I had some free time yesterday so I prepped and painted the artificial nose/mouth replacement. When doing a flehmen pose, I prefer to use the artificial stuff because it is very anatomically accurate as it has been cast from an actual deer. There are those who would say "that's not my deer!" and wouldn't want to use the artificial nose. My argument is "those aren't your deer's eyes either!". Bottom line is that it looks fantastic when completed so I recommend using it.

Here's the parts that come with the kit:



The idea is to paint all of the pieces separately and then glue them together - much like a model airplane kit. The deer hide will be glued along the "fleshy areas" and blended together with an epoxy putty later.

A taxidermist must have, and be able to use, an airbrush. I've had good luck with the Aztek double action models. They are virtually indestructible and do quality work in blending the colors.

First, the upper pallette, lower lip/jaw, septum, and tongue are given a coating of flesh color. The bumps and ridges are then highlighted with a black color that is sprayed from an extreme angle so as to only put paint on the high parts (papilla, pallette, etc). These photos show the flesh already applied with the highlighting being done. The pallette and lower jaw get the flesh, black, and red. Tongue gets the flesh and the red. And the septum and inside the nostrils only gets the flesh colors.





On top of this is sprayed a red wash coat. That means that the paint is thinned a lot so that the other colors will show through it. It's more of a tint than a paint.

I then use a clear acrylic spray (Krylon) that seals everything and leaves a little gloss to it. Here's the pieces showing the painting completed:



Then the teeth are stained to look natural. This is simply painting them a dark brown and then wiping them down with a rag to leave the color only in the crevices and a hint of color on the teeth.



Finally, the septum is glued into the nose piece from the back, the teeth are glued into the bottom jaw, and the tongue is glued to the bottom jaw. I won't glue the top and bottom together until toward the end of the mounting process. Here's a photo of me holding everything in place to give you an idea of what the inside of the mouth should look like (**Note to self - give wife more instruction on focusing camera when taking photos!!)



In a couple of days I'll work on mounting the artificial nose to the form in the correct position. The lower jaw doesn't go on until the hide is being put into place.

Thanks for looking and keeping up with this project.

JDS

Thanks for showing us the process.

I am currently researching taxidermy a bit since it occured to me I really didn't know what all went into the process.

I have been watching some tapes and reading a bit online.

So far I have figured out that a good taxidermist doesn't get paid nearly enough.

I bet you have done this before!!??
I REALLY like the Meder forms and parts!
I just finished several javalina using the McKenzie artificial nose, lips and jawsets. Worked very well and looked very nice.
Great work. Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.

JDS,

We haven't had an update in quite a while.

I haven't done any work in awhile!!

I got tied up in a work project that ended up taking a lot of my personal time.

Then the wife and I went to Europe on a 10 day vacation to visit a German exchange student we had a couple of years back . . . this kid was great!!! She knew I loved to hunt and when I got there she had arranged for her father to take me hunting with him for roebuck, stag, and boar!!!! We didn't have any luck but it was still fun - especially when he handed me an engraved Blaser O/U rifle with exhibition grade walnut and said that I would use it to shoot the game!! WOW!

I'll be back at the mount in a few days . . . Tommy can't complain about the wait when it's free.

JDS

Great job, yes they do work great and are as real looking as the live deer.

Rich

Back to the top and to bring new folks up to speed on the subject.

JDS