Pipkitten's "Project Trouble" - Taxidermy step-by-step!

pipkitten • 1 August 2014 at 7:25 PM

Hello, all! 😃 I'm going to start working on soft mounting my red fox, Trouble, and I'm documenting the process here for those interested! This is a pretty big and complicated thing, so I'll be writing out what I'm doing in each step, as well as posting links to photos in each of my posts~

*For anyone who may be concerned, this is an entirely family-friendly event, with no gore or anything of the sort. However, if you feel uncomfortable with animal pelts or taxidermy, you may want to avoid this thread!*


Ouestions:

- What is a "Soft Mount?"
A soft mount is basically a literal stuffed animal! A tanned pelt has its head mounted up on a foam form, while the rest of the body is stuffed with pillow fluff, making it soft and oh-so-huggable! ❤️

- How long does making a soft mount take?
The time varies depending on a few factors, such as (but not limited to): form alterations needed, animal size, pelt prep needed before mounting, difficulty of intended expression, and post-mount drying time. Average for me is usually a week or two.


Disclaimer:

The fox I will be working with was not killed by me or for me. She was taken legally in the state of New York for population control purposes. As with all of my other animals, she is very much loved and respected.

#PipsTaxidermy

windchill • 1 August 2014 at 7:45 PM

@pipkitten
Something like that seems a little gory to me...
But a red fox pelt WITHOUT the blood would look cool. 😊

pipkitten • 1 August 2014 at 9:11 PM

@windchill
No worries, everything is gore-free! 😉 The fox is tanned, so she's just really fluffy leather now~ Probably the grossest thing will be removing the ear cartilage, but I may not even have to do that (or if I do I might not take a picture).

windchill • 2 August 2014 at 4:30 PM

@pipkitten
eh I'll have to get used to this type of stuff anyways. I'll follow on this. 😉

pipkitten • 5 August 2014 at 11:39 PM

@windchill
(Sorry for replying so late..!) Awesome! 😊 I'll probably start working on her tomorrow, provided nothing comes up, or Thursday when I'll for sure have the time~

izziebee1017 • 6 August 2014 at 1:34 PM

@pipkitten
Sounds interesting. I'll follow. 😉

pipkitten • 7 August 2014 at 3:51 PM

Alrighty, the time has come! The event has begun! 😃

To start things off, I'm going to do a bit of an overview of my supplies. There are quite a few, so if you really just want to skip this post you totally can.

First on the list are of course my fox, her headform, earliners and eyes. Trouble is tanned, so she is just furry leather. The headform and earliners are hard foam. The eyes are handpainted glass and purchased from a very high quality family-owned company. 😊 LINK: http://fav.me/d7t5cz3

Now comes everything else. I will detail more about this stuff in the description section for this photo over on dA, to save space here. LINK: http://sta.sh/01l6nqmhsvdb

This will be a long process, as it takes me a few hours to mount the head. I will update in a big post (or a few smaller ones) once that is done~!


Pings to summon those who've expressed interest in seeing this: @windchill and @izziebee1017

izziebee1017 • 7 August 2014 at 3:55 PM

@pipkitten
Good! I really want to see the finished product! 😉

dreamdisc • 7 August 2014 at 11:10 PM

@pipkitten
Oh wow! This is really cool! I'm defiantly looking forward to following this!
You have a very lovely fox there, by the way >///<

pipkitten • 7 August 2014 at 11:29 PM

@izziebee1017
I'll be posting an update with some pictures soon! 😉

@dreamdisc
Ahh, thank you! ^^ I've been looking forward to working on her for a long long time~ She actually spent about a year in the freezer before I was able to find somebody to tan her!

honor • 8 August 2014 at 12:48 AM

I'm dividing things up into parts to avoid a huge text wall so... Here's Part One! 😊

REHYDRATING:
This is the first step in mounting anything dry tanned; the water makes everything soft, stretchy and pliable. I always add a somewhat large amount of salt to my rehydrating container to keep away any potential nasties that may damage the pelt while it's wet. Rehydrating can take quite awhile or only a short amount of time, depending on how well the pelt is prepped. As a rule, I let the pelt soak for 15 minutes at a time. Trouble soaked for about 30 minutes.
LINK: http://sta.sh/0vjfc47kfvz

REFERENCES:
References are indispensable when mounting any animal, big or small! I keep folders of reference pictures gathered from various places online on my computer, and pull them up so I have a "live" model to study as I work.
LINK: http://sta.sh/01mt6yocsmlj

FORM PREP 1:
At this point, I held my earliners in place and traced around them with a sharpie on the headform. The lines gave me a guide for where I needed to cut slots for the liners to sit in once they were glued in and the form was in place. I did not cut the slots yet, though. I also took some time to rough up the earliners with some sandpaper and my exacto knife to give the glue a surface it could stick to.
LINKS: http://sta.sh/01vgkp8k7jce & http://sta.sh/01zxjrprwovg

*End Part One!*

pipkitten • 8 August 2014 at 1:09 AM

Now for Part Two!

FORM PREP 2:
Often, forms are not a completely perfect fit so some alterations must be made. I lucked out this time, as I only had to shave a bit off of the form's cheek area. I did have to keep test fitting the form as I worked, so there was a lot of backing the form in through Trouble's mouth and then pulling it back out to shave a bit more until it fit nicely. I also had to do some sewing to fix up some small holes in her face; a quick locking whipstitch did the trick!
LINK: http://sta.sh/0tspcd19c5k

THE EARLINER BLUES:
This is where things started to go bad. Nothing is ever easy! When I was test fitting the earliners I bought, I discovered they were too big, and it didn't help that the ear skin was like wet toilet paper. Both ears tore badly and the fur on the back of one started to just slip off. ☹️ Cue creative thinking time! I ended up using plastic sour cream container lids to make my own custom liners. I traced Trouble's ears onto them, cut them out, and shaped them by hand over the heat of a candle flame.
LINK: http://sta.sh/02e742bfodhy

LINER SLOTTING:
Once I had my liners made, I brought them to my desk to fit them into the form. I somewhat followed my old lines when cutting slots, but had to deviate a bit to fit the custom liners' shape. It took some time, but I managed to get them to sit nicely.
LINK: http://sta.sh/01br4nhjkinf

*End Part Two!*

honor • 8 August 2014 at 1:35 AM

Welcome to Part Three!

CLAYWORK:
I actually forgot to take a picture of this very important step... But I will link to a photo of another taxidermist's claywork as an example! ^^; I started by filling the earliner slots I made with a generous amount of clay, to give the liners something to set in. Next, I backed the form in through Trouble's mouth, then folded her face back so I could work on claying her eyes. I used a glob of clay behind each eye to anchor them, then sculpted the detail of the eyelids, brows and tear ducts around the eyes.
LINK **Not my claywork!**: http://fav.me/d5a895y

EYE TUCKING:
With the claywork done, I folded Trouble's face back over and began to taxi the skin into place. I used a wooden sculpting tool and my fingernails to tuck the eyelid skin into the clay. I then pinned the skin down in places to keep it where I want it as it dries. In the first picture, you can see a tucked eye vs an untucked one! The second picture is both eyes tucked.
LINKS: http://sta.sh/01sht5lbt9kl & http://sta.sh/0105ezkbpt5v

NOSE AND LIPS:
Because I don't like the little nose shape the form has on it, I cut it off and replaced it with a sizeable wad of clay and stuck the nosepad to it. I then cut a slot for the lip skin in the form and placed a small ribbon of clay in it to act as a sort of glue. I used the same sculpting tool I did the eyes with, and tucked first the bottom lip then the top into the slot. I pinned things in place as I went to keep them where I wanted them. This step, however, did not go without a hitch. The corner of her mouth on one side tore, so it wouldn't go in the slot properly and now looks a bit odd.
LINK: http://sta.sh/029jc0lmlch3

*End Part Three!*

pipkitten • 8 August 2014 at 1:49 AM

Woo, Part Four!

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED:
Once Trouble's lips were safely tucked and pinned, I went along and placed a few pins elsewhere on her face. I set her ears firmly in the clayed slots and pinned them in a couple places as well. I also took some small pieces of cardboard, bent them into an ear shape, and clothespinned them to her ears to help them dry in the right shape. Lastly, I poked the broken-off tips of 2 bamboo skewers into her nostrils to make sure they don't shrink as they dry. So now she looks very silly! 😋

LINKS:
http://sta.sh/0151gog3xxbq
http://sta.sh/04nfmemhf3x
http://sta.sh/0u4zoy273ej
http://sta.sh/012n7v17jnm7

Trouble will now sit and dry for a few days. Then I will begin the process of making a wire armature, stuffing and sewing her up, and eventually painting her up pretty. 😊 Expect to see a picture or two of her minus the pins, sticks and clothespins soon!

*End Part Four!*

honor • 8 August 2014 at 5:55 PM

I'm not really going to count this picture as an official "Part," simply because it's too short to really qualify as one. 😋

Anyways! Here's a picture of Trouble with her fur dry and minus the ear cards and nose sticks. The pins will stay for at least the rest of today just in case things aren't quite done shrinking yet.
LINK: http://fav.me/d7uavvg

pipkitten • 9 August 2014 at 7:31 PM

Update! 😃

Trouble is no longer a fluffy pincushion. The clay visible around her eyes shrunk a bit and pulled away from the skin a little, so I added some fresh clay to fill up the empty spaces.
I also took a picture of the damage on the backs of her ears, just in case anyone is curious about what a slip spot and a missing chunk look like!

LINKS:
http://sta.sh/0dptzwostr
http://sta.sh/0e1ev1k2fmb
http://sta.sh/01uhxq9detjz

I'm hoping to get a craft grade red fox face soon, to use for transplanting a bit of ear to at least fill in the missing part.

honor • 16 August 2014 at 3:31 PM

So... Ummm, I kinda forgot to update this? 😋

I picked up some wire from one of the local country stores to make an armature from, since I needed something more flexible than the galvanized steel wire I already had. I formed the armature a couple of days ago, and today I should be installing it.
LINKS: http://fav.me/d7v6ft8 & http://sta.sh/220o79uuxbwi

I also ordered 4 assorted craft fox faces and am hoping that at least one has ears similar enough to Trouble's for transplanting. They should be here by Monday!

Deleted • 16 August 2014 at 4:47 PM

//subscribes

Trouble is adorable =)

pipkitten • 14 September 2014 at 6:24 PM

@rushingwater
Thank you! 😸 (Sorry it took me so long to reply! I kinda forgot about this thread, haha.)


Okay guys, here it is... The FINAL TWO UPDATES!! 😊

FINAL UPDATE 1:
I installed the armature, and everything went well. I did have to cut a hole in Trouble's throat to be able to glue the armature into the headform. But I sewed it up neatly and you can't even see the seam!

LINKS:
http://sta.sh/01fyogku82e7
http://sta.sh/0uzgatvj2i4


FINAL UPDATE 2:
I finished stuffing her, replaced the missing chunk on the back of her ear, then painted her up nice. Now she's all finished!! 😃

LINKS:
http://fav.me/d7vw4rh
http://fav.me/d7wkqfj
http://fav.me/d7xlftx


While the tutorial is over, I will still answer questions and reply to stuff here if pinged~ Thanks for tuning and taking an interest in my hobby! ❤️