| Most people do not know what
goes on behind the closed doors of a taxidermy shop, so I am going to take
you "behind the scene" and show you a large project from start to finish.
 First,
a little background.
A taxidermist friend and I were on the
phone together talking hunting and taxidermy projects we were doing, when
he started telling me he wanted to do an awesome custom mount
for the SCI show in 2002. He said he had a life-size Zebra and maybe a
Warthog from a recent Africa trip he wanted to use.
After telling me he would take me hunting
and fishing after we had worked awhile, I agreed to help him with this
project. Boy, did he sink the hook. After 12 to14 hours every day,
I barely had enough strength to eat dinner, take a shower and crawl into
bed. |
Click On Pictures For
Enlargements
| First, the Zebra
was mounted on an armature in the position we wanted. Then out came the
anatomy books. Bones were drawn onto the mannequin legs that we were
going to alter. We wanted this Zebra leaping into the air off one leg and
his head turned to the left looking downward. We also wanted his front
legs bent because he will be leaping over the warthog. The legs and
head were cut in the correct areas and repositioned where we wanted them,
then sculpted back into place with steel rods for extra support. At this
point the Zebra's back leg needed to be supported with a piece of
1 1/2" cold-rolled steel. The area for the steel was marked onto the mannequin,
the foam was cut out and a template was made and taken to the welding shop. |
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Here we laid the Zebra form onto the floor
to insert the 1 1/2" steel rod that will hold the Zebra in the air
on one leg. The rod had to go all the way up into the chest area as it
is going to be holding a lot of weight in an awkward position. Than we
foamed the rod into the mannequin. |
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This is the Zebra after we completely
foamed it in and sculpted back the detail. The blue area on the back leg
is bondo. We decided that that area needed to have some extra strength.
If you look at the right side of the picture you will see the warthog.
Since this is a custom, one-of-a-kind piece, we are going to cut him up
and give him a different, radical pose. Also take note of the table on
wheels. This is holding a lot of our reference material. If you have
followed my articles or Emailed me, you know I stress a good taxidermist
must have good reference to put things back the same as a live animal.
More on this later. |
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The open mouth on the zebra was my project. The mannequin
was cut and sanded to accept the jaw set. It was then painted to
match the reference pictures we had. You can see one of the reference
photo albums in the upper left corner of the picture on the left. I decided
since this Zebra will be in a distressed pose that the tongue should be
raised to give that illusion. So the tongue was custom molded into that
position as you can see from the picture to the right. |
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This picture shows the mouth installed, all the finish
work done to the mannequin. I should note that the skin was test fitted
about 10 times and adjustments were made to the mannequin as needed for
the perfect fit. |
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Now that the mannequin is ready and after about 6 hours
of both of us sewing all the holes from the African skinners, tannery and
My friends not so deadly accuracy, we are ready to mount this Zebra. The
picture on the left is the start of the application of the special glue
that was mixed up for this project. The Picture on the right is pulling
the head skin over the mannequin. Now you can have a feel for the
size of this animal. |
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Here the skin has been taxied
to the correct position on the mannequin. The eyes, mouth, ears, etc. were
placed in the correct position that we wanted and a plastic bag was placed
over the head so the skin would not dry out too fast as we will need to
make final adjustments. You can now see we have the right hind leg kicking
outward and the left hind leg will be elevated off the base about
10". The steel will be covered in grass so it will give the illusion that
the Zebra has left the ground in flight form his attacker.
More on this later as the piece comes together. |
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The Zebra was laid down on the floor for easier access
to the sewing. The hide had to be kept covered and moist so it would not
dry out before we had everything in place the way we wanted it to dry.
The Zebra took about 14 man hours to sew. The picture on the right shows
sewing up the seam in the mane and me working on the mouth. |
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In this photo I am working in the final details into the
skin, like muscles, wrinkles, etc. |
| The Zebra is now ready to sit and dry. Every few hours
the mount will be completely gone over to make sure the skin is staying
where we want it and final adjustments are made as needed. At night before
we closed up shop we completely covered the mount with plastic so that
it would not dry too fast overnight without us being able to watch it.
You can also take note of the amount of reference we used on this project.
The large table on wheels is loaded with pictures, anatomy books, charts,
etc. Also, the one in the far back corner on wheels also has our reference
material. There was nothing done on this Zebra that we did not study intensely
before we did it |
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Now for the Warthog. We decided to do something extreme
that would show a lot of action. It was decided we would turn the head
and tilt it downward as it is looking at the ground (more on this reason
later). We also wanted the body in a slight "U" turn to the left and the
front half twisted. This Warthog will also be leaping into the air off
one leg under the Zebra. |
| Now you can see the piece coming together. The illusion
we wanted to present the viewers was a African Bushman throwing his spear
at the warthog whose body is trying to avoid the impact. His eyes are focused
on the spear as it is flying through the air and he is twisting to avoid
it. The Zebra is also fleeing from the attacker and has to leap over the
fleeing Warthog. The Zebra's head is turned downward and his left eye focused
on the Warthogs movement. Here we are holding the spear in the location
that it will be when the piece is finally finished. You guessed it. The
spear will also be suspended in air |
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Now we have the Warthog in the position we want.
I am test fitting the hide to see what alterations are needed for a perfect
fit. Again notice the reference book as we will need to sculpt in muscles
and other details that are not present on mannequins. |
| Now that we have the mannequin altered to fit this skin
it is back to the task of sewing. Here he is working on the face as I sew
up the belly and legs while cursing the African skinners. |
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Here are two views of the mounts after they were placed
together. Once again notice the reference pictures on the picture to the
far right. You can see the Warthog twisting his body to avoid the spear
and the Zebra needing to keep his eye on the Warthog as he leaps over. |
| This is a close up to show you the eye of the Warthog that
is focused toward the spear. All the detail you see on the face, neck,
and shoulder was all sculpted in by hand using our reference pictures. |
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The mounts are now ready to dry. They will be checked every
few hours to insure that all the detail is being retained. Adjustments
will be made if needed until the skins are completely dried. Then the finish
work will be performed and the base built. The animals will then be transferred
to it with the spear. |
No, I never
did get to go hunting or fishing.. He says come back; we will have more
time the next time...RIGHT.
If you are looking for a custom mount
or just a top quality mount please contact me.
Larry C.
Reese Wildlife
Artistry Taxidermy |
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