I just finished mounting my cape buffalo. Through the boiling process over in Africa about an inch of the bosses were lost. I plan on rebuilding the boss but am unsure of what material to use to get the best effect. Should I use apoxie scult or paper mache? I already made a latex mold of the boss next to repair to use for texture. Any suggestions on material and paint to recreate the missing boss would greatly be appreciated. The Buf is an awesome animal and I want to give the finish mount as much realistic look as possible. Thanks in advance. Jim
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There is a good article that covers this. Using just epoxy sculpt would work but would be expensive if you had a large area to rebuild. Whatever you use to finish them, rub some dirt or cement powder over the area that you have rebuilt and painted. This will really make it look natural and help everything blend together.
I use bondo to rebuild the boss.Many buffalo have a lot more missing than yours.I mix black tempera color into the bondo before adding hardener.I use white bondo hardener from WASCO.Sometimes you may have to add a little brown tempera too,to match the color.Apply the bondo with a butter knife,a little heavier than needed.As soon as it "kicks",rough rasp it to shape,then drag a rough wire brush across it to match the texture of the adjacent horn.You would be surprised how realistic you can make this-and quick.Don't let it get very hard before you do your wire brush work.Its also a good idea to mount the horns on your form first,fit your tanned skin over it and mark on the skull with pencil exactly where the edge of the skin comes to,all around the bases.Build your bosses to this line and you will have a much easier job mounting and a lot easier job finishing the transition of hide to horn.You can also build up with bondo and surface with a layer of epoxy putty or use all epoxy putty if the area isn't too thick,then use your texture molds.When using texture molds,you may have to go back and detail the putty after pressing in your texture.One trick for this final texturing is to use a scalpel or other sharp tool to cut in cracks as the putty gets really firm,some time before it gets too hard to work.You can make really neat cracks,slivers and checks in the putty when it gets very firm-almost hard.I also like to pre-color the putty with temperas.Usually I don't have to do any paint work and if it gets dinged,it still looks like real horn.Good luck with it.
Sorry, I spoke too quickly.I just noticed your buffalo is already mounted.I think the bondo method would be too sloppy for your purposes.I usually do them before I mount,but no harm done.Use the epoxy putty,texture molds and a little hand texturing.The maches aren't quite tough enough for my liking.Must be a pretty good buffalo to only have an inch of boss missing.The younger ones usually have a lot more.
Hey guys, Thanks for the info. Jim B I like your idea of building the edges of the boss before mounting. I wish I would have thought of that. I did roughly build up the boss with paper mache before mounting so I do not have a very deep area to do. I will use the apopxie sculp and will mix some tempera paint with it to give it some color and then touch it up. Sometimes when I paint over the sculpt all it gets very shiny. The mixing with tempera paint sounds like a great idea. I will be doing my giraffe pretty soon and maybe will have to get in touch with you for some pointers. Send me your email and I will send a you a picture of the buf. Thanks again, Jim