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Interested in the art of taxidermy

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Interested in the art of taxidermy

Old 01-19-2017, 09:39 AM
  #1  
Spike
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I moved to springfield il about a year ago from wisconsin. I did a mounted sunny in high school and I loved everything about the project. Im very interested in making a career of it but im not sure where to start. I would love any information that you guys could give me.
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Old 01-19-2017, 10:14 AM
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There are some good taxidermy schools around, PA has a few. If I were going to start out, I would go to school because there is a lot to learn and doing it on your own is a lot of trial and error. When PA still required licensed taxidermists to pass both a written and practical examination, I used to help twice a year with the exams. It boggled the mind that some of the stuff that was presented to the taxidermy board as a specimen to show the work of the applicant was so bad and they thought it was good. You will need to study the taxonomy of birds, mammals and fish because having things like wings and legs and eyes in the wrong place is a common mistake. Goggle taxidermy schools, if you find one you like, get references from students that went there, better yet, talk to some licensed taxidermists in your area that you like their work and ask them to recommend a school.
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Old 01-20-2017, 05:09 AM
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You can also try the DVD's from Taxidermy Training Unlimited. They have a whole dvd library created by National and World Champion taxidermists for learning the art of taxidermy for a wide variety of animals, fish and birds. Very informative stuff.
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Old 01-20-2017, 05:38 AM
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After 15 years of looking at work examples of self taught taxidermists testing for a license to practice, I would forgo the videos for live on site assistance and criticism. When you are self taught the only feedback you get will be from friends who will be very reluctant to tell you your work is bad and it they do, they would not have the expertise to tell you how to make it better.
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Old 01-20-2017, 06:25 AM
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Originally Posted by Oldtimr
After 15 years of looking at work examples of self taught taxidermists testing for a license to practice, I would forgo the videos for live on site assistance and criticism. When you are self taught the only feedback you get will be from friends who will be very reluctant to tell you your work is bad and it they do, they would not have the expertise to tell you how to make it better.
Very true because a person that doesn't know taxidermy wouldn't be able to give any kind of qualified advice as to whether the work is good or bad to begin with! I've seen some mounts that left a lot to be desired and it's just like everything else in that you get what you pay for. If a place has great prices, you can pretty well figure that they make their money on volume and not quality work. The taxidermist my buddy uses out in Cody, WY is a world renowned sculpture and taxidermist and you pay a lot more for that talent. However, every mount he does looks like it's alive because of the painstaking time he needs to do the job properly.
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Old 01-20-2017, 07:22 AM
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Yep, taxidermy is an art, a good taxidermist must be a sculptor as well as an expert in taxonomy, an expert in painting and have the eye to know what the specimens looked like in life and have the skill to make the dead appear to be alive. It isn't simply a matter of stretching a cured skin over a form and sewing it together. Some specimens won't fit a commercial form and it has to be modified or a form has to be made from scratch. That muscle structure you see on the face of deer and elk and the veins on the face of deer and elk and other deer or antelope species and most other species was not on the form when it arrived UPS at the taxidermy studio. That had to be sculpted on to the form before the skin is put on, the same goes for other species of birds and animals. A good taxidermist must be as good with Bondo as a body and fender man is. If anyone has the opportunity to attend a taxidermy competition where the best compete, I urge you to attend and see what is possible from the hands of very, very talented people. Of course the price of their work to their clients reflects their skills.
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Old 01-20-2017, 10:44 AM
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Jim Marsico is the gentleman I referred to out in Cody. He has an antelope diorama in the Smithsonian Museum in DC and a grizzly in the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum in Cody. His sculptures sell all over the world for 5 digits!
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Old 01-21-2017, 02:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Oldtimr
After 15 years of looking at work examples of self taught taxidermists testing for a license to practice, I would forgo the videos for live on site assistance and criticism. When you are self taught the only feedback you get will be from friends who will be very reluctant to tell you your work is bad and it they do, they would not have the expertise to tell you how to make it better.
I agree with what you are saying, but, DVD's of a world champion taxidermist showing you all of the ins and outs,use of reference, and the best proven methods, isn't what I call being " Self Taught". You are actually learning from a pro, step by step, with something you can watch over and over again. This, IMO, is a great way for someone to get a good start in taxidermy, without paying thousands of dollars to a taxidermy school and then decide it's not really for them. I would suggest, taking the mount to a state competition for constructive critiqing by judges. This will only help improve their skills as a taxidermist. If they decide it's something they want to continue with, then they can decide if they want to spend the money on a school to further their skills.

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Old 01-21-2017, 03:35 PM
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We are going to have to agree to disagree. My concern is with the customer who gets substandard work and is stuck with it and not the person who wants to be a taxidermist with the least amount of expense and effort in order to learn the art. When a trophy of a lifetime is reduced to a sick joke, it is the customer who comes up short. There are some people who have no artistic talent and they should be at a place that will tell them they are barking up the wrong tree. No video will do that. Would you want to take your pet to a vet who learned by way of video instructions instead of at the hands of experienced veterinarians, or have your home build by a carpenter who learned via video instead of as an apprentice to experienced carpenters? Immediate feed back and correction is important. I could look at video instructions to be a taxidermist from now until the day I die and I would never have the skills to be taxidermist. I know what animals are supposed to look like, but I do not possess the artistic talent to mount and paint an animal or bird or fish to look life like. Wanting to do something does not mean a person is capable of doing it. There are far too many states that require no exhibition of talent before allowing a person to hang out a sign and say they are a taxidermist.

Last edited by Oldtimr; 01-21-2017 at 03:43 PM.
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Old 01-22-2017, 09:55 AM
  #10  
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Originally Posted by Oldtimr
We are going to have to agree to disagree. My concern is with the customer who gets substandard work and is stuck with it and not the person who wants to be a taxidermist with the least amount of expense and effort in order to learn the art. When a trophy of a lifetime is reduced to a sick joke, it is the customer who comes up short. There are some people who have no artistic talent and they should be at a place that will tell them they are barking up the wrong tree. No video will do that. Would you want to take your pet to a vet who learned by way of video instructions instead of at the hands of experienced veterinarians, or have your home build by a carpenter who learned via video instead of as an apprentice to experienced carpenters? Immediate feed back and correction is important. I could look at video instructions to be a taxidermist from now until the day I die and I would never have the skills to be taxidermist. I know what animals are supposed to look like, but I do not possess the artistic talent to mount and paint an animal or bird or fish to look life like. Wanting to do something does not mean a person is capable of doing it. There are far too many states that require no exhibition of talent before allowing a person to hang out a sign and say they are a taxidermist.
All of this is true, but what you are saying falls into the hands of the customer, not the taxidermist, kind of " Buyer Beware". Using your scenario, If YOU were going to have a home built, how would you know that the builder didn't learn how to build from DVD"s? Hopefully, you would want to see some prior work and references from someone he has built a home for. Same thing in taxidermy, or any field for that matter. If the customer doesn't look around and choose his/her taxidermist, mechanic, builder or you name it by references or prior work , then they get what they pay for. If, as you said, a trophy of a lifetime is reduced to a sick joke, that IMO falls in the hands of the customer who did not do their homework and settled for the cheapest quickest job they came across and didn't make an educated decision based on prior work and references. On the other hand, some people do have an artistic talent and may learn very well from the video method. If the customers are happy with the work that they are getting, then the student has been successful IMO.

Last edited by excalibur43; 01-22-2017 at 10:03 AM.
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