Here are some photos of a kudu pedestal mount I just finished.











Here is the back that has been finished as a "Bushman" rock painting:

WOW! looks great Grafton.

SUPER JOB!! Outstanding!

Thanks for sharing.

JDS

Beautiful! The backing is a neat idea.

Great job, excellant detail on the ear but.

Very Very nice!! I love the detail work!
One thing however: It may be the photo, but in the first pic he looks to be tilted ever so slightly. Are your eyes level ?
Again, he looks really good! What form did you use?

quote:

but in the first pic he looks to be tilted ever so slightly

You have a good eye. The eyes are close to level. The head on this form definately has a slight tilt to it. I did roll the form back a little on the base as I felt the form had the kudu looking down a bit too much. I could have cut and lifted the head but I do not feel it looks unnatural for it be rolled back- almost like it was walking on uneven ground and then looked up at something. The form is a slightly resized Don Holt from Van Dykes.

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

Grafton,
That is a wonderful mount, good job!

Can you tell us about the pedestal base? Did you make that, or where was it made? What kind of wood is that? Is it a cabinet (almost looks like there is a handle on it)? What is on top of the base, almost looks lie suede leather or is that imitation rock?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm having my sable and nyala on pedestals and looking for nice bases for those. I really like the one in the photo.

DPhillips, Thanks for the comments. I bought that particular base at a furniture store. It had a broken marble top that I did not want anyway. I picked it up for less than $100. Unbroken it would have cost over $400. To have one made would have been about the same or more. I do this kind of pedestal shopping whenever I can as there are substantial savings to be made. It is still a nice piece of furniture and there is storage inside the cabinet. I like this feature too as I can store books, etc..I am not sure what kind of wood it is made of.

I made the top of the base. It is a habitat scene with sand, thorns, small rocks, and a bushman arrow.

Absolutely gorgeous piece!! Detail work is superb!

Grafton,
On this type of pedestal mount are you required to put some sort of ballast in the base to ensure that it will be stable? I don't have any pedestal mounts but my shoulder mounts seem to be heavily balanced out towards the head and I wondered how you account for that in the base.

Wink, on a piece like this one, no weight is needed. It is very stable because of the size and weight of the wooden pedestal base.

If a smaller pedestal is used, then yes you would want to have a weight in the base to make it stable. This is simple to do but I prefer to use a base size that is appropriate for the piece as I do not like the top heavy look of large game on a small pedestal. You can make them perfectly stable on a smaller base but it will still look like it may fall over!

All I can say is wow!!! I'm not too big into mounted heads or full mounts for that matter. But in this case even a naysayer like myself has to appreciate the artistry.

Well done indeed

The chef

2 thumbs up!!!