perch stringer mount

[Dr. IceGeek]

Here's the latest taxidermy work to come out of my basement.  I did these skin mount perch for a friend of mine's 50th birthday.  He helped me through some rough times and taught me the finer points of perch fishing so I thought that I would repay him with a stringer mount of perch for his cottage. The perch range in size from 11 to 13 inches in length and there are a couple pics of some up close detail as well as the full mount. Any constructive criticism is always appreciated.

[shrub]

thats really kool, nice job

[camo_fish]

that is awesome, really cool, wish I could do something like that, You have a great talent there. WTG 

[Bean]

Great job. 

[Mikepike]

Yeah, amazing detail. I wish i could do it. Awesome job on them 

[crappie66]

Those look awesome, are you sure this is just a basement hobby?

How much time and money do you put into something like that?

[Deposit]

Your hired!!! Nice job!

[Dr. IceGeek]

crappie66,
   time is the major factor...because I don't work at this stuff consistently and only do it when I have an hour free here or there it does take some time.  I would guess I have maybe 30 hours into the thing by the time I skin all the fish, carve the foam bodies and decide upon the pose I want for each fish, then mount them up and let them dry.  The airbrushing is also a bit time consuming.  As far as money goes....for actual materials there is very little.  The paint I use is about 3 dollars per ounce, but there is probably less than an ounce of paint on all 4 fish combined.  Gloss is expensive and the eyes are about 4 bucks per pair.  Other than that the only factor is the amount of time you feel like putting into the thing.  Probably a good taxidermist could do the same thing in a fraction of the time, but for me it's just a hobby that keeps me sane when I've had a bad day or need to get away from it all for a few minutes

[flipstick]

The mount looks amazing.  Most of the full time taxidermists in my area wouldn't be able to do that nice of a job.

[Bobman]

Dr. IceGeek, another amazing job.  I really like the rusty stringer and old wood.  Sometimes those kind of details, that don't involve the actual subject, are the best part and really make a good mount a great one.

[StriperMaineac]

AWESOME job!

[itsmedick]

i cant find anything to criticize there.  as good a mount as ive ever seen.

[Pikeguy]

lOOKIN GREAT DOC. I agree with flipstick when he says his local taxidermists don't do that well. Most of them really don't. I guess that's the difference between someone making a living at it , and someone who pours their heart and soul into it (although I think you could make a living at it.). Keep up the good work and show us all the new "basement projects" 

[Hood]

doc- those are fabulous mounts, they look so real as if they just came out of the water, many taxidermists try and get too fancy with the colors and they come out unnaturally bright and sometimes flourescent, skin mounting allows you to stick to the task as opposed to a mold where its all paint, excellent work and keep us posted on your future mounts!

[carpcatcher]

The only thing I wish is some day I can help you through some rough times. (not that I want you to have any rough times). They look very realistic, GREAT JOB
        Jim