I am having a consistant problem with loosing the epidermis around the eyes of my whitetail mounts. I am 99% sure of the cause of the slippage (will be using a new tannery this year), but now my problem is what is the best way to fix this when finishing without it looking overpainted or too dark? All that I have done so for have turned out ok at best but I am not happy at all with this, so any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks.
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Apoxie sculpt to fix MINOR epidermal slip around eyes before, Apply it to the dry skin around the eye and buff it out with a wet finger or a wet paint brush. Then paint with "burnt umber" and it turned out OK, not great but just ok. I have been using STOP-ROT for some time now and I will testify that I have had no more epidermal slip since starting to use it. Best to prevent it from happining in the first place, than to try to fix it later. Hope this helps you out. Joe
Sometimes that will happen, if yoiur getting a lot of it you probably should change tanneries. As for fixing it, try the following paint schedule, it has worked for me. First spray around the entire eye with a little white. Next shade a little from the tear duct to the corner of the with flesh. Next tone down the area with cocoa brown. and finally darken to suit with dark brown. Sounds like a lot of trouble but it doesnt take that long and I get reallly good results with it. Hope this helps. Steve
I found that by switching to a wet tan I do not have as much of the epidermis slipping around the eye. When it does happen I use a combo med. grey mixed with rich brown and a touch of burnt umber. I find the right mix then make up about 2oz at a time. Also if you spend to much time shaping the eye over and over you are bound to get a little.
Or do you just salt them and try to split afterwards? This might be why you are having problems with slip in this area. They should be split right out to the yellow fat nodules so salt can get right in there. Being rough with the skin with your mounting tools will also add to your frustrations in this area. Be delicate in these areas.
Steve has a good suggestion and I actually finish all of my eyes like this just to even out the color. To prevent having to clean the airbrush too often for paint changes do all your whites first, then your flesh, then go from the lighter to the darker browns, and then the paynes grey and blacks. You can get the ears, nose, and eyes all in succession. Be careful with the dark brown as you can over do it very easily. That cocoa brown is a nice color too. I use an old toothbrush to brush off the paint from the hair between coats. It seems to take some of the darkness out of the final appearance and blends everything together nicely. Then seal it all in with a satin gloss finish. The eye is cleaned with a small soft bristle brush and thinner.