Update 2/18

Yeah, this is going slowly.    Basketball.

She's working on getting the rock base ready.   The sharp corners of cardboard are for her to get some more angular looking edges on our "rocks".    Not sure how well it will work, but we will try it.
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The goldeneye project is coming along well.  

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In on this one.

Wow, Nice work so far-I love goldeneyes. Can't get over how much they look like giant buffleheads.

Update 2/26

The base continues to get worked on.   We found a new paste to use in conjunction with the burlap strips.  It's called Fast Grab.   It is a little more rigid than the hide paste, and half the price.   That's good news.

My artist worked on getting the base set up so we could install, and tighten the nuts on the form to the base after it is complete, but still hide it in the rock.  She made a small pocket inside the bottom rock, where we can attach the nuts to the form stud.   That way it can come off it it ever needs be, or be tightened if it gets spun loose.  The pocket won't be visible to the side or in front, just when you get up close and from slightly behind.

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Here you can see up inside the pocket she formed.   We didn't think attaching it permanently would be that great of an idea; especially if it comes loose at some point.  
She still has to do the inside of the pocket with the burlap and paste.
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Update 2/28

She is waiting for more of the burlap casting to dry, so today, she set the horns to the skull cap.

First, we figured out exactly where the natural mate up of the horn and the skull come together.  We marked that, then drilled a small hole in the back of the horn, through the skull.  We can run a small nail through this horn after we put on the bondo, so we get the same match up.

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checking the fit with the nails before we put the bondo on there.
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Mixing up the bondo.  
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I think on the Big Horn, we did this the opposite way, but this time, I had her put the bondo on the inside of the horn, instead of the bone skullcap, so we wouldn't make a big mess and get it on the outside of the horns.   It worked pretty well.   We go t a little much on one, but the excess cleaned up as it squirted out.  I just had to help, by using my weight to get the horn all the way seated.   This is where the pin holes really paid off, as we knew exactly how far we had to push.

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Waiting for it to dry.
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Cannot wait to see how this turns out.

Update 3/1

I forgot to post this yesterday afternoon.   My student spotted this in the horn and didn't know what it was.    It's a G&F plug they put in to mark the horn set as a legally taken animal.   I also think my dad told me they take the core plug and use it to study the sheep, similar to the way they would study tree rings.

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Update 3/3

She's got just a bit more to do with the burlap, then she can start the texture.

I'm liking how this is turning out.   Nice shapes for the rocks so far.  
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Here you can see the little hollow area where we can attach the mount.
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My student is gone again for Basketball so here are a few things going on besides the sheep.


My taxidermy unit is now fully underway, and it's getting a little crowded in the 3D room right now.
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Last bird is now on this set.
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Damn,you guys are probably about out of wall space by now. Any chance we could see a little more on the bucks?

The work you have your kids doing can be described by nothing short of awesome.

What we are doing(process) with the bucks is almost identical with what will happen to the sheep.    I'll be sure to explain and show all the details.     I might grab a couple photos of the deer septums the kids are making.  They look pretty nice.

That's a pretty nice whitetail rack. Was he taken locally?

Two white tails.   Both taken locally; both by students, or former students.    The one in front, and the one on the end.  The one on the end is pretty damn nice, but it looks even better on the tiny little form we are using.   They are using a much smaller and younger buck's cape.

I'll get better pictures of them as they progress.

IN!!!

Here are a few more of the other projects kids are doing right now.  

A deer going together today.
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This one went together yesterday, and was being tweeked today.
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This was put together Monday, and still being adjusted a bit today as it starts to dry.
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Update 3/12

Rock mix is going on.    State basketball interrupted till Monday.

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Looking pretty good.

More filler ......

Our first ever pig. He went together fairly easily.   Of course,the tough stuff is still to come, but it isn't bad so far.
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nice color on that hog

a friend of ours has a gigantic black boar on his living room wall
most pure form of black coat I have ever seen
looks absolutely evil

even attacked his wife once, fell off the wall and got her on the way down

Bloodthirsty, white murderers!

The level at which these threads deliver, for me personally, is epic.

Wish my school had programs like that when I was a kid. Awesome work. Your threads are some of my favorites.

Update 3/25

Some paint on the rocks today.    It is fairly dark compared to other rocks we've painted before, but this seems closer to the rocks in the photos.   We will see how it turns out.

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Incredible stuff , Guns



Lots of talent in that classroom

somebody post up sad otter and that fox sitting on the bench.

Agreed.  Great teaching leading to some outstanding work.

Update 3/31

The slowness of this is killing me.  

She is finally close to being finished with the painting, although it still needs some scuffing up on some of the stones.   Next she will begin work on the back of the form itself.

We at least are now planning a time frame for getting the hide on the form....   someday.
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Here are some follow up pics on the other students work going on right now. None of these are finished, and most are missing all of the finish work around the eyes, noses, feet, beaks, and mouths.

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okay I give... how in the world do you do a quail?

I can take the feathers off one in my sleep but uhhh not so much on keeping the feathers and feet and head in one mass together

Tag for another awesome thread

They are notoriously bad at losing feathers when skinning and mounting.    About half of the ones we try fail.    If it's skinned quickly after being shot, or defrosted, and cleaned, prepped, and mounted in the same day, they seem to turn out pretty well.    

About any of the really small upland birds are a pain in the ass for that reason.   I didn't think he was going to turn out, but he won't be too bad.    I had my doubts about the Hun too, but he turned out really nice.

Cool, ill follow

Update 4/7

Friday, my student finished up with the rock base and started on the back of the form itself.   This needs textured and painted before we can start on the actual mount.   That keeps her from messing up the cape with paint, glue, and plaster.    

She started by digging out some spaces on the back
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Next she glued pieces back on with bondo.   Today, she should be able to add some rock mix to the back and get it textured.
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Update 4/14

Some texture on the back was completed, and the horns were set in position on Friday.  
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In this photo, you can see why it's important to retain some of the eye socket on the skull cap.   It allows you to get the proper cant and set(front to back) that would be difficult with out it.
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Looking good.

Update 4/17

Wow, an amazingly long day.   Easter break starts tomorrow, but several of us will still be at work.

My student showed up early today, and decided to skip the rest of the day so she could work on the sheep.   I thought it was a nice gesture, but didn't think it would really get us closer to finishing on time for next week.   I was wrong.  

Yesterday, my student got the form completely prepped.

The Bondo and plaster, blending the horns to the form.
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We had resigned that we probably wouldn't get this done for the State Art Symposium next Thursday, given we only have one day of school between now and then.   Yesterday, after she finished the form, she played with getting the blood stains out.


This had been a serious WTF question for us.   We've gotten it out of antelope with liberal use of Oxyclean.   We tried it again yesterday.
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It didn't even do a darn thing over night..  Today we decided to do some bleaching, even though we didn't know what we were doing.    

First, we worked on prepping the skin with numerous holes sewn up.   Here is the entry wound through the middle of the front of the neck, and the exit at the back of the neck.  
The entrance wound requires a football cut to remove any burned hair from the bullet.   If you don't remove it, it shows badly.   The football shape allows the cut to sew it without wrinkles.
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The exit wound was messed ip and required trimming all the way around and some angular cuts so we could sew it all back together.
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After finishing all the small holes all over the cape she visited with the local professionals about bleaching,as well as some research online.  
We started with a wet cape, even though it was recommended it should be dry.
You can see the blood stains all over the cape.
She mixed the bleaching paste, as per instructed over the net, as well as some advice from the local salon.   We are using regular salon quality product.  It's mixed to a shaving cream consistency.
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After an hour, it was turning out pretty well, except a fucking orange dot appeared.. We had to do a second bleaching after rinsing, shampooing, and conditioning the cape.   It got some spots lighter, but that darn orange spot on the back of the neck is still there.   Everything else was a very nice, natural white, and not too unnaturally white.


It was 3:00pm by this time, but I asked what she thought, and she said she could skip practice and keep working so she started putting the cape on the form.
Here you can see the orange dot on the back.   We figured we would spot bleach it again after it was dry, but was we worked through this, and it dried out a bit, it lightened and spread out.  
Here you can see how bad it looked.
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Here she is sewing up the back like crazy.   In three and a half hours she had it sewn, and we got the lips, eyes, and ears set.  
Tomorrow we will have to go back in, and she will pin up and trim the back.  
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Crazy long day.  

I nominate you for Teacher of the Year!

My dad was told the other day, the sheep would not be ready for the symposium, and he was a bit disappointed, and asked if we could take it next year.   It looks like we will have this done in time.    My student doesn't want me to tell him, as he was going to stop by the symposium anyway on his way to Cheyenne for a seminar.  

Should be a nice surprise.

Amazing work. If it was mentioned in the thread I missed it-that exit wound looks huge,what did your dad shoot it with?

I think I recognize the sling on his rifle.    I believe that's his Rem 700 in .338 win mag.    I think he was using a 215gr bullet.

ETA:   apparently, I already stated it was his .338 win mag.  .  It's been so long I forgot.  

Well, it's my first day off of my Easter break, but I'm heading in  to meet my student in about 5 min.    Hopefully, she can get it all pinned up and set in about two hrs.   I'll get some good photos of it today.  

It should be dry by Tues, and allow her to get it all painted up and ready for the show by Thursday.

Update 4/18

Quick morning.   She worked for about 1.5hrs and got everything set and ready to dry out.
Need to clarify one thing before you see the pictures.   Any coloring in the hair has been auto corrected to be more obvious than it really is.   Most of the coloring in the pictures is just reflections of light the camera is picking up and exaggerating a bit.

Here you can see all the pins in the lips and a little problem area where there was a cut in the lip, but not all the way through. We will have to fix that later.   There was a second similar but larger cut that she sewed up.
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Here you can see where the nails are tacked in to the scalp, and lifted up to the horn, then driven into the skull to keep the skin all the way up agains the horns.
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You can see the paper stuffed in the nose to hold the skin up agains the form till it drys.   We set the sheep on its side so she could cut the cape more easily on the back.
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The pins are there to keep the skin from shrinking away from the rock and edge of the form.    
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The front wanted to drum just a bit, or pull away from the form, so some thick carding and some pins will help keep the skin against the form till the glue drys.
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Update 4/18 part two

All that work on the back of the form, finally gets to shine a bit.
Here she's got it all trimmed up
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The orange spot is now a vague line just out from the top finger.
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It's more visible here, but in reality, it just isn't something you can see easily.   Most who see it in person will never even notice.
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The tear ducts on the sheep are kind of large and deep, so we stuffed paper and used a pin to help hold the skin stuffed in there.
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Looks like a small scar here.   Not sure what I'll have her do here yet.   We may fix it, or we might leave it.
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Finishing up.
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Hope so.   he called last night and it was all I could do not to tell him how close we were to finishing.

Cool. I wish I'd have gotten into taxidermy when I was younger.

Nice-let's see, a bighorn, now a Dall. How much travelling does your dad do? He needs a Stone sheep to finish the collection(if they can still be legally hunted).

My dad's a semi retired dentist.   He sold his practice, but still works three days a week.   He skis the other four in the winter, and hunts during the fall.    His drug addict, alcoholic, gold digging, trashy ex wife divorced him when he sold the practice, thinking he was never going to be worth more.   Best thing that ever happened to him.


He's been to Africa five times, and brought my brother and I along on the last one, in 2004.   I wish I'd been more experienced with taxidermy at that point.  We had them mounted there and shipped back.  My mounts from that trip are just commercial quality at best.    

If he ever goes back, I'm going to ask if I can do one or two.


I'm not sure about the Stone Sheep.    Not sure if he's going to go for the Grand Slam, and try for the Stone amped Desert Big Horn or not.    He hasn't talked about it lately.   He used to, 20yrs ago, but it seemed unreachable then.    Now, all he has is time and money.

Update 4/23  It's Finished.

Long hours this weekend, but she got it done this morning.

It's all loaded on the trailer and ready to haul down to Casper tomorrow morning.
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All loaded up in the trailer....
Yes the wolf is also in there, as well as his base.    It's pretty crowded up front.
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for you "Mounted In Alaska" fans, I found these tags on my dad's skull and cape.

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