PDA

View Full Version : Making lemonade out of lemons



ohiosam
07-06-2009, 11:20 PM
Some of you might remember a thread I posted last winter about a mink killing my quail. My daughter Andrea had been wanting to try taxidermy so the mink seemed like the ideal subject.

Here's some photos of the process. We could not have done it with out the help of my friend Dale.

Skinning, mink are a touch "aromatic"
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/mink-1.jpg

Tanning
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/mink1-1.jpg

Sewing up any holes from fleshing.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/mink3.jpg

Preparing the base and maniquin.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/Mink2.jpg

Inserting clay in the feet and ears so they can be molded.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/mink4.jpg

Sliding the hide over the maniquin.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/mink5.jpg

The face required lots of detail work around the eyes, ears and mouth.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/mink6.jpg

Putting on the final details.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/mink7.jpg

The finished product.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/mink9.jpg

http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/ohiosam/IMG_3275.jpg



whitetail_joe
07-06-2009, 11:29 PM
Looks great to me. It's nice to see your daughter be interested in something like taxidermy.
Deehntr56
07-06-2009, 11:35 PM
Very Nice!!!
"J"
07-07-2009, 07:46 AM
Sam your Daughter is very talented. Also is that you in the phot next to her?
riverdude
07-07-2009, 08:57 AM
Very well done Ohiosam. Looks awesome.

Ask you daughter if she wants do do a yote for me, if I ever get one. I do have yote pups running around.

How long did the process take?

Thanks for sharing.
deerhunt45
07-07-2009, 09:45 AM
Very cool project Sam...and very well done. Appreciate you sharing with all of us!
ohiosam
07-07-2009, 09:55 AM
The guy in the photos is Dale. I stayed behind the camera, didn't want to ruin the photos;)

She probably spent about 15-20 hours total on it. Taxidermy is a hobby of Dale's and he had never done a mink before so it was a learning process for both of them. Skinning and fleshing took a couple of hours, first time she had skinned anything. It sat in the pickling solution for 3 days and need to stirred a couple times a day. Then maniquin prep and base prep and sewing the hide, that was about 3 or 4 hours. All that before the actual mounting started.
cjd3
07-07-2009, 09:58 AM
Thats a great project !
Its very cool to have pict.s of the project and your daughter. :coolgleamA:
You will enjoy them forever.
Thanks for posting the project.
Buckmaster
07-07-2009, 12:16 PM
Nice project and quality time spent together. A win-win!
RRmike
07-07-2009, 03:12 PM
Very cool. A well-done project. Looks like it took a lot of patience, but the final product is very nice. Thumbs up!
uglykat26
07-07-2009, 04:03 PM
very cool not only nice to see kids in sporting hobbies but women as well , two thumbs up
dar_54
07-07-2009, 08:02 PM
She should be very proud. Those little animals are tougher than people think.
ohiosam
07-08-2009, 01:56 PM
Thanks for all the compliments!:) She mentioned this morning she wants to try harder for a buck this year so she can try mounting that, guess I might need to buy an Xbow:D

This was a 4H project for her. Today is the county judging, she's hoping she wins a "State Award" which will allow her to take it to the State Fair. August 7th is "Natural Resources Day" at the State Fair and there is usually a very impressive collection of young people and their projects there.

BTW if you haven't been there the ODNR has a very nice area at the South West end of the fairgrounds. A park like area with lots of educational displays and hands on stuff. By far the best PR the ODNR could ever do.
antiqucycle
07-08-2009, 03:56 PM
Sure looks good to me. Definitely a wise choice as minks are not that easy to obtain as a subject. Anytime a teenager can add a skill that could be used as a second income in the future, its a worthwhile endeavor.
ap0317ah
07-17-2009, 01:24 PM
Good luck to her, thats good work.
Tom
pork chop
07-27-2009, 05:45 PM
She did a fantastic job! Great work!
deerhunt45
07-27-2009, 08:21 PM
Sam, if you're not doing anything this Friday, drive on down to Lima to the NTA national meet. Friday is the all you can eat extravaganza :coolgleamA:
ohiosam
07-29-2009, 08:38 PM
Sam, if you're not doing anything this Friday, drive on down to Lima to the NTA national meet. Friday is the all you can eat extravaganza :coolgleamA:

That would probably be cool, but I have some work I've gotten behind on lately with everything going on. We have talked about entering it in some taxidermy shows this winter.