have bear cape i am doing half life size on....cape was salt dried...i rehydrated in salt brine and noticed there is some hair slippage occurring in the face...can it be saved or is it a loss...(the patch that began to slip is only about 1 inch square and has not been removed completely) thanks for any advice
I would keep going with the pickling and tanning process. If it makes it through the neutralizing after pickling it should tan ok. Handle the cape with care when mounting, dont pull on hair to taxi the hide,and the hairs will tighten when drying. If slippage is minimal when complete just air brush some color to blend affected areas. You have nothing to lose so keep going. If worse comes to worse you have to replace the cape. Spring bears are tough with the heat, it been extremly hot here so salting or freezing asap is the only way to keep a cape from spoiling.
Casey,
As long as the area does not get to large you can fix it. Air brushing the color back in works. But take the next step and do a good job by replacing the hair.
We did this on a 1/2 lifesize mount. The hair we used was from one of the rear paws that were left over. Set the hair in small sets with super glue or epoxy. Takes a little time but the end result looks great.
Good Luck,
Brent & Jonelle Thyssen
This might help for future references. Slippage problems are 99.9% caused from bacteria growth in the skin. This is very hard to control because most hunters don't skin and freeze there skin ASAP. You can fight this problem by adding a bacteriacide in your rehydrating solutions. It is not necessary to add it to the pickle, because bacteria can not grow in a pH of 2 or less. The key is to prevent damage before and after.