What on earth do you mean by "split the lips"?! I haven't the faintest clue! Thanks.
P.S. How do you do a squirrel's ears too?
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...cutting with a very sharp, fine scalpel between the outer and inner layer of the lips. You should be able to "roll" them out flat.
They should be trimmed and tucked into a narrow slot cut in the mannikins lipline, you could use super glue gel to hold them in place whike drying. The ears should be carefully opened to the very edges with a blunt object, tweezers etc. so a little "pocket" is formed. I use epoxie-sculpt in them while mounting. Shapes easily, the "tackyiness" holds the skin in place, the ears become very solid. Good luck/B.S.
Wow, I rememebr my first squirrel AND first deer. I had no clue either and I was in a class. This guy didn't explain things very well and until I actually had it ready for mounting I had no idea what he meant by flat when it came to lips. I think the ears would have been more understandable if he or SOMEONE would have said "You actually haveto turn the ear inside out like a mitten or glove you pull of and it turns inside out. So to do so you are separating the inside skin (the pinky fuzzy side of the ear) from the the back hairy side. And you have to start from the eardrum end. Does that help any? And Big Swede was right on with his discription. You are actually cutting the lips from the inside of the mouth so that it is flat and without meat or much flesh so it is flat. Then it will tuck into the form (you have to cut a slot at the lips of the form). It is best if you cold get a how to video/dvd if you can't beg a regular taxidermist to show you. Hope you get it!
Fold your fingers to the palm of your hand. Now imagine that your outer hand( knuckle) are the outside of the lip. Now unfold your hand. You must "unfold" the lips in order to get preservative to it so it won't rot(by preservative I mean whichever you use). Thats the way it was described to me. And with a little imagination I figured it out. Hope it helps!
Thanks a whole lot! This really clears a lot up!