what kind of clay should i use to do deer heads eg,eyes, lips ,nose .i used some clay that i got from mail order supply.when i went to use it was moldy.scraped mold off, set eyes checked next day and the clay had shrunk and pulled away from mannikin.i need some thing that wont shrink or crack.im assuming it would still shrink even after hid is on,am i right?i have some critter clay but i want a water based like the stuff i ordered.thanks
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What do you think Critter Clay uses? It does NOT use natural materials (i.e. dirt/clay) but rather synthetics but it certainly is water soluble. As far as I'm concerned, there are no others for those areas you described. I use potter's clay for ear butts, but not around eyes, nose, and lips.
Ok you cannot do clay work days in advance!
Yo can do it minutes prior to mounting, even critter clay will crack and peel away. Thats why you must go over your mount two or more times per day checking the shrinkage.
There is a way to never have to check your work, but thats down the road for you and your skill level.
as john said critter clay is water sol. its the best clay made for your eyes, you can use apoxie sculpt and it will hold your skin in place, but you better have a good eye set because once its set your done , no more adjustments.
i have a form im not going to use so ive just been practicing doing the eyes.i notice the clay dried out real fast .will it dry out that fast when the skins on?if so then i guess theres no adjusting unless you do it that day.just trying to figure these things out before i mount.also whats the best video out there,i have several and they all have conflicting/or should i say different ways of doing the same thing.
There are lots of ways to skin a cat, remember. But Critter Clay does dry out a little faster than potters clay which works in your favor. I keep a spray bottle of water by my mounting stand when I'm doing an animal just for that purpose. Once you mold the eyes, you take a wet artist brush and smoothe them out. Allow 10 minutes and then mount your deer. It's still soft enough to form underneath but solid enough not to moosh out all your detail when the hide drags across it. Critter clay will dry and it will pop out when dry, but it doesn't shrink like you can expect potter's clay to.
i assume your mounting either a wet tanned cape or either a rehydrated dry tanned cape, either way the dampness in the cape should keep your clay workable for a while, i think Joe Meders mounting a commercial white tail would be an excellent tape for you to view, it goes into good detail about setting eyes, you will find that different forms will require different amounts of clay work to create the expression you wish to create, get yourself some good reference and an eyecast. model your eyes around these regardless of the sculpted form. keep in mind the the relative position of the eye to the eyelids and eye brow, i see many mounts with sunken in or buggy
eyes, your on the right track trying to create proper eye set, in my mind if you mess up the eyes you mess up the whole mount