LEARN TAXIDERMY DVDsLearn Deer, Fish, Duck & Squirrel Taxidermy from Home on DVDSave $100's or Earn $1,000's! |
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All DVDs were filmed in a professional studio with great close-ups to show extreme detail. The Master Taxidermist shows you how to take the necessary measurements, proper skinning and fleshing techniques, form preparation, and the mounting and painting process. He shares all the secrets to get you mounting a Bass like a pro! This DVD is value priced at only $24.95 on SALE, regularly sells for $29.95. FREE SHIPPING!
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Fish Taxidermy without a doubt begins with
proper field care. If your goal is to produce the best looking mount
possible, make sure you start with an fish that has had excellent
care in the field. This will greatly effect the quality of the
finished mount. So you have caught a mountable trophy fish, what do
you do?
Never let the fish flop around in the boat or cooler
Place the fish on ice as soon as possible
When you get home, measure your fish to order supplies:
A: Gill Plate to Base of Tail
B: Measure width of the eye in millimeters
C: Measure around the fattest part of the belly of the fish
Wrap your fish in a very wet towel. This will protect the fins when
frozen.
Place in a plastic garbage bag, seal it tightly and freeze it at
once.
Fish Reference and Anatomy: To understand fish taxidermy you must first have a true understanding of the fish you are mounting. The most valuable thing you can do is develop a library of fish reference material. I started out with Bass because they were plentiful in my area. You can start by clipping fish pictures from fishing magazines and taking photos of the fish you catch. One of the most valuable things I did was get a large aquarium to place live fish in to study. This advanced my fish taxidermy to a whole new level. Think of what I learned by watching a live 6 lb bass. Keep as much of your fish taxidermy reference material at your work area as possible. As you mount your fish, study each area with your reference. See how close you can come to duplicating a live fish. Do the same thing when painting your fish. Develop the habit of trying to duplicate a living fish every time you sit down to work. This will help you in becoming a Master at Fish Taxidermy.
Among professionals, it is generally agreed
that the most difficult branch of taxidermy is fish mounting.
Creating a technically accurate fish mount can be a real challenge.
The top award-winning fish taxidermists are almost all outstanding
flat artists as well. The ability to draw, paint, mix colors, and
sculpt are shared among most of the world's best fish taxidermists.
Mounting fish not only requires the ability to accurately recreate
the anatomy of the subject, but to restore all of the colorations as
well. When a fish skin dries, most of the color goes away, leaving
only brownish patterns on the skin and scales. Fish taxidermy is the
one area of wildlife art where the artist must totally recreate the
colors of the skin all over the animal. In bird taxidermy, the
taxidermist must paint the legs, feet, and bill, but the feathers
retain their natural colors. In mammal taxidermy, the taxidermist
must paint the nose and eyes, but the fur requires no color
correction. In fish taxidermy, however, the taxidermist has to paint
every square inch of the specimen, and make it appear natural.
There are a lot of different ways to produce a fish mount, and fish
taxidermists usually are required to choose different mounting
methods to match their particular subjects.
Warm water fish with tough skins and large scales (such as bass,
crappie, and bream) are good candidates for skin mounts. A skin
mount means that the fish is skinned, the skin is preserved, and the
skin is either mounted over a mannikin, or the fish's body cavity is
packed with a filler material which is shaped and then allowed to
harden. These types of fish are not particularly greasy, so they are
usually mounted with the natural skull still attached to the skin.
The fins and tail are also the real thing.
Cold water fish such as trout, salmon, and char have thin, smooth
skins with fine scales. Their skins and bones are also more greasy
than their warm water cousins. Mounting these fish is a bit more
difficult because any lump of mache or hide paste under the skin can
be visible. The preferred method for mounting these specimens is
over a smooth foam mannikin. The natural skulls are sometimes used,
but due to increased problems with shrinkage, spoiling, and grease
bleed-through, many taxidermists use artificial heads (cast in
polyester resin) attached to a natural skin-mounted body.
Most saltwater fish (as well as many cold water fish) are entirely
recreated from man-made materials. Without question, these synthetic
mounts are the most long-lasting taxidermy renderings. While the
fish is fresh, a carefully constructed mold of the fish is made.
Then, the body and fins of the fish are cast in fiberglass
reinforced polyester resin. The mold of the fish is called a
fiberglass "blank" at this point, because it has no markings or
color. The taxidermist must entirely create the coloration on the
mount to make it appear like a live fish.
Due to the restrictive costs of molding and reproducing fiberglass
gamefish, it is not commercially feasible to make a special mold for
every sportsman's catch, nor is it necessary. Taxidermists found out
years ago that one 84" sailfish was shaped pretty much like any
other 84" sailfish. A new industry was born as taxidermists with a
good selection of fish molds started constructing multiple
reproduction fish from their molds. These fiberglass fish blanks are
sold to other taxidermists throughout the country who only have to
prepare the fish and paint it to convincing coloration.
Fiberglass reproductions are gaining in popularity. They are ideal
for use on difficult species to mount: large fish, greasy fish, or
fish which are difficult to skin, such as catfish. They are also
great for catch and release programs or other conservation methods.
Another advantage is the longevity of the mount. A fiberglass
reproduction could conceivably last for thousands of years. They are
practically indestructible.
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