MOLDING AND CASTING
 

CASTING AND FABRICATING parts can give a piece a definite edge. I usually cast the heads and feet of most of the birds I enter in competition, and I often do the same with birds I do for the Smithsonian’s Nationals Museum of Natural History, where I work. Casting these parts also gives a competitor an edge in quality. I have never been good at injecting big, fleshy bird feet to keep them from shrinking. I know there are taxidermists out there who do this well, but I am not one of them. Combine that with the advantage of easier finishing and the ability to have lots of interesting coloring options, casting these
parts seems a smart thing to do.

Recently I mounted a whooping crane for an exhibition, and because there only a few hundred of the birds alive, I thought that the museum might want the bones for the research collection. Casting the feet and head for the mount would allow the museum
to ...

...Continued in the Spring 2005 Issue of Breakthrough.

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