deer eyes

[huntersdream]

just had a question on deer eyes, doing my first mount and i used clay to set the eyes while waiting on the cape to come back from the tannery, so I did not clay around the eyes just the back to attatched to the manikin and after 2 days they had fallen out, do I need to be using epoxy? any help will be great thanks

[Deerman]

wait until you are ready to mount the deer to put the eyes in

[Ray Smith]

I use hot melt glue

[Ryan.]

I use hot melt glue

x2

[Bobbi Meyer]

X3

[deerhunt1985]

HARD TO FALL OUT WITH DRY SKIN OVER THEM, DO LIKE DEERMAN SAID IF YOUR GONNA USE CLAY

[michael p.]

HOT GLUE???, what if you need to rotate the eye after mounting???  How ya going to do that

Do not set your eyes until you are going to mount.  Put several dimple holes in the foam in back of the eye.  The dimples will hold the clay & the clay will hold the eye

[Bobbi Meyer]

hair dryer will heat it up enough to move it.

[Wayne R]

Hey Mike, Rick Carter uses hot glue in his A-Z video.

I still prefer clay, and do all my clay work the day before I mount a deerhead. I also bag the head overnight so the clay doesn't dry out completely just stiffen up a bit.

[Ryan.]

if you level the pupil, you shouldnt need to rotate in any kind of way.

[michael p.]

if you level the pupil, you shouldnt need to rotate in any kind of way.

So you make ALL of your deer eyes look the exact same    I guess I took a wrong turn on "unique" street, but you cannot tell me that simply "leveling the pupil" makes a good eye.  Even on pre-rotated....also a lot of forms do not have the correct depth or cant.....so you just glue them in anyways.  You must take a paddle bit and hollow out the socket, fill in with clay & make your own adjustments???

Rick carter does on his because he knows his form & plus it is a video that will teach everybody from 8-80

hair dryer will heat it up enough to move it.

Yep, that's just what I want blowing on my still damp skin....HEAT

[Ryan.]

if you level the pupil, you shouldnt need to rotate in any kind of way.

So you make ALL of your deer eyes look the exact same    I guess I took a wrong turn on "unique" street, but you cannot tell me that simply "leveling the pupil" makes a good eye.  Even on pre-rotated....also a lot of forms do not have the correct depth or cant.....so you just glue them in anyways.  You must take a paddle bit and hollow out the socket, fill in with clay & make your own adjustments???

Rick carter does on his because he knows his form & plus it is a video that will teach everybody from 8-80

hair dryer will heat it up enough to move it.

Yep, that's just what I want blowing on my still damp skin....HEAT

Most get a pre-rotated eye, Yes Ricks forms are pre set so the eyes are glued down....unless for some reason i use a rotated eye. If thats the case i do a little construction,  just that simple.

[Bobbi Meyer]

you set the eyes before you apply the skin, make adjustments as necessary, then put the hide on. If I'm going to make the eyes different then I'll use the clay. I just use the hot glue to keep the eye from falling out or rotating when I do the eye work to the lids.

[michael p.]

just that simple.

You said it, not me.   Be careful of getting into that "simple" habit Ryan.  You have way too much talent to get comfortable.  You need to learn to give your eyes dired=ction & flow different from your local competitors.  If people see a deer for $300 and it looks the same as the $400 deer then who are they going to choose.

Start getting more involved with your clay work.  I takes me more tome to clay the underneath of the chin and the brow on top of my head than it does to set both eyes.  Forget you even have a form that is suppose to be accurate, step out of bounds a little bit & start claying your form the way you see it, not the way the sculptor see's it....develop your own style

[George]

THANK YOU MICHAEL!!!  Ryan, just what or how do you determine what "level" actually is?  I'm not about to play the "Rick Carter said it" game with anyone, but I'm not Rick Carter and won't ever be.  That's why I only put mine in with CLAY right before I mount the hide.  With a short "Y", I'd really be playing with my ass with hot glue.  And, heaven forbid, what happens if you break an eye or scratch an eye?  If you haven't yet, you will someday and replacing one that's been clayed in is a whole lot easier than one with hot glue.

And just for shytz and giggles, how would you go about installing the Russian eyes?