I am new to taxidermy and was working on my 2nd deer mount this past weekend. I've studied several demo videos from WASCO (Sallie Dahmes, etc) and my first mount went ok with no major problems and I was pleased with the results for a first attempt. During my second mount, I pre-stretched the oiled cape by hand and did all the other prep work suggested in the videos. Once I had the cape on the form, I could tell immediately that tbere wasn't going to be enough cape at the back of the form (top of the shoulders). My first mount was a semi-upright and I didn't have this problem. This time I'm using a semi-sneak left turn from Van Dyke's. I have enough cape to sew the seam to the base of the neck and from there on, the gap progressively gets wider. I have pulled and stretched the cape as far as possible, but there is still about a 12 inch gap at the back of the form. I have carefully checked my measurements from the cape and the form and I believe I ordered the right form....I went down one size when ordering the form.
What am I doing wrong?
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I think you may have pulled the cape down towards the shoulders when you were sewung it up. Try and push the cape back up the neck and try it again. Hope this helps.
First thing I would do is lay the cape down flat and stretch it out just enough so the slack is gone. Then measure it and compare that to the form. If they match then you don't have the cape lined up right on the form.
I would turn the form upside down on your stand so the neck is out level with the ground, and then lay the cape out and try and line up the brisket area and armpits. Then just pin them in place with some nails and reach around and grab each side of the seam area and work the cape up towards the head pulling the sides together close enough to sew them together then pin them in place. I guarantee that you have the cape pulled way too far down. Let the hair patterns of the cape in the brisket armpit area be your reference points with those areas of the form. Good luck.
Thanks for the help. One of the first things I do is to match up the hair patterns of the brisket and to anchor the brisket/armpit area with finishing nails. Then, I flip the mount upright and start working the antler/pedicel area and then start sewing the Y and the seam. If I've got the brisket area where it needs to be on the form, how am I getting the cape pulled too far down the form?
if you didnt use a short incision, sewing the long seam all the way down the back can give you fits the first couple of times.
as you sew, you need to work the skin forward on the manniken. we naturally tend to pull the skin backwards as we sew and when you have all that extra slack pulling off both sides after you split it all the way down, it just compounds the problem.
try a short incision on your next mount.
Thanks for the help. I will give that a try. I appreciate your time and input!
Sew that sucker up before you put it on the manikin. Make it into a short incision first, and you won't have a problem, unless the form's too big.