Giraffe mounting thread part 1
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Was reading through some african threads and decided to take a few pictures of a giraffe I was mounting this week and do a thread. Hope you enjoy!
African game can be a challenge for a number or reasons poor hide condition (mainly big holes with short hair and or missing parts), grease burn, limited form selection ect...
I love working on African game!!!
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The first few pics I will point out a few of the hide problems I dealt with.
Both ears had big holes.
The inside of the ear skin.
The next three pics are after the repair.
And the other ear repair.
Great repair!
Hey, I'm a little light on top, ya think you could sew in a few patches?
Following this thread. When do you get to see a giraffe stuffing in action?
Thanks for sharing
Now I'll show the holes I had to repair to the head,neck and body.
Man....what was he shot with? Artillery?
Ki-ke, lol... Not sure I can help with the patch job.
Most of these were skinning holes.
I'll show the same holes from the hair side in the next few pics.
Here are a few pics after the repairs.
I need to prep the seam down both sides of the neck before mounting. This needs to be done for a good seam! If you leave the skin to thick it will show in the finished mount. The thinner the better!!!
After the Hide is all preped and ready to mount I'll wash and dry the hide.
Keep it up this is a neat thread!
Frankenraf stitching. This one will be good!
Now I have to alter the form to get the desired position. I started with a left turn. My client wanted a slight right turn. I will cut the form and turn the head until I get the look I'm going for.
The head was to large and also needed to be altered. Here, I'm making the adjustment to the head and will test fit the hide to make sure it fits properly before mounting.
After I make the adjustments needed I put the head back together.
Cutting and turning the head.
After I have the pose I want I'll put welded rods in the neck for support before I resculpt the neck.
After I have all my support rods in for added strength I will finish sculpting the face and neck.
I also put rods down through the head for extra support too.
I will test fit one last time before mounting.
After the hide fits good I set the eyes and do my final clay work.
Put hide paste on 1/2 way down the neck.
Not sure how that got there! never saw that pic before.
After I have him pasted I slide the hide on and start the LONG LONG sewing process!!
I bag the face while I sew so the face doesn't dry out.
I'll stand him up to finish sewing.
After I'm all done sewing I'll adjust the skin and do the final details to the face.
Thanks for following. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.
In part 2 I will be custom making a tree and doing the habitat and base work.
I am also going to attach a few links of my old mount threads I did for the new bowsiters that might be interested. Thanks again, Dennis
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Dennis Razza's Link
Link to Mt Goat mounting.
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Link to Brown Bear mounting.
Dennis Razza's Link
Link to Moose pedestal with detachable antlers.
Dennis Razza's Link
And to think, I am fortunate enough to have him do my taxi work! An artist and a business man. Very rare!
Awesome as usual Dennis. See you at Eastern FNAWS
Chris
love your threads. thanks for sharing.
subscribed... awesome work.
Great threads, and amazing work. Some people don't realize all the work involved in taxidermy.
What's up with the horn-nub thingees?
Thanks everyone. I didn't take as many pics as usual. I did video the whole thing and plan on doing a time laps. Maybe I can post it when finished.
Chris, I'm looking forward to the ECFNAWS... See you there.
Steve, They were cut off... I'll sculpt them in when I do my finish work. I will also fix his right eye skin that's missing.
That's pretty cool looking. And I am worried about my ceiling being tall enough for my elk when I shoot him. WOW!!
Great work and great inspiration! I have a giraffe to mount and have been wondering if I should get into it or not. The carcass of the bull was hauled off after it was skinned and sold to a lion breeder. The breeder said he buys giraffe all the time and that this bull was the largest he had ever seen. I feel your pain brother with the challenges of the African skins. They are always a mess. I swear they must skin them with a sledge hammer and a chain saw! Tell me about the tan. Was it salt dried when you received it or was it tanned in Africa. If dried, who tanned it? The one I have was tanned in Africa but is dry and will need to be rehydrated. The tan on yours looks good. Tell me more about the ossicones (horns)? Do you always cut the ends off and sculpt them? Will you use epoxy sculp ??? Thanks in advance.
Pretty cool, thanks for posting!
Great mount. Can't wait to see it painted and finished.
I would also like more info on the hide. The one I saw being skinned in Africa had two inch thick skin in places. Your hide looks like it was shaved down nicely, except for the holes. Always wondered how they are able to properly get a hide salted and preserved due to the thickness. I would hate to shoot a giraffe and have the hide not prepared properly.
Very enjoyable thread, thanks for sharing!!!!
Thanks for sharing. That is a great challenge and something not everyone gets to do. I too am curious about the tanning of it...where done, type etc. I understand a fresh full body skin can weigh over a ton, so it still must be a darn heavy cape even after tanning. I'm also curious about the ears..it appears that you have the ear skins completely cut off on the pic where he is stood upright and fitted? Great work, cannot wait to see the finishing. Rich
Thanks again for all the comments. Bo-n-aro, It was a dip and pack then shipped to my tannery in the US. I had it wet tanned. I don't do a synthetic (dry tan ) on giraffe because sometimes the ear cartilage could be stubborn to rehydrate. I try whenever possible to have my tannery do the tanning ... Just for the simple fact that I know what I'm getting. The wet tan was nice and pliable and easy to work with. You should be good with the dry tan but may have a little more time in rehydrating. The horns came to me cut off... I will sculpt them with some type of epoxy and use a little clay and plaster based mix to give them a dry scabby appearance. I might play around with some blow on fiber like artificial velvet in black to give it a more hairy look. Good luck!
Az-Rich, I would say the skin was around 200lbs give or take. It's hard to tell... I only pick up about 1/2 at a time and throw or slide it over the form. The ear just looks that way because they weren't adjusted and it had a wrinkle between the form and the clay.
I will send a pm to you guys with the name of my tannery and some contact info. Thanks, Dennis
Great thread, great work. Wish I was closer, lol.
That was cool. Thanks much!
Bet you don't do too many jobs where a step ladder is involved? =D
Got me to thinking.... I wonder just how many giraffe mounts are done every year in the US or even around the world? Form availability and such must be interesting to work around for animals such as these.
Sounds like you've done them before... I'd guess the first one kept you up at night figuring it all out.
Thanks again.
I love that bear mount that is in the background of the giraffe pics. I have decided that will the pose for my next bear mount.
Saxton, I like that pose also. He was a real nice bear... the hair quality was fantastic.
patiently waiting part two... lol
Looking forward to seeing the Stone Sheep this year Dennis.
You are insane......Your no Taxidermist .. Your a damn engineer,sculptor,an artist.....not to mention seamstress. Great job.