What stuffinducks said.TagmBagm said:
Look at your bird and then look at a good picture of a GW Teal and the problems will jump out and hit you in the face.
Besides the obvious, (no paint on the feet, wrong color and size of eye) the more subtle problems are with the birds balance and stance. Looking at good reference pics will help you fix those problems in no time. Mount another one soon and fix the problems.
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