Post by hoosiertaxidermist on Jul 26, 2007 19:15:29 GMT -5
pics of a couple fish mnts. These fish are reproductions that were molded and cast in our shop. The industry is starting to lean towards custom reproductions for the higher quality and better longevity they offer. The advantages over actual skin mnts are numerous. Better anatomy and detail are two of the major benefits. No mater how god your fish mnts are, there is always shrinkage that can't be controlled or prevented. These areas must be reconstructed after drying and tere is always the possibility of grease that is left in the tissue bleeding out fromunder the epoxy work. This is especially true in coldwater fish like salmon and trout and warm water fish like stripers, muskies, and pike. These fish usually receive a reproduction head to attempt to alleviate his problem. Fins on a skin mntd. fish usually curl after a few years even when coated with a flexible fin coating and properly sealed. These fins also shrink excessively and could eventually grease bleed. Some reproduce fins ,again to help alleviate this problem. By molding the fish all these problems are removed and the customer receives a perfect replica of their fish with no shrinkage or rease to worry about. From the taxidermist perspective, The reproduction is much easier to color realistically as the skin tones are even, and not blotchy as on a skin mnt. Much more time can be taken to color the fish accurately rather than trying to even out the skin tones. The perch below is an actual customer fish that we recently finished and the salmon is a 21" king that belongs to me. This fish was caught in the St. Joe 6-7 yrs. ago and has been frozen ever since. Seems like my stuff always waits forever. Both fish employ lots of hand painting with acrylics and pearlescent, metallic powder pigments in contradiction to the industry tandard of using only an airbrush. There are many more mediums available that are better than the status quo. If could paint a fish with coffee grounds and get an acceptable fish, I would. Enjoy.
