Photo Caption: Dana Wetherbee of Stonyfork, left, discusses one of his mounted fish with The Green Home residents Earl Black, middle, and Antoinette “Tony” Davis while Ed Grinnell listens, back left, during a presentation on taxidermy Monday, April 5 at The Green Home in Wellsboro.
WELLSBORO, PA—The Green Home went wild about animals during it’s “Wild Life” week April 5th through April 9th. On Monday, April 5th taxidermist professional Dana Wetherbee of Stonyfork visited The Green Home to discuss the process of taxidermy, illustrated with his own taxidermy work and supplies.
Residents were eager to hear about the largest and smallest animals Wetherbee has worked on—moose, bears, and boars topped the scale while birds and weasels were the smallest. “The smaller the animal, the more intricate the work,” notes Wetherbee. Theresa Carlson, one of the residents at The Green Home, remarked that taxidermy is a lot like pottery or ceramics in this sense—the smaller the object, the more difficult and detailed the work becomes.
Wetherbee talked residents through his process of cleaning the animal, pre-tanning through pickle baths of formic acid, tanning the hide, and reconfiguring the animal into a pose using mannequins. Unlike many taxidermists, he does his own tanning. After explaining the importance of properly cleaning off blood to avoid staining, he emphasized the importance of maintaining stretch in the animal hide.
“If someone brings a 500 lb bear into my shop, he or she doesn’t want a 300 lb bear back,” joked Wetherbee.
Passing around examples of glass eyes, he described the different expressions he seeks to convey in the mounted animal, noting that the eyes are a large part of the overall expression. “You can convey a lot with the eyes, and the angle has to be just right,” he says. “If you use more rounded eyes, you can channel a surprised expression. If you give it half-lidded eyes, you portray a sleepy animal.”
Deer are his most common request and are termed the “bread and butter” of many taxidermists because the time and money ratio put into creating each piece balances against the frequency of requests. Fish are another common request for Wetherbee, who uses heated Plexiglas to create currents and ripples for a water effect. Once the plastic is heated properly, he can then pull using tweezers to create life-like splashes. Summertime humidity, however, complicates the process and can leave the final color appearing musty or hazy if not counteracted with special additives to the paint.
The residents also attended a demonstration on archery from Floyd and Linda McCaslin on April 7th and a hunting and fishing lecture by Rennie Woodhouse, Josh Simmons, and Alex Hall, maintenance employees at The Green Home, on April 9th.
For more information on The Green Home, call (570) 724-3131.