Hey just starting out on deer heads and made the incision all the way down instead of the short cut way and i can not get the cape to fit around the back part of the form. The neck fits like a glove but way down the back it is like 6 inches from coming together. I tried pulling the cape up and then sewing it up but its still too far apart where i cant sew it up together so i definately wouldnt be able to pull the cape down. Any suggestions?
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You could find a smaller form that would fit better but if you don't have one, I am sure someone will tell me I am wrong here but such as life. I would add more Hide sew more hide into the place you are short from a another hide that you might have laying around be sure to blend it in as good as you can and you will get by , but that is just my opinion . ALWAYS Profit everything you are going to work on before hand so this does not happen .
GG
all the way around keeping the original shape.
I have had that problem to, just stretch it as much as you can buy hand and start sewing and they will usually come together. There might still be a small gap when your done but it shouldn't be much. I know it doesn't look like it's going to fit but it should, just keep sewing and pulling it together.
If you measured the deer before you skinned it out (with the hide on) you need to subtract about 2 inches from the neck of the form when you order it. I have added a piece before but it was from the same deer it had been cut very long at the shoulders and I added a triangle piece. Another deer probably won't match as well. I have also shaved a form down and still being a tight fit I have bunched it up a little from the last few inchesof sewing and come off the side (if it is a turn) and pulled some over from the other side. It ends up with a little "pooched" up pice that you need to cut out.. Oh wait I forgot you cut it all the way down. So it might fit that way with the off side pulling over.. This is harder to dsecribe than I thought. Next time either subtract 2" or measure after you skin the deer(The carcass)
sew it together while off the form, shave the back and sides of the neck form, place the cape back on, place glue on the form under the skin, that will help it slide on. Never add a spare part. There is no reason on earth to add a strip in, that lazy. Change the form to fit the skin, never add to the skin to fit the form.
This sounds like a classic mistake of pulling the hide BACK instead of pulling it up on the neck. For the neck area to "fit like a glove", I'd bet either the cape was cut too short or the brisket area is being pulled too far back on the form.
Sounds like you need to scoot the cape forward. Classic beginner mistake. Line up the brisket, and nail it in place. Then flip the deer back over and start scooting the shoulders of the cape forward on the form. Work out any wrinkles in the neck by taxiing the hide.
You pulled the skin down the neck instead of up. The incision streches a lot and makes the cape look very long. Match u pthe brisket skin, and then sew up the back. Make sure your hide on top of the form is not hanging off. If you cut it right, you should only have a little skin hanging off the back top as well as the bottom and all around.
If the top of the skin is hanging over a lot. you know that you are pulling it to far down. I like to sew up to six stitches loosly, then pull tight at the same time pulling the skin up the neck.
There are ways to strech the skin back to the right shape before mounting, one way is t o sew it up and strech it with an inner tube or cape streching machine. That is why I like the short "Y" cut so I can put it on my strecher and then it falls over the form and slowly relaxes in length and fits the form great.
Like these others said, plus more. Were you using hide paste? Its a lubricant first, to slide that skin around, before it serves as an adhesive. Is the form an accurate one? Theres some poor forms still kicking around out there. I know you said you were bringing it forward first, but sometimes it REALLY needs to come forward. For what its worth, forms that are too big, or capes to small are usually a case of the incision not fitting at the head neck juncture, NOT down toward the shoulders. Its the swell thats the problem usually, so I dont believe you need to shave the form or get one smaller...
All of the above posts are right. You need to move the skin forward. As you sew you are pulling more rearward on the string to tighten your stiches, This streches the neck skin and seam back or downward on the neck and shoulders. As you sew, take a few stiches, then push up on the stiches toward the head. Also taxi the skin around the neck upward also. Not to the point that it puckers though. Continue down the neck with the sewing and keep pushing up on the stiches. I'll bet it will fit at the shoulders now. Unless you cut your cape to short. JUST A TIP. If you are trying to get the biggest swelled look out of your cape. Then don't have your cape streched to the max. and try fit it on a form so big that the seam barely can touch together. Remember during tanning you shaved the skin and take down the thickness. This relaxes and opens up the skin giving you more strech and larger measurment that the fresh hide had originally. I always get my tanned cape measurment, then order a form about an inch smaller. The cape will fit without fighting it, and you can sew and taxi the skin up the neck a lot easier. Pushing and moving the skin up the neck will push the skin together and will allow the hair to stack up a little giving you a fuller looking swell.Back brush a little and you have youself one big beefy swelled look to your mount. It will look 3-4 times bigger than if you forced it on a mannequin that is to large. A live deer will have a swell to it's neck during the rutt, but if he wants to look even bigger he tightens up and that causes his hair on his body to stand up. It looks like he was inflated. When he fluffs his hair to strut his stuff that skin moves, standing the hair up and makes him look twice as big as he is. Pushing the skin foward on the mount takes tension off the skin allowing the hair folicals to push closer together and stack the hair up giving it amuch fuller look to the deer. EXAMPLE OF A FULL LOOK: What happens when you mount a bird. Does the skin fit tight on the mannequin? NO! It better not. The skin is loose. Do you groom a bird from the front to the rear? NO! You groom from the rear to the front stacking the feathers and moving the skin forward and giving him a fuller look. Deer are the same taxi the skin from the rear to the front. Feathers or fur taxi it up for a fuller look. Good luck, I hope this didn't get to long.