Elk hunter Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Last September I took my first ever sika deer and a roe buck on the same day off my lease in Scotland and promised myself I would mount the pair. Well as my taxidermy skills are improving and earning money I have undertaken the next step. 6 point roe and 7 point sika After speaking to my friend Wayne the taxidermist, it was time to continue my teaching so a couple of week ago on Sunday I went to start. I know how to skin and skin efficiently, but not good enough to mount. I won't bore you all the ins and out but it took me about an hour to skin the head off. It was very easy when the time is taken, but then the hard work is the eyes and mouth. As theses are the part very difficult to repair. Removing the head from the hide. Wayne skinned the sika and I copied it on the roe as the sika is one of the high lights of my stalking career, i did not want it messed up, hence Wayne did it. After the skull was removed I had to turn the ears inside out and open the lips up too. This was so the tanning solution get right into all the areas to stop the pins or fur falling out. I managed to freezer burn the ears which caused me some problems. Ended up having to soak them to rehydrate them. Got there in the end and thinning the lips out was very time consuming. To finish the day was salting the hides for 24 hr prior to the tan. The sika skin is being stored for now. Cape off. Ears inside out. After the bank holiday I went back to continue. Spent the whole day de fleshing the roe and thinning the hide. This involved using in effect a grinder to remove the excess material off the skin. This helps when the skin dries and sets, the thinner the skin the less it shrinks. Took me all day and my brain was fried, had to concentrate all the time. As it was far too easy to cock it up, nick here or there could ruin the hide. Thinning out the hide. Painstaking. I did a second day this week was all about removing cartilage from the nose, eyes and ears. Very intricate work with a steady hand. In the afternoon I just watching and took notes. As another animal was being built up with clay and mounted, It was a great opportunity to learn, plus help me do more myself later. Yesterday I returned to mount the skin to the form. Although it was it was a good roe, it's neck was not overly large. This meant the foam form was to large and I had to do some sanding with a rasp, keeping the shape at the same time. A good couple of hours went by before everything fitted. A case of sand, fit sand, fit again time consuming. Sanding the form. See if it fits. After making sure the skin fitted the form, the ears were next. I had to fill the ears and remould them to shape. If you have ever seen a victorian taxidermy deer head often the ears are all shrivelled up. Filling and moulding ect stops this in the long term. Again another time, labour intensive job, but worth it. Filling the ears. By lunch lunch it was onto the form. Inserting eyes and building up with clay. Way harder than it looks and Wayne made me perceiver. Layer after layer till enough was done to lay the hide over. Everything I'd done for the past two days and prior to that was coming together. Antlers fitted. Clay and moulding. Putting the skin over the form and positioning the eyes started to give live back to days of tedious work. Moulding the mouth, cheek and lips made it look like a deer. But sewing it back together was tough and fiddly, took an age. Fortunately while sewing the ears just seemed to position them selves. Wonky ear. All that was left to do was the finishing touches......mmm....its not easy to bring it to life. All in the eyes, that where the soul lives. Shaping, moving, scraping the clay under the skin, bought everything together within 20 min out of days of work. Ive lots of watching and tweaking over the next week, but the results speak for themselves. I have shoulder mounted my first roe deer and can say that I did 85% of the work myself under Wayne's watchful eye. I've a long way to go but what an incredible journey I'm on. Wayne has be so patient and a great teacher giving a little at a time. Over the moon with the finished head and have the upmost respect for the art of taxidermy. Andrew. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magman Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 nice job you've done on him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixie Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Good effort, good write up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_b_wales Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Very interesting, and well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Fascinating stuff! Impressive end result, well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mentalmac Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Very interesting read, welldone on those - look great :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul taylor Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Great job and fascinating to see the process, thanks for sharing 👍 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dob Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 So what's the next project? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobo Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 Fantastic,well done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malkiserow Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 excellent job and worth all the effort Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scully Posted April 12, 2015 Report Share Posted April 12, 2015 All looks a bit like the special effects department from 'The Thing' in the early stages, but excellent end results. Very impressive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackpowder Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Very lifelike a good job. Blackpowder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WelshMike Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 That is impressive, well done mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxy bingo Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 wow a lot of work goes into them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suffolkngood Posted April 13, 2015 Report Share Posted April 13, 2015 Give yourself a big pat on the back.....that's stunningly lifelike. Superb job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickB65 Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Excellant write up and very interesting.... I leanrt a lot from that...... thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garygreengrass Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 Very interesting and nice write up, Well done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunkield Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 So what's the next project? Fixing up that shed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted April 14, 2015 Report Share Posted April 14, 2015 That was some project, I admire your patience and the results are excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loki Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 Hi Thank you for sharing your early-days experience of a new string to your bow - the photos added the necessary detail to your description. That could hang on my wall very easily! L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underdog Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 Amazing. Your patience is also equally amazing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobbyathome Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 just an inquisitive question the foam form that you used do you buy them and sand to fit the skin? or do you take a mold of the head and inject foam and let it set? i take my hat off to you a fantastic job well done i would be well chuffed to be do anything like that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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