I"m a newbe I"m trying to mount a raccoon. I know that you use clay that hardens for the feet but could you use a soft clay that doesn"t harden for feet so that the pad stays soft like when it was alive?
And either way what clay do you use?
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I would recommend Critter Clay as it dries hard with no shrinkage. I guess you could use a nonhardening clay, but I would advise against it. The reason you want the clay to harden is so that it will lock the form in place and so the feet will no distort if they are handled.
It will not make much of a difference on the clay keeping your feet or the raccoon's feet soft as when it dries the pads and toes will harden and shrink causing them to distort. Use critter clay or epoxy type of clay to fill toes and pads to keep them in the shape you finish them in.
Paul. Soft clay will allow the pads, and toes to dry and shrink. Which you don't want in a quality mount.
David, There is another way you might want to try. If you are careful and skin out the toes and feet without any holes in the skin you can pump the feet up with caulk. I would use critter clay in the toes and use the caulk to fill out the little voids between the mannikin feet and clay. There will be a little leakage around wires that exit the feet which is easy to control with a bit of paper towel to temporarily plug the hole. If you do get a leak from a little nick in a toe just wire brush it away as it sets up. The advantage as I see it in using the caulk is that the caulk takes on the shape of the foot pad rather than trying to make the foot pad conform to the clay. It can give a "soft look" to the foot which is especially nice for one of those coons laying on a limb mounts. Now the foot won't be much softer than other methods but might look softer. Enjoy, Aaron H.