AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2016 • NEBRASKAland 31
a hairdresser for feathers," Oenbring
said. She then blow-dries the skin,
leaving the feathers fluffy and the
skin slightly wet to maintain some
stretch. This skin is then adhered to
the body form, which is made entirely
from foam. Initially, taxidermists used
papier-mâché or wrapped hay bundles
to build the body, but now the foam
comes out of a taxidermist's mold or
in the shape of a form that is mass-
produced and ordered from a catalog.
Next, Oenbring uses epoxy to sculpt
the eye rings and finesse the shape of
the head.
"Sometimes they [the heads] run
too big, too small … one size doesn't
fit all," Oenbring said. Instead, the
taxidermists use these plastic molds
as a rough shape to begin with,
paring it down or building it up to
fit the specific skins with which they
are working. The wing structures,
however, are filled with clay, and if
the bird is to be mounted in a flying
position, Oenbring pushes a wire up
through the wing along the bone line,
simultaneously giving it structure and
flexibility.
As the skin dries, its colors fade.
While the feathers don't require any
extra care, any portion of skin showing,
especially the feet and fleshy areas
around the eyes, have to be painted to
better mimic the bird's coloration while
alive.
The head, body and tail are all
prepared separately and then brought
together at the end for presentation,
like an ornately complicated three-
piece jigsaw puzzle.
When You Mount a Mammal
"A fair amount of taxidermy is just
problem-solving," Omaha taxidermist
Branden O'Hare said. "You're always
just fixing one thing after the other."
JD Oenbring smooths the feathers down to get a better feel for how this pheasant fits onto its form.
