WE ARE EXTREMELY HAPPY and beholden to announce that FSI, a major vendor of polyurethane foam to the taxidermy industry, has come forward as the title sponsor of the 2024 World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships®. Of course polyurethane foam is the principal component of the forms we mount on, use for alterations, building habitats, and numerous other projects we encounter in taxidermy. I would hate to think where we would be without ridged foam. Since the late 1950s and early 1960s when urethane foam was first introduced to the taxidermy shops and supply companies, the product itself has evolved and improved for our use. Much of this evolution was because of new government regulations by the EPA, but most recently it’s because of improvements for use in specific industries like taxidermy, providing a better product for taxidermists and taxidermy supply companies. Improved products and strong interest from the taxidermy supply industry was FSI’s major reason for making a substantial donation to the WTC, taxidermy’s largest gathering, competition, and trade show. It’s their way of continuing and developing  relations with both taxidermy suppliers and taxidermists using a high-performance product. They feel the FSI foam is a superior product to any other offered, being specifically formulated for the taxidermy industry by their chemists.

FSI started as a humble at-home operation in 1968, just like many of our taxidermy studios. From their home in Creve Coeur, Missouri, David Keske and his wife Karen launched FSI in 1972. FSI is now a major supplier of polyurethane systems, but what sets FSI apart is their unrivaled technical support. I visited their main office in St. Charles, Missouri, in February and was very impressed by their management staff, facility, and of utmost importance, their polyurethane foam product for taxidermy.

They will have a very visible presence at the 2024 World Shows and you will be able to meet their sales staff and see and learn more about their products. Their space will be available to visit throughout the show located in the main walkway leading to the trade show, competition, and registration. Visit their website for more information about FSI - https://fsi.co •

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In part three of this series of articles, I will resume our evaluation of the World Taxidermy Championship Scoresheet and continue our reference study and discussion of body anatomy and how they relate to the art of fish taxidermy. We begin by continuing our focus on body anatomy and correctness that we started in Part 2 of this series. Keep in mind that some areas of the scoresheet seem repetitive. While this may seem redundant, it should indicate the importance of these areas and the necessity to reproduce them correctly.

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Reference is always of high importance and we will be offering some of that in future issues. Part 2 in this issue will describe in detail the skinning process. Part 1, which started in issue #150, covered the molding of the head and measurements of the body needed if you decide to carve a custom body. Because of space needs and the length of this article, we had to move Part 2 ahead to this issue, but are now happy to present the skinning process in its full length without cutting some very detailed photos that Jason suppled us.

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A beaver chew (the base of a tree chewed down by a beaver) reproduction can work in many of your habitat scenes for animals other than a beaver mount. It works well for many other animal mounts, such as bear, mink, otters, ducks… in other words, any other animals or fish that share such a habitat. Here is my process for reproducing a lightweight beaver chew that will enhance many of your mount compositions for years to come.

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This show promises to be one of the biggest shows we’ve ever produced. The first indicator was that our host hotel sold out of rooms back in January. We have since contracted with three nearby hotels to handle the overflow guests. The trade show sold out as well (waiting list has been established). We can also announce that FSI, a major vendor of polyurethane foam to the taxidermy industry, has come forward as the title sponsor of the 2024 World Taxidermy & Fish Carving Championships®. Their contribution as a title sponsor has made it possible to bring in additional judges, afford a superior venue, have state-of-the-art audio video for seminars and the awards show, plus bolster our World Show Award Fund for competition awards and cash prizes. They will have a very visible presence at the 2024 World Shows and you will be able to meet their sales staff and see and learn more about their products. Their booth will be available to visit throughout the show located in the main walkway leading to the trade show, competition, and registration. This will be the 17th and final show Kathy and I will produce, and a special tribute to us has been planned at the Saturday night Wind-Down party in the hotel. We would love to see all of you at this 2024 World Show! Our WTC website is open at www.taxidermy.net/wtc.

TO RENEW OR SUBSCRIBE TO BREAKTHROUGH, visit www.breakthroughmagazine.com or call (985) 345-7266.