Today I skinned and stuffed my second pheasant, putting it in a closed (standing, wings shut) mount. After skinning and removing all bits of fat and flesh, I gave it a bath. Here it is drying.
After the bath the skin gets tumbled in sawdust for about five minutes and then dried and fluffed with a hair dryer. I had a little more trouble working the wires through the legs of this guy, but again I am pleased with the result. I am hoping that over time my speed improves, however; I feel like molasses every time I look over and see the other student about four or five steps ahead of me. Thankfully she smokes so she can go outside and rest while I catch up.
The feathers are set with plastic wrap and my eye mistakes fixed with pins for now. Later on I will create a proper environment for him to occupy, with reeds and moss, etc.
Later on we learned how to use our airbrush kits; I am not taking to it as easily as I’d like. Once I master the control factor though, I should be golden. After we had the basics down, we gave a bit of color to some duck feet and even painted some artificial Mallard heads!
I went home nad worked on my hoop, then ran errands and tidied up the cabin. Afterwards I fixed myself a martini and watched “The Mother”, which took two more martinis to undue the trauma inflicted upon me by the sheer unexpected and shocking content
First!