Largemouth Bass

[shawncat]

Real nice work Taxi.Really like the colors of that first hook jaw brown.

[Ham]

You do good work. I have a bass that my parents had mounted for me back in April 1972. A 6 lb 8 oz bass was a heck of a fish for a 9 year old. That is most likely the only fish I'll ever have mounted. You do mainly skin mounts correct? It's nice that some guys choose to take measurements and photos to have a repoduction made, but I haven't ever seen a repoduction that matches the quality of a properly done skin mount.

[Geoff]

what kind of tips do you have for refinishing a mount? i have a 13 pound bass frommy great grandpa that i kinda touched up once, but it needs some more detail and color back in it, plus it needs to be shinnier. im thinking to add some more black scales/spots under the mid section line, and prolley ALOT more clear coat then last time

[taxidermist]

I do a lot of reproductions, mostly reproductions nowdays. It takes a lot of work to do a reproduction right. The hook jawed brown is a repro, and the female brown on the rocks and plaque is a repro, the head on the brown (middle pic) is a repro head, myown casting and most trout fins are reproductions I mold and make.

Its really hard to say how to touchup a fish, depends on the fish.

I use some watercolor pencils, powder pigments, Shiva oil sticks and even some metalic waxes for the different colors than do final details with a high dollar airbrush and lacquer paint.

As for the final shine, it all starts with the base coat, but I u se an Auto Clear coat two part for the final gloss, it has a high polymer content, not cheap by any means but its cheaper in the long run. I can get a great shine with one coat, I also use an Auto touchup gun for spraying the final coat.

Geoff, you may be able to lightly scuff the fish with 2000 grit wet or dry sand paper (auto paint store) wet sand the fish, if you are getting into the skin around each scale stop. Go to a Hobby Lobby and look at the water color pencils. there are so many to pick from, also get a 8H pencil to do the spots with below the lateral line, I use an airbrush abnd a couple colors but the 8H pencil should do ithe trick for you. Gold for the scales on the upper back. and a dark olive green for the colors inbetween the scales. Once you have all the colors other than the dark olive green on seal the colors with Zinse Shellac, very light coats three oor four of them allowing to dry between coats.

Scuff again with 2000 grit, and apply the green between the scales and with a damp wet cloth blot the green out. Just keep working until you are h appy with it and final gloss can be the shellac in the spray can.

http://www.innate.com/Paint/Jacquard/pearl_ex.htm

You can apply these with a 00000 spotting artist brush, if you get a bit much on a scale either blot it with your finger or blow the pigment off. and re do, then seal with a light spray coat of clear lacquer paint.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/shiva-ar...intstik-colors/

these are artist oils but you can apply these with light touching of your fingers, again seal with light lacquer spary can paint, clear of course.

I know some guys who only do four of five fish a month and finger paint only.

[Geoff]

Good to know...but wouldnt you want to use an 8B pencil for the dark spots? 8H would be a REALLY hard lead, heck the 4H i have will cut paper if the point is too sharp. Do you have certain brand of water color pencil you like? i had some a while ago and was less then impressed with them and the quailty of finish they gave me. i would much rather attempt to handpaint the fish over drawing on it with a the pencils, this mount is REALLY old, so im not even sure how fragile the skin still is. i think all it really needs is some gold to the top, some more spots at the laterial line and below it, and a couple new coats of clear. maybe i'll send you a PM with some pictures of it and we can converse further there instead of clogging your thread up

[taxidermist]

I use the 8H over the scuffed surface, many times when the paint is applied over it, it softens the look a lot. Try the 4H on the back. try everything on the back first. Normally the skin is good even on old mounts, just the fins get busted up and need replacing.

I use a cheap 0ne inch bristle bursh cut to about 1/2 inch and lacquer thinner to remove old paint.

If you just want to add some gold, get some SHIVA sticks, scrape the hard coating off rub your finger on it and lightly tap your finger on the back of the fish to higlight the scales. use a couple colors of gold and maybe a green metallic. try to get at lest two colors on the scales. YOu can work directionally too.

If you mess up you can remove the SHIVA stick oil paint with mineral spirits and a paper towel.