Molding A Real Crawdad

[DeltaMan]

This past sunday i went down to my local creek to try and catch a crawdad that didn't have as many flaws as the ones in my fish tank did but i went ahead and use one of mine anyways because the local creek was high and hard flowing( Oh Well). I took and made a mold box and went ahead and killed my crawdad, this was very easy all it took was to fill up the sink with the hottest water that i could get and drop him in, he was soon dead and i was on my way to pouring a two piece pop mold for him. all i did was to take and pour the POP in three quarters of the way up and i put him in while not letting the tips of the claws get submerged in the plaster, this was a mistake because i could not keep his legs straight and so i resolve that next time i will attach wires to all of the legs and drill small holes into the mold box and pull the legs tight and then pour the plaster in all around him thus making it better and making it easier to pour the plastic in and remove the lure. but continuing i put the mold into the oven at 170 degrees to dry it more quickly and it was soon dry enough to put the wax on. to put on the wax i simply took a normal candle cut it into small pieces and melt it in an old aluminum pie dish and took a brush and aplied the wax in thin layers to the first side of the mold making sure not to get wax on the crawdad itself. i poured the other side of my mold a little bit wattery to make sure that it thouroghly covered everything well. got home from church and it was all dry so i went into the garage wedged it all apart and voila there was my cradad stuck in two sides of the mold ( yukkyyyy) man pulling apart raw cradads sucks it was so stinky in that thing but i got it done and if i could do it again i would and i wouldn't have done it the same way either partly because it was a pain to pick out and i didn't quite get the results i wanted. if i could i also would have done it in rtv cause then i could have used a slip mold and just cut the silicone to get the craw out instead of pick him out. plaster doesn't really work with hard subjects but i have yet to do a trout as this i could do with plaster i think that it would be much easier to mold a real fish than a crawdad partly because the crawdad is hard and a fish is soft and besides taxidermists do it all the time

Remember impossible is not a word it is just a reason for someone not to try.

Edited March 3, 2010 by DeltaMan

[TBaits]

This past sunday i went down to my local creek to try and catch a crawdad that didn't have as many flaws as the ones in my fish tank did but i went ahead and use one of mine anyways because the local creek was high and hard flowing( Oh Well). I took and made a mold box and went ahead and killed my crawdad, this was very easy all it took was to fill up the sink with the hottest water that i could get and drop him in, he was soon dead and i was on my way to pouring a two piece pop mold for him. all i did was to take and pour the POP in three quarters of the way up and i put him in while not letting the tips of the claws get submerged in the plaster, this was a mistake because i could not keep his legs straight and so i resolve that next time i will attach wires to all of the legs and drill small holes into the mold box and pull the legs tight and then pour the plaster in all around him thus making it better and making it easier to pour the plastic in and remove the lure. but continuing i put the mold into the oven at 170 degrees to dry it more quickly and it was soon dry enough to put the wax on. to put on the wax i simply took a normal candle cut it into small pieces and melt it in an old aluminum pie dish and took a brush and aplied the wax in thin layers to the first side of the mold making sure not to get wax on the crawdad itself. i poured the other side of my mold a little bit wattery to make sure that it thouroghly covered everything well. got home from church and it was all dry so i went into the garage wedged it all apart and voila there was my cradad stuck in two sides of the mold ( yukkyyyy) man pulling apart raw cradads sucks it was so stinky in that thing but i got it done and if i could do it again i would and i wouldn't have done it the same way either partly because it was a pain to pick out and i didn't quite get the results i wanted. if i could i also would have done it in rtv cause then i could have used a slip mold and just cut the silicone to get the craw out instead of pick him out. plaster doesn't really work with hard subjects but i have yet to do a trout as this i could do with plaster i think that it would be much easier to mold a real fish than a crawdad partly because the crawdad is hard and a fish is soft and besides taxidermists do it all the time

Remember impossible is not a word it is just a reason for someone not to try.

Yes, taxidermists do mold fish, but usually not crawfish. For crawfish we just injected them with a solution, positioned them on cardboard with T-pins, then let dry and finish with paint, sealer, etc. As for fish, there is tons of info on taxidermy.com on how to mold them. Most likely smaller fish as even with crawdads, a lot of them freeze dry them and use the orginal, but that would not work in this case wanting to mold one to make a bait with.

[TBaits]

Yes, taxidermists do mold fish, but usually not crawfish. For crawfish we just injected them with a solution, positioned them on cardboard with T-pins, then let dry and finish with paint, sealer, etc. As for fish, there is tons of info on taxidermy.com on how to mold them. Most likely smaller fish as even with crawdads, a lot of them freeze dry them and use the orginal, but that would not work in this case wanting to mold one to make a bait with.

taxidermy.net is the correct site for their forums and "how to" and the .com is there supplies

[DeltaMan]

when i said that taxidermists do "it" all the time i meant molding fish cause i know that i may have only seen maybe one crawdad in an arangement.

What solution do you use? could this solution also be used to preserve fish specimens?

Edited March 4, 2010 by DeltaMan

[TBaits]

when i said that taxidermists do "it" all the time i meant molding fish cause i know that i may have only seen maybe one crawdad in an arangement.

What solution do you use? could this solution also be used to preserve fish specimens?

Rittel's Preservz-It

New from tanning expert Bruce Rittel comes this outstanding new product which allows you to do all the things you USED to do with formaldehyde. But now you can do it safely! This product is an aldehyde, but is not a carcinogen, and it has the same desirable qualities of formaldehyde, such as being a tannage and excellent tissue drier. Once tissues are tanned with Preservz-It, they are stabilized. Use it to inject and preserve antlers in velvet. Inject into bird legs and feet, as well as tight bone areas. Soak starfish and lobsters to preserve and dry the tissues. Set hair on questionable or borderline skins and capes. Tan fish head areas by soaking overnight. This product will do it all.

It works great for doing crawfish and other things, but there would be too but it would shrink and dry out a fish I'm sure. You could so some reading at taxidermy.net and might come up with some great ideas to use when making baits. Taxidermy.com has baitfish replicas including minnows and perch, but they are only one sided I believe.

[DeltaMan]

hey thanks man maybe i'll try that for the craws instead of wiring his legs straight i'll just soak him in that stuff then pin him.

Sly