Here is a new tip on hiding holes in a skin to be mounted!

 

    Now most of the time now days most taxidermist will order a form from a supply company
and spend their hard earned money on forms that don't usually fit and that cost way to much .
Even more most video's now days also will show you how to use their brand name of forms to a person and show them how to put that mount together their way! And many forms that do fit will make a new student of this art look like a pro but don't teach him or her any thing as far as mounting the piece from the beginning .  This is a shame that the art of taxidermy is being lost !
Now I'm going to start showing some of the ways I do mounts and show how to put cash back into your pocket by doing some of the old methods that has been around for many years.

   Most of the pieces that come through my shop are carved  even if they as small as a mouse or as big as a black bear! So I have just gotten a couple of new video cameras and have decided to make a few new video on how to do taxidermy out of the old box of the company's that have put a lot you in.
So keep your eyes open and learn some new stuff! I have been in the art of taxidermy for the past 43 years and taught this for a community collage for most of ten years.

My shop is now a proud sponsor of the TV show Trophy Room Adventures of the Pursuit Channel.

Here are a few mounts I had carved and hope to show you how to do later!

This piece was carved this past week and it turned out nice!

This big buck is for the T V show Trophy Room Adventures on the Pursuit Channel

and is called the Saw Mill Buck, harvested by the shows

 host Scott Martin of Traphill N.C.

This bear is for  Fay Martin of Dobson N.C.

This form  is made of 2" insulation blue foam board and 

                                                        the head is of auto body filler and fiberglass.

Pre fitting the hide on the form.

The hide was tanned in the shop also!

I'm starting to finish this mount up.

A little more work and painting this mount will be  finished soon.

 
 Here are a couple of mount's I did this past fall and will be showing more soon!
This bobcat was harvested last winter of 2015 by Mr. Marty Robertson of Mt. Airy N.C. .

The squirrel was for Mrs. Rita Irwin of Elkin N.C.
It was a small mount and turned out real nice. This form was carved out from a piece of blue builders foam.

Fixing a deer antler burr!

              Many times when a lot of taxidermist mount a deer head the cape hide will pull down below
the base of the antler after drying for several weeks or a customer takes their mount home will notice the hide is  pulling away from the base. Now  I have a way to fix this and it is not hard to do! Also it can be a quick way to pickup extra cash to fix old mounts!
 This is a video I made several years ago and posted it on youtube , but now I going to post this on my taxidermy blog and hope you can use this. So thanks and enjoy!!

                                                               

How to make hide paste for taxidermy.

Here is a video on making dextrin  glue glue from corn starch .

A little cash saved!

   
                                                            A Little Cash Saved 

    Have you every wished that prices would stop going up in that taxidermy catalog that you get every fall and that form price would just start falling back? Or a bucket of hide paste would just cost pennies?
Boy would it be nice that you could charge a fair price for a mount that the average blue collar worker could afford after they spend a life trying to harvest that buck of a lifetime or that big bass that they  see in a magazine. Well maybe it can happen if you don't mind not using a top brand name eyes or that award winning head forms that may cost $50.00 and up pulse shipping.
I'm going to show you how to cut some of the cost by making a lot of your owner supplies and  buy supplies local!

    The modern day taxidermist are folks that have been convinced that they have got to buy the snap on products that are out there now days. A person can buy a video, a catalog and with a little time they can turn out a fox or deer head or any thing that is in that catalog, but what are they going to do with that pieced that will come in one day and that catalog does not have what you need ?
OK I'm going to help you save your butt and a little cash.

   Some of the old timers have all kinds of short cuts, but no they would not share a speck of it what took them a life time to get and I know that fact  because it took me a lifetime to get the info I use in my shop daily.
Now some of the projects I'm going to show are easy as pie and some are hard and takes a lot of time and I mean days and lots of hours.
 Also don't give up on some of these projects , remember it takes time.

    One of my favorite ways to save a little cash is to make my own paper mache and it is very easy.
Number one you need some news paper , second you will need a five gallon bucket.
Now take the news paper and tar into strips  and but into bucket. Next fill the bucket with water and fill till paper strips are covered till paper floats.
 Now let the paper soak overnight or till paper is nice and tender. Once this takes place take a paint stir on a electric drill and stir till you have a paper mush or pulp. Now after I have this i
I take this pulp and squeeze small batches rolled up in a towel till most of the water is out of the pulp and put this in a bucket or some container for storage. Most of the time the pulp will dry out but this is no problem just add water back and pulp is good as new.

    Now my next blog I will start explaining how to use this pulp like making a stump or use it as a filler by use glue or self raising flour. I'll explain later.

Here is a piece I'm working on. One of my favorite things to work on are large size orders!


                                 

 Also remember to check out my website at  www.rickrobsonstaxidermy53@gmail.com
or drop us a e-mail at hidemaster53@gmail.com.
If you have any questions give me a call at 336-401-0356


If you would like to learn taxidermy give me a e-mail ,I offer private one on one taxidermy  lessons for a low fee of $25.00 per hour. If you or anyone you know wish to learn this art just give me a e-mail.

 If you will please leave feed back on what you read on this blog weather it is good or bad ! Thanks.

       OK I'm back for my third post ,the last one was back in spring of 2013 and was at the Surry Community College Taxidermy Mini Course show in Dobson N.C..
 Well a lot has changed to me and my career in taxidermy .
 Last December I decided to leave Surry Community College after almost ten years of instructing and went to work for myself full time as a taxidermy and teach taxidermy one on one out of my shop. So far the business has been slow due the economy, but how every I still have deer heads, ducks and pets to do so I can't really complain! 

   Today I realized a web site (YELP) has listed my shop as closed and out of business to which is not true!!!
My shop is still open and will always and will be open till I have no life in my body. Now how did this happen I'm not sure ,we think that someone had gone into this web site and list my shop closed ! Now I'm not sure why but we think it could be a competitor! 
However the important thing is WE ARE OPEN !! 

So bring in your mount and let's do business! 
My web site is www. rickrobsonstaxidermy.com , my e-mail is hidemaster53@gmail.com or give me a call at 336-401-0356.
  
    Now to business at hand I would like to share some of the things I do in my shop.
 The next blog will be on how to make paper mache within your owen shop, this will help cut down on cost in the taxidermy shop. 

      Here are some of the piece's I have done in the shop for the past few months.