Home Taxidermy for Pleasure and Profit | Page 8

the slower it sets and a few drops of glycerine will keep it soft
several days. Made with little or no glue it hardens quickly.
If the paper pulp is not at hand it may be made by tearing old
newspapers or sheathing paper small and boiling and pounding till a
pulp results. This composition is much in use in Europe in the making
of many familiar toys and similar objects.

For modeling open mouths, finishing mounted specimens, making
artificial rocks, stumps and boughs, it is very desirable.
WAX FOR OPEN MOUTHS.
Beeswax 1 part Paraffin wax 1 part
Melt and color with tube oil colors. To color dip up a spoonful of
melted wax, squeeze some tube color in and stir until stiff. Place the
spoon in the hot wax and stir till evenly mixed. Do not try to put the
color directly in the hot wax as it will not mix evenly so.
Wax should be melted in a water bath, like a glue pot, as excessive heat
will darken it. Cakes of wax of suitable colors may be had of the supply
dealers and are most economical when no great amount of work is done.
The same parties supply the paper pulp previously mentioned.
CHAPTER IV.
PANELS, SHIELDS AND NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL MOUNTS.
The preparation of a suitable setting for almost any mounted specimen
will add greatly to its attractiveness. If you know where it is to be
placed it is not difficult to make it suit its surrounding. For instance, a
head of big game for hanging in a dining or ball room is suitably
mounted on a polished and carved hardwood shield. While this would
hardly match its surroundings on the wall of a log camp, a rustic panel
of natural wood with the bark on would perfectly suit the latter place.
Heads, horns, and antlers are usually mounted on what are called
shields. Fish and trophies of dead game birds and small game on panels.
Single specimens are placed on severely plain wooden bases (museum
style) or on those simulating branches, rocks, stumps or earth. These
are artificial, but those built up in part at least with natural objects are
most pleasing.
As we can not produce the best patterns of shields without special
machines we must patronize either the supply dealers or the wood

working mill for such. If convenient to a mill equipped with jigsaw and
moulder they can be made up after your own patterns.
[Illustration: SHIELDS--VARIOUS KINDS AND SIZES.
(A) Suitable for moose, caribou, deer, fox by making or ordering
according to size wanted; (B) Moose, caribou, deer; (K) Round shield;
(E) Bear shield; (Q) Combination--head and feet.]
[Illustration: SHIELDS, FOOT AND HALL RACK.
(C) and (D) Deer Shields (J) Four Feet Rack (V) Hall Rack]
[Illustration: GUN RACK, FISH AND GAME PANELS, HALL
RACK.
(I) Gun rack (F) Fish panel (H) Shield, combination head and feet (S)
Hall Rack, small.]
[Illustration: SOME SHIELDS AND PANELS.
(M) Shield with carving (G) Panel for game, x, y, z, aa, bb Deer foot
thermometers (L) Deer foot thermometer and small animal panel.]
Some of the sizes most used are approximately as follows for mounted
heads:
For moose, elk, caribou. 20×30 inches.
For deer, goat or sheep. 12×18 or 16×21.
For fox or lynx. 8×10 inches.
For bear or wolf. 12×15
For birds, small fur-bearers and fish. 6×8 in.
Oval panels for mounting fish. 9×22 15×40

For dead game. 10×15 14×24 17×25
For mounting horns of elk and moose the size for deer heads will
answer nicely, while deer antlers are suitable with a shield of the fox
head size.
In order to draw a symmetrical pattern for the woodworker, take a piece
of stiff paper of the right length and width, fold it down the middle,
draw one half to suit and cut out with shears. The style of moulding
called Ogee is to be preferred. A simple diamond, heart, or oval shape
can be made at home with beveled or rounded edges, or if your tools
include a turning saw (which is most useful for a variety of purposes)
you may try a more pretentious shield. To achieve this, make your
pattern as just described and after marking it on a piece of wood from
3/8 to 7/8 inch thick, cut out with the turning saw. It should be held in
the vise for this operation. Place this cut out shield (1) on a piece of
board of similar thickness but somewhat larger and with a pair of
compasses mark out another 1/2 in. or so larger all around. (2) Also
mark the same distance inside the edge.
[Illustration: HOME MADE SHIELD.]
With a wood worker's gauge or something similar make a mark around
them both near the lower sides. Now with draw shave